Missionary Vioces as the Discursive Terrain for Native Resistance

Abstract

Beginning with the arrival of Russian fur traders in 1741, Alaska natives have faced repeated threats to their territorial sovereignty and subsistence practices. Their struggles to maintain their cultures have taken place against the backdrop of a white discursive hegemony that has defined the terms of the conflicts as well as the very identity of the people. To reveal a piece of this symbolic terrain, the authors examine the work of Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson and The North Star, a newspaper he established in Sitka in the late nineteenth century. An analysis of Jackson's concepts of indigenous cultures as embodied in his educational and ethnological activities reveals his aim of erasing indigenous cultures to civilize and christianize the natives. A critical reading of The North Star shows how it was used as a publicity device to enlist the support of influential Eastern readers in the mission's work.