The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act: conflict and controversy

Polar Record ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (142) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica E. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Land Settlement

ABSTRACTPending land claims by Alaska Natives were extinguished by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. This act marked the culmination of more than 100 years of expressed Federal concern for protection of land rights of aboriginal peoples within the region, starting with the 1867 Treaty of Cession. The Federal legislation provided both a cash and a land settlement, and mandated creation of corporations to manage the resulting assets. Two amendments, in 1976 and 1980, attempted to alleviate certain problems arising from the original act. Nonetheless, many difficulties with the act itself are becoming more apparent as the 1990s approach, and certain sections of the act such as taxation and stock alienation become activated. This paper discusses the major events leading to passage of the act, key provisions of the act, and the major controversies and conflicts facing Alaska Natives through the next two decades as a result of the legislation.

Alaska's Conflicting Objectives

Daedalus ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-48
Author(s):  
Rosita Kaaháni Worl ◽  
Heather Kendall-Miller
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Conflicting Objectives ◽  
Alaska Native Corporations ◽  
Tribal Land

The formal treaty-making period between the U.S. government and Native peoples ended in 1871, only four years after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. As a result, Alaska Natives did not enter into treaties that recognized their political authority or land rights. Nor, following the end of the treaty-making period, were Alaska Natives granted the same land rights as federally recognized tribes in the lower forty-eight states. Rather, Congress created the Alaska Native Corporations as the management vehicle for conveyed lands in 1971. The unique legal status of these corporations has raised many questions about tribal land ownership and governance for future generations of Alaska Natives. Although Congress created the Native Corporations in its eagerness to settle land claims and assimilate Alaska Natives, Alaska Native cultures and governance structures persisted and evolved, and today many are reasserting the inherent authority of sovereign governments.

Sovereignty, tribal government, and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Amendments of 1987

Polar Record ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (154) ◽  
pp. 197-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Morehouse
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
The Political ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Tribal Government ◽  
Federal Recognition ◽  
Tribal Governments ◽  
Modern Form

AbstractContemporary dimensions of a conflict over the political powers of Alaska Natives and their relationship to the larger society were set by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. This granted land and money to Alaska Natives, established corporations to use these assets, and ensured that the land and the corporations would remain under Native control until at least 1991. Under 1987 amendments to ANCSA, Congress extended these special protections indefinitely. Leaders of the tribal government movement in Alaska tried unsuccessfully to use the amendments to gain increased political power and federal recognition of Native tribes and tribal governments. They were opposed by federal authorities, Alaska's US senators, the State of Alaska, non-Native political interest groups, and Native leaders of the ANCSA corporations. Although stalled in this instance, the drive toward tribal government, or ‘sovereignty’, in Alaska remains a viable political movement. It is part of a continuing evolution of Native politics which in its modern form began with land claims and now includes a much broader concern for political claims of sovereignty, or inherent self-governing powers. In pursuing this course, however, tribal leaders will need to focus more on specific requirements for Native security and welfare than on general claims of sovereignty, and avoid direct confrontations with powerful opponents.

The Influence of Judicial Uncertainty on Executive Support for Negotiation in Canadian Land Claims Policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christa Scholtz
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
Federal Budget ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Indigenous Land Rights ◽  
Indigenous Land ◽  
Judicial Uncertainty

Abstract. Governments and Indigenous groups bargain under the shadow of the law, and this paper pushes the judicial politics research agenda by examining empirically whether flickers in law's shadow systematically affect the implementation of the Canadian government's negotiation choice in the Indigenous land rights context. Through interviews and a time series analysis of Canada's specific claims policy, I find that judicial uncertainty increases the federal government's propensity to accept specific claims for negotiation. However, there is evidence that Indigenous protest action during the Oka crisis and Elijah Harper's role in scuttling the Meech Lake constitutional accord, more than other factors, greatly impacted the federal budget allocated towards negotiation.Résumé. Les négociations entre les gouvernements et les groupes autochtones se déroulent sous les auspices de la loi, et le présent document examine le programme de recherche sur les politiques légales afin de déterminer de façon empirique si certaines imprécisions dans la loi influent sur les options retenues par le gouvernement du Canada en ce qui concerne les droits sur les terres autochtones. Une analyse statistique de la politique de revendication en vigueur au Canada ainsi qu'un certain nombre d'entrevues m'ont permis de constater l'existence d'un flou juridique qui amène le gouvernement fédéral à accepter d'examiner certaines revendications spécifiques à la table des négociations. Il semble toutefois que certains incidents particuliers, comme les gestes de protestation posés par les autochtones lors de la crise d'Oka, ou le rôle joué par Elijah Harper dans l'échec de l'Accord constitutionnel du lac Meech, aient eu une incidence marquée sur l'importance des sommes allouées par le gouvernement fédéral à ces négociations.

scholarly journals The Status of Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia

1969 ◽  
pp. 436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip E. Chartrand
Keyword(s):  
Land Rights ◽  
Federal Legislation ◽  
Australian Aborigines ◽  
Aboriginal Rights ◽  
The Status

Interesting parallels and comparisons can be drawn between the struggle for land rights by Australian Aborigines and by Indians and Inuit in Canada. Recent Australian federal legislation has recognized some aboriginal rights to lands they have occupied for over 40,000 years. The author discusses the events leading up to that legislation, analyzes its major provisions and assesses its applications to date.

