An official website of the United States government
This Indigenous-led project aims to better understand historical and contemporary ways in which Alaska Native Peoples steward salmon and the values connected to salmon stewardship. Indigenous Peoples have stewarded Alaska lands and waters for thousands of years yet have been largely excluded from western science and management systems. In this project, we utilize a participatory approach that allows for the equitable valuing of ideas and knowledges to document the breadth and depth of Yup'ik and Athabascan knowledge and governance systems in southwestern Alaska. We reshape research methodologies by centering Indigenous frameworks and methodologies, including circle dialogues and multi-generational interviews led by Indigenous scholars and students in their home communities and regions. In this paper, we share the Yup'ik and Athabascan values, knowledge, management, and governance mechanisms that can improve the long-term sustainability and equity of Alaska salmon systems. This research elevates the voices of Alaska Native salmon stewards and experts from the Kuskokwim Bay and the Kuskokwim River. We elaborate on five key themes that emerged from this research, including traditional Indigenous ways of life, Indigenous stewardship, self-determination, food and livelihood sovereignty, and ecosystem changes, and identify a more equitable and sustainable path forward for salmon and people in Alaska.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on December 31, 2026
Remaking research relationality: Tribal and youth engagement in fisheries research
This paper presents methodological research approaches utilised with Indigenous communities in the Kuskokwim Region of southwestern Alaska. The project is situated in the communities of Kongiganak, Quinhagak, Bethel, Aniak, and McGrath, spanning the Kuskokwim Bay and Kuskokwim River, and with Alaska Native Peoples who have been Salmon Peoples and stewards of their ancestral homelands since time immemorial. We specifically expand upon methodologies that have made this project successful, highlighting Indigenous and qualitative methodological approaches and Tribal youth engagement in Indigenousled, Tribal and community-engaged research, given the importance of research process with and in Indigenous communities. Circle dialogues served as a core methodology for building initial relationships and partnerships between Tribes and the University, and as a mechanism to shape the research in a way that is aligned with Tribal priorities and respecting Tribal sovereignty. We uplift the voices of Tribal citizens who participated in these dialogues regarding their concerns and hopes for salmon and Salmon Peoples, while bringing youth along this research journey. Lastly, we emphasise the importance of spending time in community and building relationships, because it is these relationships that serve as a core foundation for carrying out research ‘in a good way’.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2022190
- PAR ID:
- 10658078
- Publisher / Repository:
- Global Public Health
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Global Public Health
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1744-1692
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
ABSTRACT In this research, we bridge knowledge systems and perspectives from Indigenous and rural fishers alongside state and federal managers and biologists regarding the state of salmon management and research processes in the Kuskokwim Region of southwestern Alaska. The key objectives were to identify strategies to improve salmon management, document perspectives on Alaska Native inclusion in current management and research processes, and illustrate ways to develop more inclusive management processes and organizations. We also identify key opportunities and barriers to relationship building between Tribes and management agencies. Lastly, we explore perceptions of equity and equality and how research and management account for these dimensions. This was a two‐component research project, with one component being primarily Indigenous‐led and community‐engaged, and the second component involving agency management and research staff. We carried out 28 semi‐directed interviews with 45 Indigenous and community knowledge holders across five different communities from June 2019 to May 2022, in addition to 12 interviews with state and federal managers and researchers in 2023. Our study revealed both key differences and shared understandings between state, federal, and community perspectives regarding salmon management and research and around agency inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge systems and Tribal governments. Shared visions and solutions for improving salmon management in southwestern Alaska and elsewhere reflect a greater need for community and Indigenous empowerment and inclusion in fisheries management and research, in addition to increased relationship building and agency time spent in communities. A key recommendation arising from this study is that trust and respect are precursors to meaningfully bridging knowledge systems. Our team encourages further investigation of current power and resource disparities that prohibit equitable knowledge sharing in fisheries management and research, while identifying broad solutions for improving the current salmon management system given diverse sharing across Indigenous, federal, and state experts.more » « less
