Dissertation Research: Dance, Language, and Power among the Yup'iks and the Inupiat in Alaska

本论文由Hiroko Ikuta， PI Molly Lee所撰写，将比较阿拉斯加因纽特人和Yup'ik人的舞蹈和歌曲表演与族群认同的发展。该研究将考察因纽特人和Yup'ik人的美学表达形式、土著语言熟练程度和传统意义的性质和结构如何在歌曲和舞蹈中表现出来，并受到政治、经济和历史事件的影响。阿拉斯加州的Yup'ik人和Inupiaq爱斯基摩人在地理区域、生存模式、语言和文化方面形成了激烈的对比。对于这两个群体来说，歌舞一直是传递历史、传统和文化价值的工具。今天，舞蹈也是一种表达民族身份、诠释传统和在政治话语中代表文化的方式。在阿拉斯加巴罗的因纽特人中，舞蹈将文化美学与环境知识结合在一起。对他们来说，过去的舞蹈和歌曲表达了他们作为少数民族的身份。相比之下，Yup'ik舞蹈的方向是现在，而不是过去。这些比较的情况激发了几个研究问题：如何濒危的语言保护计划，社会经济状况，政治话语与主流社会联系到当代爱斯基摩人对传统的理解？然而，一些土著群体将自己的身份定义为从旧传统中涌现出来的，而像Yup'iks这样的其他人则将传统作为融入现代文化的新风格的起点？这项研究将有助于更好地理解爱斯基摩人的审美表达形式的性质和结构、土著语言的保留、他们的传统性，以及政治、经济和历史事件所形成的传统的意义。我假设舞蹈表演是人们对自己和更广泛的观众再生、重新诠释和重新协商传统的关键领域。比较研究将为我分析舞蹈、歌曲和传统的意义提供基础，特别是表达文化、知识系统和对环境的感知之间的关系。我将重点关注语言濒危与通过传统舞蹈及其伴歌创造仪式语言之间的关系。通过比较Yup'ik和Inupiaq社区在语言维护、殖民历史和经济发展方面的差异，该项目将在几个方面为人类学理论做出贡献：1)舞蹈和歌曲作为实用的物质活动的作用；2)歌曲与语言濒危的关系；3)由土著人民定义的传统和不对称的权力关系。

This Dissertation Research project by Hiroko Ikuta, PI Molly Lee, will compare dance and song performance and the development of ethnic identity among the Inupiat and the Yup'ik of Alaska. The research will examine how the nature and structure of Inupiat and Yup'ik peoples' aesthetic forms of expression, indigenous language proficiency, and meanings of traditions are manifested in song and dance and shaped by political, economic, and historical events.The modern Yup'ik and Inupiaq Eskimos of Alaska contrast provocatively as to geographical area, subsistence patterns, language, and culture. For both groups, song and dance have long been vehicles for transmitting history, traditions, and cultural values. Today, dance is also a way of articulating ethnic identity, interpreting tradition, and representing culture in political discourse. Among the Inupiat of Barrow, Alaska, dance combines cultural aesthetics with environmental knowledge. For them, dance and song from the past express their identity as an ethnic minority. By contrast, the orientation of Yup'ik dance is to the present, not the past. These comparative situations stimulate several research questions: How are endangered language preservation programs, socio economic situations, and political discourses with the dominant society connected to contemporary Eskimo understandings of tradition? Whereas some indigenous groups define their identity as emergent from old tradition, while others like the Yup'iks use tradition as a starting point for incorporating new styles evocative of modern culture? This study will foster a better understanding of the nature and structure of Eskimo peoples' aesthetic forms of expression, indigenous language retention, their traditionality, and the meanings of tradition wrought by political, economic, and historical events. I hypothesize that dance performances are the key sphere where people regenerate, reinterpret, and renegotiate their traditions to themselves and to wider audiences. Comparative research will provide the basis of my analysis of the meanings of dance, song, and tradition, particularly the relationships between expressive cultures, knowledge systems, and perception of the environment. I will focus on how language endangerment relates to the creation of ritual language through traditional dances and their accompanying songs. By comparing Yup'ik and Inupiaq communities varying as to language maintenance, colonial history, and economic development, this project will contribute to anthropological theory in several ways: 1) role of dance and song as pragmatic, material activities; 2) relationship between song and language endangerment; and 3) tradition defined by indigenous peoples and asymmetrical power relationships.