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

摘要人际暴力和暴力犯罪问题是一个复杂的问题，也是跨学科争论的主题。导致土著社区暴力的原因包括文化适应压力、社会支持系统不足、经济困难、对传统的限制以及缺乏教育机会。然而，暴力不能被理解为有单一解决办法的单一问题；必须在促进将其作为解决社会问题而不是其他解决冲突和管理途径的条件的背景下对其进行调查。本论文研究项目采用严格的理论和实证调查相结合的方式，调查了阿拉斯加半岛下游和阿留申群岛东部的一群乌南甘（阿留申）社区的暴力和犯罪的特定方面。已经在数量上确定了该区域发病率和死亡率的不同水平，但没有在那里或北极西部任何其他地方进行以个人为基础的研究，以调查发生暴力的实际情况。该项目探讨了生物、社会和文化驱动的人际暴力模型的解释潜力。这些模型很少结合使用，但它们可以很好地相互说明，也可以很好地说明乌干达社会问题的复杂性。最终，目标是解决社会和文化变革问题，结合普遍和当地的暴力和侵略问题，并根据犯罪数据测试这些发现。该项目将审查各种形式的人际暴力和暴力犯罪的背景，并将包括人与环境的相互作用，社会、文化和经济变化的过程和后果，以及文化活力。这项研究将具有很强的理论和应用意义，并拓宽人类学家研究暴力的背景。

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.