Collaborative Proposal: Indigenous-State Relations in Alaska and Beyond:Sustainable Livelihoods, Biocultural Diversity and Health Since the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

在各州和土著人民之间以及土著人民之间，特别是在北极圈的国家政权之间，形成了各种各样的土地和资源管理制度。该项目比较了阿拉斯加东南部和西北部以及加拿大的特林吉特人和因纽特人之间的州-土著制度的演变。具体而言，该项目分析了1971年《阿拉斯加土著索赔结算法》(ANCSA)商业公司的创建如何改变了土著、州政府、生态系统和区域-全球经济之间的体制安排，并根据可持续生计评估对土著群体的生物文化健康作出了贡献。ANCSA公司作为独特的种族和地方社会文化机构，对各种形式的资本--包括自然、物质、政治、金融、人力、社会和文化资本--的相对重要性持有独特的观点(与传统公司及其股东不同)，这些资本结合在一起支持可持续的生计，并减轻各种生态、政治-经济和社会文化压力的脆弱性。在其发展过程中，ANCSA公司试图以显著不同的方式平衡这些不同形式的资本，从而产生各种结果，从增加财政、自然资源和社会保障到增加经济脆弱性和环境退化。为了了解结果的多样性，该项目评估了土著国家机构治理的四个方面，作为可持续发展比较分析的框架：1)土地选择、管理和财产权(自然和金融资本)；2)资源保护和发展(自然和物质资本)；3)社会政治组织、领导和不平等(人力、政治和社会资本)；以及4)文化保护和振兴(社会和文化资本)。虽然在分析上是可以分开的，但该项目表明，在实践中，这四个层面在促进(或未能促进)土著社区的生物文化多样性和健康的各个层面上是如何相互关联的。数据来自对已出版和未出版的文献的评论，对人口和社会经济数据的分析，对阿拉斯加原住民、ANCSA公司领导人和其他利益相关者的秘密采访，以及参与者观察。当地土著社区参与了研究的所有阶段，研究结果将被公布并与参与研究的特林吉特和伊努皮亚克公司和社区分享，用于更好地了解它们的公司在促进可持续生计方面所发挥的历史作用，以及如何最好地引导努力，以确保未来的健康发展。这项调查的更广泛意义在于，它将通过解决北美及其他地区土著-国家关系和决策的关键跨文化层面，促进我们对可持续生计和生物文化健康的理解。阿拉斯加本土公司是独特的混合型机构，拥有35年的发展记录。其他土著人民，包括加拿大的特林吉特人和因纽特人，一直对阿拉斯加模式感兴趣，但这个项目是第一个对阿拉斯加土著公司作为整体文化机构而不是简单的商业公司进行多层面比较研究的项目。在这个环境和社会迅速变化、围绕环境资源和社会政治及文化权利的冲突和压力不断扩大的时代，这项研究将为评估国家和土著人民如何在不牺牲文化或环境完整性的情况下最好地在21世纪实现可持续生计提供一个有用的框架和基准。

A wide variety of land and resource management regimes have evolved between states and indigenous peoples and among indigenous peoples in particular state regimes in the circumpolar north. This project compares the evolution of state-indigenous systems among the Tlingit and Inuit peoples of Southeast and Northwest Alaska and Canada. Specifically, the project analyzes how the creation of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) business corporations in 1971 transformed institutional arrangements between Natives, state governments, ecosystems, and regional-global economies, and has contributed to particular outcomes in indigenous groups' biocultural health as measured by the sustainable livelihoods assessment. ANCSA corporations, as distinct ethnic and placed based sociocultural institutions, hold unique perspectives (in contrast to conventional corporations and their shareholders) on the relative importance of the various forms of capital - including natural, physical, political, financial, human, social and cultural capital - that in combination support sustainable livelihoods and mitigate against vulnerabilities from a variety of ecological, political-economic, and socio-cultural stresses. In their development ANCSA corporations have sought to balance these various forms of capital in significantly different ways leading to a variety of outcomes, from increased financial, natural resources, and social security to increased economic vulnerability and environmental degradation. To understand the diversity of outcomes the project evaluates four dimensions of indigenous-state institutional governance as a framework for comparative analysis of sustainable development: 1) land selection, management, and property rights (natural and financial capital); 2) resource conservation and development (natural and physical capital); 3) sociopolitical organization, leadership and inequality (human, political, and social capital); and 4) cultural conservation and revitalization (social and cultural capital). While analytically separable, the project shows how, in practice, these four dimensions interrelate on a variety of levels which contribute (or fail to contribute) to the biocultural diversity and health of indigenous communities. Data are drawn from reviews of the published and unpublished literature, analysis of demographic and socioeconomic data, confidential interviews with Alaska Natives, ANCSA corporate leaders, and other stakeholders, and participant observation. Local Native communities are involved in all phases of the research and the results will be published and shared with the participating Tlingit and Inupiaq corporations and communities and used to better understand the historical role their corporations have played in promoting sustainable livelihoods, and how effort might be best directed to insure healthy development in the future. The broader significance of this inquiry is that it will advance our understanding of sustainable livelihoods and biocultural health by addressing key cross-cultural dimensions of indigenous-state relations and policy-making in North America and beyond. Alaska Native Corporations are unique hybrid institutions with a 35-year track record of development. Other indigenous peoples, including Tlingit and Inuit peoples of Canada, have been iinterested in the Alaska model, but this project is the first to provide a multidimensional comparative study of Alaska Native corporations as total cultural institutions rather than simple business corporations. In this era of rapid environmental and social change and expanding conflicts and stress over environmental resources and sociopolitical and cultural rights, this study will provide a useful framework and benchmark for assessing how states and indigenous peoples can best achieve sustainable livelihoods in the twenty-first century without sacrificing cultural or environmental integrity.