Honda country: relocalization through technology in Nanwalek Alaska

Abstract

It should not be assumed that the introduction of a new technology automatically wipes out past cultural practices. Instead, it is often the case that these offerings are integrated into a current routine. For the Sugpiat of Nanwalek, Alaska, there is a constant need to negotiate between what to change and what to preserve. My research explores how a cultural group judges a new technology based upon shared boundaries and understandings. I examine how the decision to accept all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) has allowed for increased participation in subsistence practices, effective resource management, and material and emotional reunification with those things that went before. Many of the activities and "places that count" are no longer merely fragments of memory for many in the village; rather, they are physical and contemporary in their importance. In my dissertation, I define relocalization and demonstrate how relocalization was made possible through purposeful decision-making and adaptive traditions and did not simply occur because of the existence of ATVs and their random internalization.