Nets’aii Gwich’in leadership sought greater centralized control of village resident behaviors as well during this time. The Arctic Village Council—elected annually and comprised of a First and Second Chief, six members, and an alternate (“Village Focus” 1991)—took on the increasing role of providing moral, as well as legal, guidance. Historically, the chief acted as a representative, chosen by the group for his knowledge and courage in hunting and conflict with neighboring tribes (Osgood 1936: 129). In this regard, the new leadership model was not unlike the Nets’aii Gwich’in’s traditional model, in which large groupings of bands (of ten to fifty unrelated families temporarily organized for major functions such as hunting, warfare, or trading) were led by administrator-style leaders, who “directed rather than participated in all major tasks” (Slobodin 1981: 522).
In essence, then, two trends began to emerge during the post-1970 period. First, Western elements of “modernity” arrived in Arctic Village, in the form of new technologies, values, and lifestyles. Second, political activity heightened in the village and broader community, as the Nets’aii Gwich’in struggled to fend off outside political control of their lives, while exercising social control within the community itself. While the Alaskan Gwich’in community underwent great change since European contact and especially since World War II, the Nets’aii Gwich’in of Arctic Village clearly remained just that—strong and proud members of the Gwich’in people. This sense of Gwich’in identity and purpose stemmed from the internal strength of the people and their rich history and culture, as well as from their ability to socially and politically mold newly imposed Western-style values and systems to further their own purposes. Perhaps this is best revealed by the voluntary adoption of a Western innovation—community planning—as a vehicle through which to perpetuate traditional Nets’aii Gwich’in values and ideals.
By the late 1980s, the community had changed in innumerable ways, and the village was, to a great degree, unrecognizable when compared to conditions just two or three decades earlier. Yet, one may still question whether, and to what extent, the village itself was by this point functioning as a single entity with one voice, one identity, one direction. This issue will be taken up in detail in chapter 4, but before doing so, I digress in the pages that follow by addressing how two primary institutions, the Church and the school, played a central role in the ongoing social and economic evolution and development of the Nets’aii Gwich’in community. As will be quite evident, these two institutions together both reflected and formulated the early years of growth and expansion in Arctic Village. Without a doubt, the impact of their role can be felt to the present day.
CHAPTER 2
Episcopalianism Comes to Nets’aii Country
Gwich’in Christianity has become a way to affirm and embrace the old ways and the new ways, without losing cultural cohesiveness and solidarity. The Gwich’in are brilliant theologians. Gwich’in traditional culture is much closer to Christianity and Jesus than the dominating culture—Christian or not.
— Rev. Mark MacDonald, Bishop of Alaska (2001)
It is impossible to separate the settlement of the Nets’aii Gwich’in at Arctic Village from the concomitant arrival of Episcopalian Christianity to the region. What is significant and must be kept in mind here is that, unlike other aspects of imposed colonial culture, the Christian Church remains exceptional in the community as an institution that, despite its White European origins, is still largely loved and embraced by most, though not all, community members. The reasons, I contend, for why the Church in specific and Christianity in general are able to enjoy this exceptional status are rooted in their history and in how they came into the community from the outset.
In this chapter, I set out to look at the history of Christianity’s arrival to the Yukon Flats region, specifically Arctic Village. However, this religion’s appearance cannot be separated from a significant and charismatic figure in village history, Albert E. Tritt—nor, as one of the founding fathers of the village, can Tritt’s role be overstated. Yet, those who saw him as a role model—in terms of his position as both a religious and political leader—were at times at odds with other community members. This “rift” of sorts within the community was to play out throughout the twentieth century (Nickelson 2013); Tritt’s family was often in conflict with other village residents (G. James 2002), creating an uneasy dynamic.
Further still, Tritt’s building of the Bishop Rowe Chapel secured his role in the community and, further, finally made permanent the settlement of the Nets’aii Gwich’in at Arctic Village. In turn, the building also further concretized the role of Christianity within the community. The triangular relationship of the institution of Episcopalian Christianity, the leadership of Rev. Albert E. Tritt, and the physical presence of the Bishop Rowe Chapel together served as key anchors in the social development of what would eventually become the permanent community of Arctic Village, Alaska.
Traditional Nets’aii Gwich’in Spirituality
It is rather difficult to acquire information about Nets’aii Gwich’in spirituality prior to the arrival of Christianity that is not filtered through the perspective of outside or White observers. Relatively little is known among the community members themselves. Understanding of the pre-Christian period was limited at best. As one elder put it: “They were good people, but they didn’t know the Christian way. You do something wrong and you die. You’re stuck. If you fool around, you’re not living very long. That’s what the old people told the young” (I. Tritt 1987b).
One excellent source of information about the days before European contact is Johnny Frank’s testimony, found in Neerihiinjik, edited by Craig Mishler. Quoting Frank at length:
In those days, we didn’t know anything about God. Still, something really odd happened. People still say there is no secret about us up in heaven. But besides this they also talked about the Devil … The Russians were the first to help the Indians around here. We also heard that after them the English people landed somewhere down that way. But we didn’t get any help from them. Because of them many Alaskan Indians died off from all the diseases they brought over. But before that, our people didn’t die from diseases, and people didn’t get hurt. And it was really because of lots of people that they lived so well.
Nobody knows how long there have been men on this earth. Even the small animals that were alive back then were people, they say. The wolverines, the wolves, and the brown bears were all people. Even the foxes were people. The fish in the water were people, they say. But there were no moose in those days. They say all the animals died from the great flood long, long ago … In those days all the fish and all the small animals and big animals were human. And yet they all spoke one language, they say. (1995: 17, 19, 21)
Another noted exception is the Arctic Village minister and traditional chief Rev. Trimble Gilbert, one of the very few village residents who is familiar with the pre-Christian era and who acknowledges that this period even existed (Hadleigh-West 1963: 36). Understandably, however, his perspective concerning the early days before contact tends to emphasize the degree to which the arrival of Christianity was a positive force (Gilbert 1996). For example, he writes that early on, before Christianity arrived in the region, life was very difficult for the Nets’aii Gwich’in, and many struggled and starved:
And there’s a lot of different ways that people have problems during that time. And when Jesus was preaching on his sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter five and Jesus was talking about the pour people, the ones that are really thirsty, people suffering, there are many different ways people suffer in there before Jesus come and Jesus talk about people. That’s the same way I look at that [period] now [before the] first clergy arrive from Canada. People love to hear it, the Word of God, and they all believed, have true faith. Once they hear the good news. And they really become, they all become very strong Christians in this