The ANCSA Amendments of 1987 and land management in Alaska

Polar Record ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (155) ◽  
pp. 315-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Flanders
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Subsistence Economy ◽  
Subsistence Hunting ◽  
Property Taxation ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Alaska Native Corporations ◽  
Land Bank ◽  
Hunting And Fishing ◽  
Significant Factors

AbstractThe original Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, passed in 1971, gave Alaska Native corporations fee simple title to 18 million hectares of Alaskan land. Within a few years of its passage, however, Alaska Natives grew concerned that this land would be lost through mismanagement of the corporations or forced into development by property taxation. Because large numbers of Alaska Natives depend upon subsistence hunting and fishing, the loss of the land, or its use for activities incompatible with subsistence, could have been devastating. Amendments of 1987 (PL 100–241) protect Native corporation land by placing all undeveloped land in a land bank and allowing for the formation of ‘Settlement Trusts“. More importantly, Congress recognized that the Native subsistence economy and culture are significant factors in the management of Native lands.

American Indians fitting into Medical School

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Apanakhi Buckley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Medical School ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
White Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Indian Health Service ◽  
Native Women ◽  
Indian Health

This paper describes a qualitative study of how indigenous people experience medical school in the United States. Nine American Indians and Alaska Natives participated in the study: five women and four men. They came from eight different tribes, but they have asked me to protect their confidentiality, so I will not identify their tribes. Their ages ranged from 27 to 39. Five of them had children. Two of them were unmarried.In the United States, the need for indigenous physicians is great. Twice as many American Indians die from homicide and suicide as non-Indians in the United States (Wallace, Kirk, Houston, Amnest, and Emrich, 1993); three times as many die from accidents and more than four times as many die from alcoholism (Indian Health Service, 1996). Diabetes is rampant among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Women are the hardest hit (Gilliland, Gilliland, and Carter; 1997). More than five times as many American Indian and Alaska Native women die from diabetes than non-Latina white women.

scholarly journals MEMORY FUNCTIONING AND CAREGIVING: CONTINUITY, CONNECTEDNESS AND METAPHORS IN ALASKA NATIVE PERCEPTIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S870-S871
Author(s):  
Rosellen M Rosich ◽  
Maria Crouch
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Memory Functioning ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Code Book

Abstract Biomedical models often define dementia in a negative and diachronic manner, which shape Western, cultural understandings and approaches. However, utilizing a critical gerontological approach has allowed the current study to explore Alaska Natives (i.e., adults who hold “Elder” status and are 50 years or older) perception of memory decline, and the stresses imposed upon caregiving when a Western biomedical model of dementia is utilized. Multitudinous research demonstrates definitions and intersections of health, illness, ethnicity, and family are not universal. Subsequently, it is critical to examine these sociocultural concepts from diverse cultural belief systems and imperative to examine historical processes impacting these constructs to identify specific risk and protective factors regarding holistic health. Recent qualitative data analysis from an exploratory study of Alaska Native Elder’s perception of memory functioning and dementia has yielding themes that are consistent with previous research on indigenous culture. However, themes of continuity, connectedness, spirituality, intergenerational transmission, traditional belief systems, and barriers to cultural continuity such as oppression and historical trauma, are being filtered through Alaska Natives unique cultural lens. This cultural lens allows Alaska Natives to utilize positive metaphors for memory functioning and dementia embedded within their belief systems and these are distinct from Western biomedical definitions. The poster proposed will highlight themes recently uncovered from thematic analysis, code book development, and code matrices as well as present the positive, culturally adaptive and congruent representations that Alaska Native Elder’s utilize in understanding memory changes and forms of dementia that both explain and transcend biomedical models.

scholarly journals Settling with Indigenous People: Modern Treaty and Agreement-Making

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thalia Anthony
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Land Access ◽  
Customary Rights ◽  
Indigenous Land Rights ◽  
Indigenous Land

Negotiating Indigenous land rights has become known as the new third way. It is the alternative to native title claims and claims under land rights legislation. Negotiation of land and other customary rights is a source of empowerment in a contemporary political climate that is otherwise paternalistic. It allows Indigenous people to be involved in setting the terms of land claims in terms of compensation, land access, native title rights, conservation and even governance rights. Already, over 3000 voluntary negotiations have led to settled outcomes with governments, mining companies and other stakeholders

It Is Only New Because It Has Been Missing for so Long

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Anderson ◽  
Malinda Chase ◽  
James Johnson ◽  
Debbie Mekiana ◽  
Drena McIntyre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Program Evaluation ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Evaluation Capacity Building ◽  
Evaluation Capacity ◽  
Evaluation Community ◽  
Recent Project

Despite 11,000 years of honing evaluation skills in order to thrive in some of the harshest climatic conditions on the planet, there are few Alaska Native program evaluators and until a recent exchange with New Zealand Maori, there was no collective vision for building Alaska Native capacity in program evaluation. This article tells the story of a recent project that represents the first concerted attempt at building the evaluation capacity of Alaska Natives. It is written by Alaska Native and Maori people involved in that project. This evaluation capacity building story is shared with the international evaluation community in the belief that others can learn from our experiences in attempting evaluation training across cultures and across the globe. The authors also hope that it will encourage other indigenous evaluators to share their stories so that a wider audience can benefit from the considerable knowledge about evaluation held by indigenous peoples.

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