 Former Grand ChiefClarence Alexander, Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award ceremony, Portland, Oregon, 2004 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Canada (Northwest Territories,Yukon) | 3,275[1] |
| United States (Alaska) | 1,100[2] |
| Languages | |
| Gwichʼin,English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity,Animism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Alaskan Athabaskans EspeciallyHän | |
| People | Dinjii Zhuu Gwichʼin |
|---|---|
| Language | Dinju Zhuh Kʼyuu |
| Country | Gwichʼin Nành, Denendeh ᑌᓀᐣᑌᐧ |
TheGwichʼin (orKutchin orLoucheux) are anAthabaskan-speakingFirst Nations people of Canada and anAlaska Native people. They live in the northwestern part ofNorth America, mostly north of theArctic Circle.
Gwichʼin are well-known for their crafting ofsnowshoes,birchbarkcanoes, and the two-waysled. They are renowned for their intricate and ornatebeadwork. They also continue to make traditional caribou-skin clothing andporcupine quillwork embroidery, both of which are highly regarded among Gwichʼin. Today, the Gwich’in economy consists mostly of hunting, fishing, andseasonal wage-paying employment.
Their name is sometimes spelledKutchin orGwitchin and translates as "one who dwells" or "resident of [a region]." Historically, the French called the GwichʼinLoucheux ("squinters"), as well asTukudh orTakudh, a term also used byAnglicanmissionaries. Sometimes, these terms may refer (explicitly or implicitly) to particular dialects of the Gwichʼin language (or to the communities that speak them).[3]
Gwichʼin often refer to themselves by the termDinjii Zhuu instead ofGwichʼin.Dinjii Zhuu literally translates as "Small People," but figuratively it refers to all First Nations, not just Gwichʼin.
The Gwichʼin language, part of theAthabaskan language family, has two main dialects, eastern and western, which are delineated roughly at theUnited States-Canada border. Each village has unique dialect differences, idioms, and expressions. TheOld Crow people in the northernYukon have approximately the same dialect as those bands living inVenetie andArctic Village, Alaska.
Approximately 300 Alaskan Gwichʼin speak their language, according to theAlaska Native Language Center.[2] However, according to theUNESCOInteractive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Gwichʼin is now a "severely endangered" language, with fewer than 150 fluent speakers in Alaska and another 250 in northwest Canada.
Innovativelanguage revitalization projects are underway to document the language and to enhance the writing and translation skills of younger Gwichʼin speakers. In one project lead research associate and fluent speaker Gwichʼin elder, Kenneth Frank, works with linguists which include young Gwichʼin speakers affiliated with the Alaska Native Language Center at theUniversity of Alaska, Fairbanks, to documenttraditional knowledge of caribou anatomy.[4]
Analysis of the traditional place names indicate that the Gwich’in have an ancient history in this region, likely since the early Holocene (~8,000 years).[5]
The many different bands or tribes of Gwichʼin include but are not limited to:Deenduu,Draanjik,Di’haii,Gwichyaa,Kʼiitlʼit,Neetsaii orNeetsʼit,Ehdiitat,Danzhit Hanlaii,Teetlʼit, andVuntut orVantee.
Three majorclans survive from antiquity across Gwichʼin lands. People are expected to marry outside their clans. Two are primary clans and the third has a lower/secondary status. The first clan are theNantsaii, which literally translates as "First on the land"; the second clan are theChitsʼyaa which translates as "The helpers" (second on the land).
The last clan is called theTenjeraatsaii, which translates as "In the middle" or "independents". This last clan is reserved for people who marry within their own clan, which is considered incestuous. To a lesser degree, it is for children of people who are outside of the clan system.
Over 6,000 Gwichʼin live in 15 small communities in northern parts of theNorthwest Territories and theYukonTerritory ofCanada, and in northernAlaska.[6] The Gwichʼin communities are:
The Gwichʼin have a strongoral tradition of storytelling that has only recently begun to be written in the modern orthography. Gwichʼinfolk stories include the "Vazaagiitsak cycle" (literally, "His Younger Brother Became Snagged"), which focuses on the comical adventures of a Gwichʼin misfit who, among other things, battles lice on a giant's head, plays the fool to the cunning fox, and eats the scab from his own anus unknowingly.[7] Gwichʼin comedies often contain bawdy humor.[8] Other major characters from the Gwichʼin oral tradition include: Googhwaii, Ool Ti’, Tł’oo Thal, K’aiheenjik, K’iizhazhal, and Shaanyaati’.[9]
Numerous folk tales about prehistoric times all begin with the phraseDeenaadai’, which translates roughly as "In the ancient days". This is usually followed with the admission that this was "when all of the people could talk to the animals, and all of the animals could speak with the people". These stories are often parables, which suggest a proper protocol, or code of behavior for Gwichʼin. Equality, generosity, hard work, kindness, mercy, cooperation for mutual success, and just revenge are often the themes of stories such as: "Tsyaa Too Oozhrii Gwizhit" (The Boy In The Moon), "Zhoh Ts’à Nahtryaa" (The Wolf and the Wolverine), "Vadzaih Luk Hàa" (The Caribou and the Fish).[10]
In recent times, important figures in who have represented traditional belief structures are: Johnny and Sarah Frank,Sahneuti, and Ch’eegwalti’.[11]
Caribou are an integral part of First Nations and Inuit oral histories and legends, and are integral to their survival. The Gwichʼin creation story tells that the Gwichʼin people and the caribou separated from a single entity.[12] There is a stable population ofwoodland caribou throughout a large portion of the Gwichʼin Settlement Area, and such woodland caribou are an important food source for Gwichʼin. They harvest othercaribou at a higher rate.
