Help for struggling villages by government in sight?? (live in, costs)

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by blueflames50

I am reposting this:
ya can thank the lower 48 man for "educating" and bringing the "native" people into this century. I won't say white man because it goes well beyond a skin color.
We made them dependent on heating fuel, limited their heritage hunting of subsistance.. ohhh gosh I could go on and on and on.... No brains that some ways are better left alone. We have made some cultures in Alaska dependant on snowmachines, heating oil, food flown in instead of allowing them to continue a way of life that has been their way for generations,....did we help them or are we allowing them to starve now because the economey has tanked. sorry gotta stop now 'cuz this issure really pisses me off..

Well that is partly right, but not completely. Although there was a lot of bad brought into the local Natives when the they first met those from other lands here in Alaska, it was the Russians first, then the Yankee Whalers and so forth.

But they also died before most would make it to forty years old, and now they live into their 80's. Get to see their grand children and great grand children. Unlike in the "Olden Days" when times were hard, the elders that couldn't work/hunt/gather, and the very young female babies were left to die because they couldn't feed everyone. The young boy babies were to grow up to be the hunters, so they were rasied at all costs for the future of the clan.

Living the subsistence lifestyle is not all that it is cracked up to be, it is a very hard life. You worked from dawn to dusk to store up enough food to get you through winter, or you died. In some cases, the whole village would be hurting if a couple of people didn't pull their weight.

A lot of bad has happened in all cultures, but also a lot of good that people seem to have forgotten. And that changing of the tides is going on still today all over the world. But the modern world in the bush isn't all a bad thing.

In the Subsistance days when a spear and a bow were the common weapon, the bears were pretty hard on the locals, and to this day the natives still keep that fear of them. The modern rifle helped tilt that food group back to the local indians side verses the bears....

By the way, being dependent on snowmachines isn't all that bad of a thing, do you have any idea of what it takes to keep a dog team when you have a subsistence lifestyle. They eat a lot of the food you gather, salmon and such too, all year around... a snowmachine you can walk away from in the spring... And if the bears didn't eat the seat and cowling off, it was ready to go in the fall....

[RayinAK]

Starlite9,

You have mede some excellent points.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by starlite9

Well that is partly right, but not completely. Although there was a lot of bad brought into the local Natives when the they first met those from other lands here in Alaska, it was the Russians first, then the Yankee Whalers and so forth.

But they also died before most would make it to forty years old, and now they live into their 80's.

That was true of the Russians and the Yankee whalers too. The Russians sent commercial expeditions to Alaska that generally lasted three years, and on the average 1/3rd of the crew survived to make it back to Russia.

Read "Chills and Fever: Health and Disease in the Early History of Alaska" by Dr. Robert Fortuine (formerly the head of the old ANS hospital in Anchorage). Generally Native people of Alaska were, at contact, on an equal footing with Europeans in terms of health. One difference was that poor sanitation in Europe over the centuries had caused epidemic spread of infectious diseases, which of course they spread around the world.

Get to see their grand children and great grand children.Unlike in the "Olden Days" when times were hard, the elders that couldn't work/hunt/gather, and the very young female babies were left to die because they couldn't feed everyone.

Wrong, wrong, and one right.

The average lifespan was about 40 years, but the average person who lived to be 20 years old certainly was likely to live far past 40 years. They were fairly likely to see great great grandchildren.

It is simply false that Native Alaskans did not care for elders. That is a the European tradition, not an Alaskan one. Read a wonderful book, "Two Old Women" by Velma Wallis to understand why. Killing elders would be the same as burning a library!

One thing that did happen was infanticide, and it was more likely in many cultures to be female babies that were unwanted.

The young boy babies were to grow up to be the hunters, so they were rasied at all costs for the future of the clan.

Actually that is an ignorant statement based on your Western value system. In fact among many Native Alaskans the society is matrilinial, which means that a young man becomes part of his wife's family. In those societies (e.g., in Eskimo cultures) it was actually more desirable to have female children than males, as far as preparation for old age when your children will take care of you.

Living the subsistence lifestyle is not all that it is cracked up to be, it is a very hard life. You worked from dawn to dusk to store up enough food to get you through winter, or you died. In some cases, the whole village would be hurting if a couple of people didn't pull their weight.

Speculation on your part! But not exactly an accurate bit of fantacy either...

A lot of bad has happened in all cultures, but also a lot of good that people seem to have forgotten. And that changing of the tides is going on still today all over the world. But the modern world in the bush isn't all a bad thing.

You did get that right.

In the Subsistance days when a spear and a bow were the common weapon, the bears were pretty hard on the locals, and to this day the natives still keep that fear of them. The modern rifle helped tilt that food group back to the local indians side verses the bears....

By the way, being dependent on snowmachines isn't all that bad of a thing, do you have any idea of what it takes to keep a dog team when you have a subsistence lifestyle. They eat a lot of the food you gather, salmon and such too, all year around... a snowmachine you can walk away from in the spring... And if the bears didn't eat the seat and cowling off, it was ready to go in the fall....

True, but snowmachines and four wheelers also require food. They won't take you home if you don't know where you are, you can't get warm from a snowmachine, and you can't eat one either.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Starlite9,

You have mede some excellent points.

But as usualy, you can't tell the difference between fantacy and fact. Great stories, made up as a fantacy, that are passed off as fact are very detrimental to maintaining a functional multicultural society.

[Metlakatla]

Read a wonderful book, "Two Old Women" by Velma Wallis to understand why.

That was an excellent book.

[Siouxcia]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

That was an excellent book.

I enjoyed that book as well!!

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

But as usualy, you can't tell the difference between fantacy and fact. Great stories, made up as a fantacy, that are passed off as fact are very detrimental to maintaining a functional multicultural society.

But as usual (not "usually," by the way), you express your domineering personality. Are only your views true? Do you really believe that you are perfect like a God?

The person I responded to (Starlite9), made several points I agree with. That's my story, and I am sticking to it.

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

But as usual (not "usually," by the way), you express your domineering personality. Are only your views true? Do you really believe that you are perfect like a God?

The person I responded to (Starlite9), made several points I agree with. That's my story, and I am sticking to it.

Chauvinism and a spelling flame all mixed into one post...

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Siouxcia

I enjoyed that book as well!!

The book is itself the bundle of babiche!

(A reference only understood by those who have read the book, but babiche is for making ties that bind... whether it be literally when making a dog sled, or figuratively when writing a book about connections between generations in order to bring cultures closer together!)

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

The book is itself the bundle of babiche!

(A reference only understood by those who have read the book, but babiche is for making ties that bind... whether it be literally when making a dog sled, or figuratively when writing a book about connections between generations in order to bring cultures closer together!)

I like that word 'babiche.'