Indigenous Culture
RSSAlaska Native language revitalization, cultural events, Native Youth Olympics, dance groups, repatriation, elder knowledge, place-name restoration
Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik
The Native Village of Paimiut gets $900,000 to teach the Hooper Bay dialect of Yup'ik. The tribe says 72 elders are its last first-language speakers.
by Maggie AlaskaNews7h ago2 min read
Sitka Tribe and Metlakatla May Request Return of 11 Ancestors and 16 Items in October
Four museums and federal agencies hold at least 11 Alaska Native ancestors and 16 cultural items the Sitka Tribe and Metlakatla may request returned starting in October.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago3 min read
Federal notices clear 11 Sitka ancestors for return
Two federal notices make at least 11 ancestors and 11 funerary objects eligible for return to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
A Dena'ina artist's work is headed for downtown Anchorage's signs
Dena'ina artist Sebastian Garber's MOA50 designs reach downtown Anchorage's wayfinding signs next year, drawing on Indigenous quillwork patterns.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Unalaska student wins national naval history award for Angoon bombardment project
Unalaska student River Zaochney won a national Naval History Award for a project on the 1882 Navy bombardment of Angoon, a Tlingit village the Navy formally apologized for in 2024.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
Remains of at least 10 and an 1895 mortuary pole can return to Sitka Tribe after Oct. 16
Tongass National Forest cleared remains of at least 10 Native individuals for return to Sitka Tribe of Alaska starting October 16, including a mortuary pole held since 1895.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
House passes Begich bill to open treaty talks with Japan over Alaska Native handicrafts made with bird parts
Alaska Native artists can use feathers from 27 bird species in work they sell. A House bill would open the door to more, by way of talks with Japan.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
A Doyon director steps off the board to lead its scholarship foundation
Geri Simon stepped down from the board of Doyon, Limited — Alaska's largest private landowner — to lead its scholarship foundation, leaving a seat to fill.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Museums have cleared 46 Alaska Native ancestors to come home
At least 46 Alaska Native ancestors and 14 belongings have been cleared to come home. Twelve of the dates they could have left have already passed.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min read
Wrangell elder's headpiece cleared for return from Wisconsin museum
A Tlingit headpiece worn by Tom Ukas can return to Alaska from a Wisconsin museum starting Sept. 23 after federal review confirmed it holds human remains and belonged to the Wrangell elder.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
Federal grant will test a Yup'ik healing framework against homelessness
Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness won $450,000 to serve Alaska Native households facing homelessness through case management and traditional Yup'ik healing practices through August 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
You can name your own price to see the Tlingit opera in Juneau
The closing performance of Juneau's Tlingit opera is entirely pay-as-you-can at the door, with limited pay-as-you-can seats at four other performances.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago1 min read
The Tlingit & Haida tribal government opposes opening the Tongass
Tlingit & Haida opposes lifting Tongass road limits. Native corporations once cut more than half the region's timber, then left the business entirely.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read
Tanana Chiefs holds first culture camp for K-6 students
Tanana Chiefs Conference held its first culture camp for K-6 students in Fairbanks, teaching Athabascan languages, potlatch dancing and traditional skills, with plans to repeat annually.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min read
Army plans to return four Alaska children's remains from Carlisle
The Army began disinterring four Alaska Native children from a Pennsylvania cemetery in September to return their remains to families, more than 120 years after they died at a federal boarding school.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min read
Chugachmiut's Sugt'stun language game gets new gameplay footage
Nunaka means my village in Sugt'stun. It is also a free game teaching the language to children in a region where fluent speakers are dwindling.