-
ABSTRACT. Indigenous Peoples and salmon in the lands now called Alaska have been closely entwined for at least 12,000 years. Salmon continue to be central to the ways of life of Alaska Natives, contributing to physical, social, economic, cultural, spiritual, psychological, and emotional well-being. Salmon have also become important to Alaskan settlers. Our research and advisory team conducted a synthesis of what is known about these diverse human–salmon relationships, drawing on 865 published scientific studies; Indigenous knowledge; state, federal, and tribal data; archival materials; oral histories; and cross-cultural dialogs at working group meetings. Two important socio-cultural dimensions of salmon–people systems emerged from this synthesis as fundamentally important but largely invisible outside of Indigenous communities and the social science disciplines that work closely with these communities: (1) the deep relationships between Indigenous Peoples and salmon and (2) the pronounced inequities that threaten these relationships and stewardship systems. These deep relationships are evident in the spiritual, cultural, social, and economic centrality of salmon across time and cultures in Alaska. We describe Indigenous salmon stewardship systems for the Tlingit, Ahtna, and Central Yup'ik. The inequities in Alaska's salmon systems are evident in the criminalization and limitation of traditional fishing ways of life and the dramatic alienation of Indigenous fishing rights. The loss of fish camps and legal battles over traditional hunting and fishing rights through time has caused deep hardship and stress. Statewide, the commodification and marketization of commercial fishing rights has dispossessed Indigenous communities from their human and cultural rights to fishing ways of life; as a result, many rural and Indigenous youth struggle to gain access to fishing livelihoods, leaving many fishing communities in a precarious state. These deep relationships and relatively recent fractures have motivated a concerted effort by a group of committed Indigenous and western scholars to better understand the root causes and opportunities for redress, as well as to document the breadth of research that has already been conducted, in an effort to improve the visibility of these often-overlooked dimensions of our salmon systems.more » « less
-
Towards Haudenosaunee research sovereignty: Investing in local research and training to support community developmentThe article emphasizes the importance of Indigenous Research Governance in Six Nations of the Grand River, addressing the harmful historical effects of academic research on Indigenous Peoples and advocating for structural changes that promote Indigenous data sovereignty and community ownership of research. In both Canada and the United States, academic research has long been part of the colonial project (Hodge, 2012; Williams et al., 2020). The impact research has had on Indigenous Peoples has resulted in a legacy of deep mistrust and negative perception of research by many Indigenous communities (Garrison et al., 2023). Indigenous scholars and leaders who have advocated for repairing this relationship have led major transformations away from the way in which research has traditionally been approached and administered. Most recent paradigm and policy shifts seek to support the establishment of self-determined Indigenous Research Governance (Garba et al., 2023; Morton et al., 2017), which encapsulates many interconnected key concepts, including Indigenous data sovereignty (Schnarch, 2004; Kukutai & Taylor, 2016; Cannon et al., 2024), Indigenous research ethics (Castellano, 2004; Kuhn et al., 2020; Fournier et al., 2023), Indigenous/ decolonizing methodologies (Kovach, 2009; Smith, 2021), and Indigenous epistemologies (McGregor et al., 2010; Karanja, 2019).more » « less
-
Understanding how species are responding to environmental change is a central challenge for stewards and managers of fish and wildlife who seek to maintain harvest opportunities for communities and Indigenous peoples. This is a particularly daunting but increasingly important task in remote, high‐latitude regions where environmental conditions are changing rapidly and data collection is logistically difficult. The Arctic–Yukon–Kuskokwim (AYK) region encompasses the northern extent of the Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha range where populations are experiencing rapid rates of environmental change across both freshwater and marine habitats due to global climate change. Climate–salmon interactions in the AYK region are a particularly pressing issue as many local communities have a deep reliance on a subsistence way of life. Here, we synthesize perspectives shared at a recent workshop on Chinook Salmon declines in the AYK region. The objectives were to discuss current understandings of climate–Chinook Salmon interactions, develop a set of outstanding questions, review available data and its limitations in addressing these questions, and describe the perspectives expressed by participants in this workshop from diverse backgrounds. We conclude by suggesting pathways forward to integrate different types of information and build relationships among communities, academic partners, and fishery management agencies.more » « less
