Volume 25 Number 3
May 1986

Gary C. Anders

WHEN PRESIDENT NIXON SIGNED the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) (P.L. 92-203) on December 18, 1971, he initiated a social experiment that would have far reaching consequences both for the State of Alaska and its Native population. ANCSA mandated the creation of 200 village and 13 regional corporations for Alaska's Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians. Furthermore, it empowered these entities with land (43.7 million acres) and money ($962.5 million) for the purpose of promoting Native social and economic development. This Act, involving a long negotiated set of compromises between both Natives and Congress as well as between internal factions, settled a land use conflict that can be traced historically to the 1867 Russian/American Treaty of Cession. It is generally understood that ANCSA was a legal quick fix to a complex problem--one which concretely secured a right-of-way for big oil companies to build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (Hanrahan and Gruenstein, 1972).

The purpose of this article is three-fold. First, it examines major implications of ANCSA to establish a realistic appreciation of the settlement and its consequences. Second, it interprets the meaning of an emerging set of outcomes regarding the Alaska Natives and State development. A third but more complex task is to familiarize interested readers with the powerful combination of social and economic forces that operate in frontier societies like Alaska.

This work challenges preconceived notions about economic development approaches. Furthermore, it considers the increasingly harmful psychological effects of imposed economic dependence of Natives upon the growing array of state and federal programs. After identifying various unsuccessful or maladoptive response mechanisms, it calls for a rethinking of the dynamics of rapid social change, and a reformulation of certain accepted orientations.

This article is the last in a four part series on Alaska Natives and the claims settlement. In the three earlier papers (see: Anders, 1983, 1985, 1986), 1 reviewed the conflicts and contradictions of the Act, compared ANCSA with other Federal Indian policies, and documented the apparent failure of many ANCSA corporations (both village and regional) to live up to the expectations of Congress and the Native Alaskan shareholders. Here, the theme of "logical consequences" is used to present a scenario of historical and economic significance. This approach is justified on the basis of the existing economic and social dynamics described in this paper that have also been closely scrutinized in numerous other settings. Simply stated, the goal of the work is to present a reasonably accurate vision of the reality created by government policy, and to examine the appropriateness of the implicit assumptions on which such policies are predicated.

As we now understand it, the phenomenon of economic development is a multifaceted process involving political, social, cultural, psychological, and perhaps spiritual aspects (Todaro, 1981). Given this, it is possible to differentiate between economic growth on one hand, which implies increasing productivity, and development on the other, which incorporates broader goals such as distributional equity and social equality. Until recently, most writers equated most development with growth, and staunchly advocated policies supporting aid, technological transfers, and models based upon the American experience with industrialization (Gill, 1973).

In the international community, some aid donors sought alternative approaches, but unfortunately, most of them almost blindly endorsed the aid/industrialization mentality--encouraging huge capital investment projects in far flung provinces around the Third World. In the face of overwhelming failures and several continents, new positions emerged as rival "paradigms" (Weaver and Jameson: 1979), and have articulated a new philosophy symbolized by the term "basic needs." Yet, while the pace of development rethinking has quickened in a search for more effective ways to create economic opportunities for the poor in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the same thinking that dominated the literature in the 1950s and 1960s is currently being applied (also with little success) in rural Alaska.

For one to fully appreciate the situation in Alaska, it must be recognized that, while in some ways similar to other cases, the problems faced by Natives tend to be unique. Therefore, models of development and development theories based upon African, Asian or even Latin American experiences offer little or limited usefulness. For example, most underdeveloped regions have large populations and small resource endowments. The opposite is the case in Alaska. Furthermore, Alaskan institutions are relatively new and lack the formalized structural arrangements inherent in the evolution of post-colonial countries. In addition, the Native population is significant to all aspects of political, cultural and economic life, even though many constituents suffer increasing marginalization from the processes of rapid social change.

Not so long ago subsistence oriented lifestyles were not only common in Alaska but, to a large measure, were preferred by both whites and Natives. These Alaskan life styles were sustained by values and traditions based upon hard work, self-sufficiency, and interdependence. In the face of increasing urbanization and prosperity based upon oil revenues, prominent Native leaders lost sight of the social elements that functioned to keep the rural villages intact. Extreme climates, expansive distances, and cultural isolation also encouraged a view that rural Natives deserved additional public resources. The oil economy of Alaska created opportunities that simply were not possible elsewhere. Existence of abundant public revenues was subsequently responsible for engendering an increasingly socialistic environment. Even now, when economic downturns make an expanding government bureaucracy all the more impractical, a significant number of people will never seriously consider a return to self-sufficiency, though they may ultimately be forced to do so by resource exhaustion.