by Alaska News3w ago2 min read
A Sugpiaq artist who works in fish skin is in residency in Sitka
Sugpiaq artist Larissa Kramer, who works in fish skin, resin and botanicals, gives two free talks in Sitka this month during a museum residency.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min read
Tlingit opera adds program guide and pre-show storyteller for audiences who do not speak the language
Alaska's first all-Tlingit opera adds program guides and a pre-show storyteller so non-speakers can follow the 1802-1804 Tlingit-Russian War told in the language itself, running Sept. 11-20 in Juneau.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sealaska Heritage president says Tlingit-Russian War story belongs to all clans, not Kiks.ádi alone
Sealaska Heritage says the Tlingit-Russian War story belongs to all clans and Haidas, not the Kiks.ádi alone, ahead of the opera's September premiere in Tlingit.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Creators of first Tlingit opera take public questions Thursday in Juneau
Juneau can meet the team behind the first Tlingit opera in recorded history at a free panel Thursday, ahead of the Tlingit-language work's premiere next month.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Tlingit law student Gloria Wolfe wins the Judson L. Brown Leadership Award
Tlingit law student Gloria Wolfe won the 2026 Judson L. Brown Leadership Award and $5,000 scholarship for her work leading Indigenous organizations and founding a consulting practice.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The State Fair is open now
The Alaska State Fair is back in Palmer through Sept. 7 — a stacked concert lineup, giant cabbages and pumpkins, carnival rides and fair food.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Tlingit infant, held for years in a Seattle museum, is coming home to Petersburg
A Tlingit infant girl whose remains were held for years in a Seattle museum is returning home to Petersburg, where her tribe will welcome her Sept. 4.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Yaadás clan historian says he only recently traced how his clan got the beaver crest
Yaadás clan historian Benjamin Young recently traced two competing accounts of how his Haida clan acquired the beaver crest, one from early ethnography and one from fur trade history.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sealaska Heritage honors four Southeast educators at Juneau conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute awarded four Southeast Alaska educators for weaving Indigenous knowledge into classrooms at its annual conference in Juneau.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 1mo ago1 min read
A Tsimshian carver, accused of inventing clan stories, is affirmed by another clan
Accused by some in his own community of inventing Tsimshian migration stories, carver David Boxley was publicly affirmed by a Wrangell clan that shares them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sealaska Heritage publishes fifth graders' documentary on Walter Soboleff
Auke Bay Elementary students produced a documentary on Dr. Walter Soboleff. The film fills a gap in classroom history materials.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Sealaska Heritage concludes ninth annual education conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute concluded its ninth annual education conference in Juneau, drawing hundreds of educators from Alaska and beyond for sessions on culturally responsive teaching.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A Haida class spends two years recovering a 74-line migration story
A Haida class spent two years retranscribing a single 74-line migration story, uncovering meaning a century-old English translation had flattened — and connecting a scattered Haida diaspora through the work.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Juneau's casino opened on shifting ground and now faces suits on two fronts
Juneau's tribal casino opened through a federal opening since rescinded, and now faces the state, a family lawsuit and doubt about whether it's even legal.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Dorothy Grant's 40 years of Haida design come home to Juneau
Four decades of Dorothy Grant's Haida fashion, including a wedding dress on loan from the Smithsonian, are on view in Juneau through Oct. 17. Free for anyone under 18.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
The first Tlingit opera in recorded history opens in Juneau next month
The first Tlingit opera in recorded history opens in Juneau Sept. 11 — in the Tlingit language, telling the Tlingit-Russian War from the Tlingit side.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Haida class returns a 1901 migration story to its own language
A century-old Kaigani migration story, recorded by an outside ethnologist, is back in X̱aad Kíl. The teacher behind the translation speaks in Juneau Aug. 3.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Deadline TONIGHT for Park Service tribal heritage preservation grants
Alaska tribes, Native villages and corporations have until 7:59 p.m. Monday to apply for Park Service grants preserving oral histories and sacred places.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Tlingit artist warns AI hiring tools are already screening out job seekers of color
Tlingit photographer Larry McNeil warned that AI hiring tools already screen out job seekers of color, keeping them unemployed longer. • AI-generated artist statements are appearing in college applications, raising questions about authenticity in creative fields. • AI cannot replicate the precision of formline art, producing cartoonish results instead.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Three art commission calls open to Alaska Native and American Indian artists close by Aug. 14
Three art commissions for Alaska Native and American Indian artists close by Aug. 14, with two deadlines on July 31: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium seeks proposals for a skilled nursing facility, and Ketchikan's Totem Heritage Center seeks a 50th anniversary design. Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage is also commissioning artwork, deadline Aug. 14. Alaska Literary Awards applications close Aug. 17.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Tlingit & Haida leaders ask tourists to stop using totem poles as social media props
Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian leaders are asking tourists to stop using totem poles as social media backdrops, saying the carved poles hold sacred stories and ancestors, not Instagram props.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
How a borrowed good-luck charm became Bering Strait ivory art
A grinning good-luck charm invented Outside became a Bering Strait ivory art form — thanks to master carver Happy Jack, who made the borrowed Billiken his own.
by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A Nome teacher heads to Stanford to rethink how schools teach
A Nome reading teacher is off to Stanford for a Ph.D. — studying how Inuit knowledge and values can be built into what schools actually teach.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
A Tlingit artist crossed the border to teach Anchorage kids an ancient craft
A Tlingit artist traveled from British Columbia to Anchorage to teach kids the ancient art of bentwood box making — a watertight box bent from a single seamless plank.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
