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Documenting Subsistence in Alaska: A Few Things Learned…

Jim Magdanz
Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Subsistence Division (retired)
UAF – Resilience and Adaptation Program, Graduate School, University of Alaska Fairbanks (Ph.D. student)
UW – Biocultural Anthropology (visiting student)

Friday March 14
3:30-5pm
Denny Hall 205

Jim Magdanz will present some results from 30-years of subsistence research in Alaska.  Since 1980, state and federal laws have provided a priority for subsistence hunting and fishing over other consumptive uses such as commercial fishing. The state’s Division of Subsistence, directed primarily by anthropologists, became the primary source of information about Alaska’s subsistence economies. Jim was one of the Division’s earliest field researchers. He  spent his 30-year career living and working in Nome, Kotzebue, and surrounding smaller communities. He will discuss the legal framework for Alaska’s subsistence priority, community population and harvest trends, their implications for sustainability, and social network analysis as a method to untangle the complex cooperative production systems in Native communities. Jim resigned from the Division of Subsistence in 2012 to pursue a Ph.D. in natural resources, and is currently a visiting graduate student in biocultural anthropology at UW. 

About the speaker: 
Jim is a Ph.D. student in natural resources and sustainability at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and a visiting graduate student in biocultural anthropology at the University of Washington Seattle, with an emphasis on network analysis.

Jim came to Alaska as a photojournalist, fascinated by a group of 5-to-10-year-old Iñupiaq children he met during their visit to an Iowa dairy farm. Compared with children he knew, the Iñupiat were self-confident, calm, mature, and cooperative, not competitive. They shed no tears, threw no tantrums, and played with great joy. “What kind of place raises kids like this?” he wondered. So he went to Alaska, and spent the next 30 years of his life living in and studying small Iñupiaq communities in Arctic Alaska.

In 1981, he joined the Division of Subsistence, a small social science research group embedded in the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In his first project, a “simple” subsistence harvest estimation problem developed into a continuing interest in network analysis as a method to understand rural economies. Analyses showed that Iñupiat produced and distributed wild foods within multi-household, extended family structures very similar to those of their ancestors, despite profound social and economic changes over the last century. As his investments in network research grew, he realized he needed to improve his network analysis skills, so he resigned to return to graduate school full time.

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The Tatoosh School has continued to build our capacity for scholarship support of exceptional students and the response has been amazing. We’ve got a great group enrolled for this summer thus far and applications are still arriving. We have yet to receive an application from a PoE student but remain eager to recruit from the program and to continue to build partnerships and increase opportunities for field study and research for UW students. 

 

ALSO, check out this video with more information on the Tatoosh School!

http://vimeo.com/62466085

 

Learn more and apply at http://tatooshschool.org/

 

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Sign up for a wild Alaskan summer of field studies and research with the Tatoosh School!

The Tatoosh School is a not for profit field school with offices in Portland, Oregon and classrooms in the towns, oceans, and forests of Alaska’s Inside Passage. It is the school’s mission to foster first-hand learning about the ecology and environmental policy of Southeast Alaska. 

Course I – June 19 through July 29, 2013

Course II – August 2 through September 11, 2013 

 Academic Course Descriptions (offered concurrently during both 6 week expeditions): 

Natural History & Ecology of Southeast Alaska (6 units)

Southeast Alaska encompasses the Alexander Archipelago – composed of more than 5,000 islands – and a narrow strip of mountainous mainland, split by glacial fiords and major river systems.  The land is home to an array of plant and animal life, and is considered the front lines of study in island biogeography.  This course explores the natural environment from the nearshore intertidal zone to the high alpine, examining the adaptations and relationships of organisms to their environments over time and space.   

 People, Politics & Policy of Southeast Alaska (6 units)

This course explores the political landscape of Southeast Alaska and covers a wide range of topics including land ownership, public and private land management, conservation strategies, local and regional economies, Alaska Native cultures, land settlements, corporate structures and current resource management issues.  It focuses on the evolution of social and legal structures and how those structures guide current decision-making.  Inquiry and reason are applied to real-life challenges, and students engage with citizens and policymakers to consider solutions. 


Learn more and apply at http://tatooshschool.org

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

[internship]: Kenai Watershed Forum

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Kenai Watershed Forum’s summer 2013 environmental internship
opportunities are primarily geared towards undergraduate students but
also open to graduate students.   The Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF) is a
non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the health of the
watersheds on the Kenai Peninsula in south central Alaska.  Every
year, KWF selects several highly-motivated students from top
university programs and provides them with a one of a kind learning
experience working on critical environmental projects.  Interns are
expected to work 10-12 weeks, typically from mid to late May to mid
August, although start and end dates are a bit flexible to accommodate
different academic calendars.   The deadline for submission of applications is December 7,
2012.  Any questions may be directed to Bill Garthwaite +1.907.260.5449 ext.
1209 or bill@kenaiwatershed.org. 

[internship] Alaska Department of Fish and Game

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Come check out the information booth this Wednesday to learn about internships with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

When: October 10th, 9:00AM-11:00AM

Where: Anderson Hall, 116

.Your Career logo 

If you cannot make it, contact the Internship Coordinator, Sheila Cameroon, at sheila.cameroon@alaska.gov for more information

Find the flyer HERE

[course] Jump into a sea kayak for wild learning with the Tatoosh School!

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 6 weeks. 8 credits. Southeast Alaska. 200 miles & tents on the beach. 

June 25 – August 3, 2012  –Ketchikan Launch

August 6 – September 13, 2012  –Wrangell Launch

Explore the website for course descriptions and more, click here to apply,

and like us on Facebook for updates from the office and the field.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with priority given to those received before March 1.

 

On an expedition with Tatoosh School, you’ll sea kayak, camp in the backcountry, and explore Alaska while earning eight credits in ecology and policy. You’ll learn about the landscape of the Inside Passage, from why totem poles are carved to how a mountainside of timber was cut, and what the mountain looks like now. You will watch salmon swim upstream, far into the forest that their bodies build. Why are there five different species of salmon in the Pacific? You’ll learn that too. You and fellow students will forge lasting friendships, gain leadership skills to build on, and leave charting new adventures.