Tlingit geographies of hope: Clan, corporation, and sustainable economies of place

Abstract

The essay argues that geographies of hope for Tlingit communities in Southeast Alaska begin with a strong sense of place, both social and geographic. In Tlingit, the matrilineal clan—the repository of heritage, identity, and property—constitutes the collective, animate source of resilience, hope, and renewal. We examine the ways in which clans continue to operate as institutions of hope and destiny, especially through the memorial ku.éex’ or “potlatch,” a ritual of restoration and replacement. This ritual is thriving in the 21st century despite no external funding or recognition from the state. It is a wholly Tlingit institution built on socio-geographic values of sustainment of the matrilineal clan as an immortal being. What remains to be re-animated, however, is clan territory. Most Tlingit territory has been appropriated by the Tongass National Forest and Federal and Alaska state waters. Native corporations hold about 2% of the Southeast Alaska land base, and clans hold nothing except, in some cases, recognition of their historical association with particular historic sites and territories. The reinvigoration of cartography with Tlingit place names is a step toward furthering recognition of clans’ historical and contemporary ties to places in a tangible and hopeful way. Yet, culture needs a material base, and mere recognition of traditional toponyms will not be enough. Many clans seek a more substantive livelihood relationships with and custodial role over their territories, not only as sacred properties but as sources of sustainment, strength, and well-being. This requires new thinking on the part of indigenous economic institutions, like Alaska Native business corporations, along the lines of a traditional (Tlingit clan) “house,” an economic unit in the spirit of the original Greek term for economy, oikos (“house”). The integrated restoration of sociocultural, economic, and geographic sources of collective well-being will further enliven Tlingit geographies of hope.