The Memory of Alaskan Indigenous Groups, Politics, and the Economy

By Anonymous

    Unfortunately, memory relies on the economy and politics. People see memory as something individual, but when it comes to culture and identity, there is an emphasis on the collective memory of groups. Marginalized groups struggle with keeping collective memory, and they rely on money. This year the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage received a gift of 1,700 objects from Wells Fargo after they shut down another museum (Small 2022).  Wells Fargo closed down the museum due to the coronavirus pandemic (Small 2022). The massive donation of artifacts allowed the center Alaska Native Heritage Center to expand its programming and work with the community (Small 2022).

    Before we dive deeper into the story, I will introduce a concept from Robin Autry that will help us understand how the political economy shapes memory. In her article “The Political Economy of Memory'', Autry highlights how money determines the outcome of museums and memory. Although her concepts are largely focused on how museums show depictions of painful histories, her concepts help explain the politics of museums. Autry says, “In addition to the effect of professionalization on content, I find that social movements, identity-based politics, political leadership, economic opportunity, and urban change determine trajectories of cultural production at museums”(Autry 2012:62). The first example of this is with the center in Alaska. Without the donations from Wells Fargo, the center would not have been able to expand on its own. The donations were made due to leadership and identity-based politics. This is important because Wells Fargo could have chosen not to donate the artifacts, but they did. 

    Additionally, the massive influx of artifacts made it difficult for the staff at the center to stay updated and operating (Small 2022). But thankfully the center received grants from another organization which helped the museum stay open (Small 2022). Usually, the museum relies on federal grants and donations, but those are not a regular influx of money (Small 2022). In the article, it was mentioned that in 2019 the governor of Alaska used his veto power to try to remove arts funding, which would negatively impact the museum (Small 2022). However, the veto was overridden (Small 2022). If the veto had gone through and the arts funding was removed, then the museum would not have survived. The museum relies on grants and donations to stay running. 

    Part of the issue is that Alaskan indigenous groups are not recognized. Edenshaw who sits on the state of Alaska’s tourism board stated that Alaska has one of the highest percentages of Native Americans in the United States, but that the state does not do enough to promote that cultural identity (Small 2022). He also mentioned that although the state does try to support the indigenous groups of Alaska with funding, their marketing is largely focused on brown bears, Denali, and fishing: “Where are the Indigenous people?... Our stories, if they are told, aren’t even told by us.” (Small 2022). 

    Despite getting a generous amount of funding, the museum is not enough to alone promote the indigenous identity of Alaska. As Edenshaw has noted, the state mostly focuses on tourism attractions, not native people. This all has to do with the politics of Alaska and how they choose to govern the state. It seems that indigenous people are not a priority to them. While the museum has had success, there is still a lot of structural work to be done for indigenous groups in Alaska to gain recognition and have their stories told the right way. 

References:

Small, Zachary. 2022. “As One Alaskan Museum Closed, a Native Heritage Center Prospered.” The New York Times, April 19. Retrieved May 9, 2022 (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/arts/design/alaska-heritage-center-gift.html).

Autry, Robyn. “The Political Economy of Memory: The Challenges of Representing National Conflict at ‘Identity Drive’ Museums.” Theory and Society  42, 57-80. doi:10.1007/s11186-012-9185-5. 





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