Gwichʼin living inInuvik,Aklavik,Fort McPherson, andTsiigehtchic harvest woodland caribou but not as much as other caribou.[13] The Gwichʼin prefer to hunt Porcupine caribou or the barren-ground Blue Nose herd, which travel in large herds, when they are available. Many hunters claimed that woodland caribou, which form very small groups, are wilder, both hard to see and hard to hunt. They are very smart, cunning, and elusive.[14]
Thecaribouvadzaih is the cultural symbol and a keystone subsistence species of the Gwichʼin, just as the buffalo is to the Plains Indians.[4] In Rick Bass's book entitledCaribou Rising: Defending the Porcupine Herd, Gwich-'in Culture, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, he quotes Sarah James as saying, "We are the caribou people. Caribou are not just what we eat; they are who we are. They are in our stories and songs and the whole way we see the world. Caribou are our life. Without caribou we wouldn't exist."[15]: 70 Traditionally, their tents and most of their clothing were made out of caribou skin, and they lived "mostly on caribou and all other wild meats."[16]: 68 Caribou fur skins were placed on top of spruce branches as bedding and flooring.[16]: 22 Soap was made from boiled poplar tree ashes mixed with caribou fat.[16]: 25 Drums were made of caribou hide.[16]: 28 Overalls were made from "really good white tanned caribou skin".[16]: 39
Elders have identified at least 150 descriptive Gwichʼin names for all of the bones, organs, and tissues. "Associated with the caribou's anatomy are not just descriptive Gwichʼin names for all of the body parts including bones, organs, and tissues as well as "an encyclopedia of stories, songs, games, toys, ceremonies, traditional tools, skin clothing, personal names and surnames, and a highly developed ethnic cuisine."[4]
Yidįįłtoo are the traditionalface tattoos of the Hän Gwich’in.[17]
In 2002,Gwichʼin Social and Cultural Institute, theAurora Research Institute, andParks Canada co-published a book entitledGwichʼin Ethnobotany: Plants Used by the Gwichʼin for Food, Medicine, Shelter and Tools in collaboration with elders, in which they described dozens of trees, shrubs, woody plants, berry plants, vascular plants, mosses and lichens, and fungi that the Gwichʼin used.[16] Examples included black sprucePicea mariana and white sprucePicea glauca,Ts’iivii which was used as "food, medicine, shelter, fuel and tools." Boiled cones and branches were used to prevent and to treat colds.[16]: 17
The introduction of Christianity in the 1840s throughout Gwichʼin territory produced spiritual changes that are still widely in effect today. Widespread conversion to Christianity, as influenced by Anglican andCatholic[18] missionaries, led to these as the two dominant Christian sects among the Gwichʼin. Notable figures in the missionary movement among the Gwichʼin are ArchdeaconHudson Stuck,William West Kirkby,Robert McDonald, Deacon William Loola, and Deacon Albert Tritt. The Traditional Chief, an honorary and lifetime title, of one Gwichʼin village is also an Episcopal priest: the Rev. Traditional Chief Trimble Gilbert of Arctic Village. Chief Gilbert is recognized as the Second Traditional Chief of all of the Athabascan tribes inInterior Alaska through the non-profitTanana Chiefs Conference.[19]
The Takudh Bible is a translation of the entireKing James Bible into Gwichʼin. The Takudh Bible is in a century-old orthography that is not very accurate, and thus hard to read.[20] In the 1960s Richard Mueller designed a new orthography for Gwichʼin, which has now become standard.[21]
On 4 April 1975,Canada Post issued two stamps in the Indians of Canada, Indians of the Subarctic series both designed by Georges Beaupré. One wasCeremonial Dress based on a painting byLewis Parker of "a ceremonial costume of the Kutchin tribe" (Gwichʼin people). The other,Dance of the Kutcha-Kutchin was based on a painting byAlexander Hunter Murray The 8¢ stamps are perforated 12.5 and 13.5 and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited and theCanadian Bank Note Company.[22][23]
Caribou is traditionally a major component of their diet. Many Gwichʼin people are dependent on thePorcupine caribou which herd calves on the coastal plain in theArctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Gwichʼin people have been very active in protesting and lobbying against the possibility ofoil drilling in ANWR, due to fears that oil drilling will deplete the population of the Porcupine Caribou herd.[24]
Bobbi JoGreenland Morgan, who is head of theGwichʼin Tribal Council, along with the Canadian government, the Yukon and Northwest territories and other First Nations, expressed concerns to the United States about the proposed lease sale in thecalving grounds of a large cross-border Porcupine caribou herd to energy drilling, despite international agreements to protect it."[25] In December, the United States "released a draft environmental impact study proposal for the lease sale with a public comment period until February 11, 2019.[25]Environment Canada wrote in a letter to the U.S.Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Alaska office,[Notes 1] that "Canada is concerned about the potential transboundary impacts of oil and gas exploration and development planned for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain."[25]
For similar reasons, Gwichʼin also actively protested the development of oil in theYukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, and a proposed land trade from the United StatesNational Wildlife Refuge System andDoyon, Limited.[26]
TheGwich'in Plant Kit was developed for use by educators in the Gwich'in Settlement Region [GSR]. The Inuvik Research Centre, the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, Parks Canada and the five schools in the GSR all have kits that are available for educational purposes. The kit includes a copy of this book, 27 pressed, labelled and laminated plants, an organizer with assorted samples of dried berries and fungi, and two jars of lichens and mosses. The book can be used without the rest of the kit.
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