Heritage and Arctic Late Industrialism in Alaska : Island of Inland Empire

This book explores the interrelationship of cultural heritage, (de)colonialism, environmentalism, political agency, and the representation of Indigenous identity in museums in the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq communities in Southwest Alaska.

Based on long-term ethnographic engagement with Alutiiq/Sugpiaq communities in Southwest Alaska, this book explores the interrelationship of cultural heritage, (de)colonialism, environmentalism, political agency, and the representation of Indigenous identity in museums. Drawing on anthropological and social theory, Mason shows how Alutiiq/Sugpiaq identity and heritage have been collaboratively shaped across community, institutional, and corporate settings as a means of negotiating relations between Indigenous traditions and the conditions of late industrial life. In doing so, the book demonstrates that cultural heritage operates as a vital domain of political expression and collective action through which Kodiak Islanders sustain autonomy, articulate values, and advance their own visions of modernity. This work will be of interest to academics and researchers with interests in Arctic communities, Arctic politics, cultural heritage, and Indigenous identity.