Identity and Violence: Crime, Competition and Changing Traditions in Unangan Villages of the Eastern Aleutian Region

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Identity and Violence: Crime, Competition and Changing Traditions in Unangan Villages of the Eastern Aleutian RegionAbstractThe problem of interpersonal violence and violent crime is a complex issue and subject of considerable debate across disciplines. Causes cited for violence in indigenous communities have included acculturation stress, inadequate social support systems, economic hardships, restrictions on tradition, and lack of educational opportunities. However, violence cannot be understood as a single problem with a single solution; it must be investigated in the context of conditions that promote it as a solution to social problems over other outlets of conflict resolution and management. This dissertation research project uses a combination of rigorous theoretical and empirical inquiry to investigate particular aspects of violence and crime in a group of Unangan (Aleut) communities on the lower Alaska Peninsula and eastern Aleutian Islands. Variable levels of morbidity and mortality have been quantitatively established for this region but no individual-based research has been conducted there, or anywhere else in the western Arctic, which seeks to investigate the actual conditions in which violence occurs. The project explores the explanatory potential of biologically, socially, and culturally driven models of interpersonal violence. These models, which are rarely used in conjunction, may well serve to illuminate each other as well as the complexities of Unangan social problems. Ultimately, the goal is to address issues of social and cultural change, combined with universal and local issues of violence and aggression, and test these findings against crime data. The project will examine the contexts for various forms of interpersonal violence and violent crime and will encompass human-environment interaction, processes and consequences of social, cultural and economic change, and cultural vitality. This study will have strong theoretical and applied implications and broaden the context in which anthropologists study violence.