Article
Schools, settlement, and sanitation in Alaska native villages
Ethnohistory
(1999)
Abstract
The effective adaptation to a harsh and seasonal environment represented by the mobility of traditional Alaska Native communities has been undermined and replaced with the "persistent village." Traditional settlement sites typically were selected for their access to food and other subsistence resources. Early correspondence and reports from the federal Bureau of Education illustrate the important role that schools often played in the consolidation of Native populations. In response to the establishment of schools, among several other influences, permanent villages developed and increased in size. Providing sanitation services was considered by educators to be a central part of their broad mission to improve the life of the Native population, and sanitation was a major focus of teachers' and administrators' activities. However, many of the village sites that had been suitable for temporary or seasonal use by a relatively small population were not well suited-due to geographic considerations such as soils, topography, or remote location-to adequate sanitation for a year-round, larger population. As schools contributed to the consolidation of settlements, they helped situate today's remote Alaska villages that now face numerous economic, social, and political challenges, including providing reliable and affordable sanitation.
Keywords
- Alaskan Native settlements,
- Permanent villages,
- Rural sanitation issues,
- School services
Disciplines
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Publisher Statement
Published by Duke University Press
Citation Information
Berardi, G. (1999). Schools, Settlement, and Sanitation in Alaska Native Villages. Ethnohistory, 46(2), 329-359. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/482964