For many Alaska Natives still rooted (at least in some villages) to the subsistence lifestyle, the changes brought in by oil revenues, state spending, and the land claims have not been good. The economic processes devised to expand the development of the state's human service delivery systems have brought new consumer goods and technologies that radicalized time orientations and undermined traditional work patterns (Anders, 1983). For young natives, the boredom and monotony of Arctic life grinds away at their spirit. For them, isolation from the city creates feelings of anxiety as satellites and television bring images of intriguing, far away places (Hills and Morgan, 1981).

Two role models are consistently applied to young Native Alaskans. The first is that of the traditional hunter and village leader, a person with a strong sense of the natural order and the cultural traditions that have bonded people to the environment for countless generations. The second, more difficult to describe because it lacks historical connotations, is that of the corporate Native. This stereotype blends the tundra tradition with Wall Street. A characterization includes astute knowledge of corporations, high finance, and big money projects. Debonair, articulate, and urbane, this role model stresses all the style implied by the term, "Brooks Brothers Native." Between these traditional and corporate extremes, there are few other roles for Native high school age villagers. This phenomenon is largely due to the impact of the various media and a glorification of stereotypes by their own corporation's public relations efforts.

Unfortunately, few rural Natives actually learn the necessary survival skills to effectively participate in either of these two modes. For instance, modern Native education requires the student's physical presence for about seven hours per day. Formerly, this time would have been spent learning traditional survival skills. All too frequently, however the educational system of small village schools only succeeds in breaking down the traditional learning process without replacing it with an acceptable alternative (Carnoy, 1974).

At the present time, of approximately 75,000 Alaska Natives, one-half live in rural villages ranging in population from a few hundred to a few thousand. A general description of a typical village is given by Ruddy and Rowan (1975:6-7) as a collection of houses, some log, but mostly frame today, with less than 300 inhabitants, and usually located on a waterway (the sea, the lake, or river) which provides both subsistence and transportation. A village in rural Alaska usually has a store, a community hall, a church and a school. At least two-thirds of the village population depends upon imported foodstuffs. Cash needed to purchase imported consumption items and durables comes from a few permanent jobs, but mainly seasonal jobs (construction, fishing, fire fighting, and trapping) or welfare (Marshall, 1985).

Traditionally, rural communities depended upon hunting, fishing, whaling, and other types of subsistence activities for all their material needs. With the introduction of modern western culture and technologies, the villages of rural Alaska are experiencing an even deeper emersion into the welfare state. At the very heart of this process is the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), which has been responsible for creating new expectations and demands among Native shareholders. Cultural values long embedded in every facet of the social fabric of Native communities have been affected. Due to the power of these influences and the intrusiveness of the dominant society, social tensions are exacerbated. Migration and ensuing family break-ups undermine community social structures. Traditional subsistence efforts are squeezed by growing cash demands and even the economic transfers to villagers in the form of dividends, grants and welfare wind up in the hands of white commercial interests at the expense of Native self-sufficiency (Anders, 1985).

As noted by Leighton and Smith, 1955, these patterns of social change include:

The high rates of Alaska Native suicide (37 per 100,000) attest to the failure and frustrations of Natives to define more meaningful lives (ISER, 1984). Such a sad situation is further aggravated by those Natives who get swallowed up in the cities' bars, flop houses, and trailer courts. Stress borne out of rapid social change and marginalization from the social patterns that have bonded Natives into cohesive units often leads to alienation, estrangement, crime, and self-destruction. For those on the outside of this turbulent situation, it appears that the overriding goal of survival has been abandoned. Native comprehension of these changes has been shattered by a pervasive educational system which is supposedly designed to improve their ability to cope.

It is hard to ignore such desperate conditions, given that Alaska Natives have the opportunity to create an economic distribution system capable of offering each member at least a minimum level of material goods and essential services necessary for a comfortable existence. Even a brief survey of local resource base is enough to suggest the abundant wealth contained in the sea or on the land. But already, more than fifteen years of activity after the land claims settlement, it is becoming clear that the unstructured approaches taken by the Native corporations are largely failing.

Instead of working in their behalf, educational and social welfare programs have, in many instances, made life worse for Alaska Natives. The old religious concepts, though somewhat still feared, have been almost completely absorbed by Western religion, while the old skills that are still appropriate are seldom taught to the young. Tanning and skin sewing, beadwork, ivory carving, music, dancing, snowshoe and sled making are dying crafts. The old means for achieving status and self-esteem are lacking and the new ones--the white man's-are not readily available because the existing educational delivery system does not adequately prepare most Natives to compete in the urban context. According to Holthaus and Collins (1981: 10), "the result of our effort thus far has been that we destroyed a culture, created a poor self-image among the survivors, and made illusory the idea that education will help people toward a better life."

