Yupiit Schools in Southwest Alaska: Instruments for Asserting Native Identity and Control

Abstract

This essay argues that the Yupiit people of Southwest Alaska have transformed andare transforming formal institutions such as schools into instruments of Indigenous1self-identity and self-governance. These efforts are conceptualized as both external andinternal to education, but are nevertheless developmentally related to each other, beingthat external changes lead to internal ones. The mechanisms of such resistance effortsconsists of: (a) increasing socio-political participation in key economic aspects of theregion; (b) place-based and cultural-based pedagogies driving school curricular reforms;and (c) strong efforts to incorporate Yupiit community leaders and Elders into the de­sign and functioning of local schools.