Many young natives are seeking education with the expectation of eventually working for their corporation or the State. Unfortunately, high attrition has claimed many promising young Natives--labeling them "failures and drop-outs. "This situation is intensified by a fundamental conflict over the perception of reality as inculcated in an irrelevant curriculum, counterproductive delivery systems, and teachers made dysfunctional by their social situation in the village. For example:

Jones (1974:11) points out that isolation further increases the frustrations associated with city life. Natives, such as students at the university, must learn how to cross streets, respond to traffic signals, use buses, taxis, telephones, and electrical appliances, manage checking accounts, pay monthly bills, and make selections from a bewildering range of choices. Yet there exists an equally powerful set of forces working against development in rural Alaska. The following list identifies some of the more obvious examples:

Previous to white colonization, Alaska Natives (with notable exceptions of the Southeast Indian tribes) lived in relatively small semi-nomadic bands. A great deal could have been learned from an in-depth understanding of how these arctic societies functioned, but the pervasive influence of various white institutions (whaling, missionaries, traders, Indian agents and miners, to name a few) has profoundly affected Native communities. Consider the point made by Holthaus and Collins (1981, 19).

Without established permanent community social controls, and with growing cash needs despite high unemployment, the old ways are disappearing, and new ones are not readily attainable. The old promise that education will make life better is perceived as empty and untrustworthy.

As Bodley (1983:1) points out, "the problem must be viewed in a long-term perspective as a struggle between two basically incompatible cultural systems." The ensuing conflict is a product of a larger fight for control of the land and natural resource base.

Writers familiar with the history of Native American development consistently emphasize its colonial economic relationship with the Federal Government and the ensuing dependence (Dryzek and Young, 1981). The internal colonial model also offers some meaningful insights on the development and underdevelopment of Native communities in Alaska. As conceptualized in the literature, internal colonialism refers to a set of unequal power relations that provide the means for resource extraction to benefit a nonresident metropolitan group. Extreme social problems brought about by these intrusions into the Native community are interconnected with the consequences of rapid social change. Significantly higher rates of alcoholism, domestic violence, and suicide all attest to the growing problem. Comparisons with reservation Indians suggest certain parallels (Bee and Gingerich, 1977). The rough description provides a general understanding of the basic structure of economic relations; however, the unique situation of Alaska Natives as a minority within the internal colonial framework requires a more careful analysis of the resource transfer mechanisms.

This analysis suggests that there is a strong connection between these social problems and the forced integration of Alaska Natives into an economy dominated by corporations and state agencies. Internal colonization, as it has been refined through numerous case studies, offers a new perspective on the problem of continuing underdevelopment among Alaska Natives. By focusing on the historical colonial relations between peoples and regions of the world economy, it is possible to explain how economic forces controlled by metropolitan interests and the State conditioned the development of export enclaves. Social theorists interpret the process of regional growth in terms of complex interrelations between both political and economic spheres of influence which access peripheral resources. Various writers have extended such analysis to include evolutions of colonialism--moving from classic to internal forms of control (Thomas, 1967).

While many of the typical characteristics of underdeveloped Third World societies exist in rural Alaska (e.g. economic dualism), the important feature in the Alaska Native case is the cultural conflict engendered by the expansion of the welfare state economy into areas previously characterized by self-sufficient traditional economies. For thousands of years, Native people of the North have lived in a close association with nature. Now they are being told, in no uncertain terms, that they must change--they must adapt themselves to white ways in order to survive.

The importance of the Alaska Native situation to other developing areas is based on the realization that for the first time in modern history an indigenous people have been empowered with financial means and natural resources which provide an endowment for real development. If some of the Alaska Native corporations survive the formative period while at the same time maintaining their Native identity, they may well serve as a model for other groups (Berger, 1985).

Like those of other indigenous societies, Alaska Native traditions are borne from centuries of living with the land. If a meaningful development is to be achieved, it can only come from ways that harmonize with the past (Burton, 1985:1105). To most rural Natives, modern urban America offers only a narrow set of possibilities: human beings reduced to unit-object relationships, with strong forces of selfishness and materialism dominant. Resentment arising from an inability to reconcile Native cultural values with those of the modern society are not easy to resolve.

As we have observed over the past decade, large scale projects and accompanying employment have brought many thousands of new people to Alaska. In the villages, the influence of white educators has long been recognized as a threat and a powerful force capable of reshaping local policies. In Alaska, outmigration from Native villages typically constitutes a real loss of those with the highest potential for making a contribution to the community. Given the economic requirements needed to generate employment, it is therefore necessary that a concerted effort be made by educators to increase the employability of Alaska Natives in their home communities and regional centers through vocational based teaching. Unless a balanced program of local wage jobs can be implemented, the social problems, both rural and urban, are likely to grow.

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Gary C. Anders is an Associate Professor in the School of Business and Public Administration at University of Alaska, Juneau. Professor Anders received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Notre Dame, in 1979. He has taught at George Mason University, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and served as a Faculty Fellow to the U. S. General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C.