Identity and Indigeneity discussed in Shine a Light panel
University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus held an Indigenous Identity Panel last week as part of their Shine a Light Speaker Series. Qasuglana Barb Amarok, Darlene Paqpaluk Trigg and Oliver Tyrrell gathered on Zoom to discuss topics surrounding their identity and answer viewer questions from their unique perspectives.
This was a special panel put together by UAF Northwest Campus for Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
The discussion was led by Gwendalyn Manniq Trigg Stettenbenz, Admissions and Records Coordinator at UAF Northwest who began by asking the question: What does it mean to be indigenous to you?
Oliver Tyrell led the conversation with his response: “Being indigenous to me is a sacred dance with my ancestors’ heartbeat, a connection that roots me in the land’s wisdom, resilience. It means carrying the stories of triumph and adversity, a responsibility to honor the struggles of those who came before me. As someone who doesn’t “look Native” I’m constantly navigating the bridges between my culture and identity and the privileges of being perceived as white. Being indigenous and transgender adds another layer, reclaiming the authenticity and challenging colonial narratives, a commitment to activism and my people,” Tyrell said.
Qasuglana Barb Amarok spoke next, telling Tyrell: “I had to write that down that last thing you said about commitment to activism, thank you. I’m proud to be Inupiaq because
I am grateful for what we learn and that what we are taught throughout our lives benefits us individually and collectively. Our knowledge benefits everyone who learns. We learn how to relate to the environment, we learn humans are part of a whole that is to be respected and protected. We learn that there are reasons for our practices, practices with namings…one of the most important purposes of our naming practice is to make connections with people outside of our immediate families. Practices like raising children, hunting and harvesting, and importantly, with how we interact with each other. These are the things that we learn. We learn to be strong but sensitive. We learn to enjoy humor but not to ridicule. We learn to defer to elders, especially when we don’t agree. We learn to respect infants and children as we would the people they’re named after. We teach children about who they’re named after. We learn to communicate with touch, tone of voice, body expressions and silence. Children learn by listening observing, being patient. They learn by being praised. They develop identity, confidence and strength so that they can fulfill their responsibilities in their roles with the family and in the community. Over thousands of years, we have employed effective systems of education and justice. When I visit any of the smaller communities in the Bering Strait region, where the majority of the populations are Alaskan Native, I feel a strong sense of safety, I feel a strong sense of belonging. The topic of this sharing is indigenous identity, because to be indigenous in a place where the history and interactions of different groups of people is complex, much of what I share and what I experience on a daily basis relates to systems. Systems have made as large an impact on me as my family has. As David Wallace Adams has written, “the results for many, of systems new to a long-established society, have been extinction of identity.””
Darlene Paqpaluk Trigg followed Amarok in the discussion: “I appreciate hearing the poetry of your words, Oliver. And it’s hard to follow because Qasuglana because she is so eloquent and thoughtful about the words that she uses. When I was thinking about what does it mean to be indigenous for myself, I want to start by saying a lot of it for me is about community, and about my responsibility to that community. It’s about our collective experience, and how we’re all responsible for creating a collective experience that lifts each of us up, it’s about connection. It’s about our care for one another. And it’s really about love. That’s at the forefront. I feel really compelled to share that Manniq is my daughter [the leader of the discussion] and Ilaqusi is my grandson, but he is also my mother brought back to us. And I think what has driven me to focus on my Native side, has really been about making sure that my children and my grandchildren can experience the world in a safe way, in a way that respects who they are, and brings all of what they are into our community, that they have a place in it. And very much like Oliver, before I got my tavluġun I presented not necessarily as Native, I presented as a fair skinned. I think that’s kind of the consensus when I am away from my community, it’s like a little bit of ‘what are you?’ But now that I have my chin tattoo, it’s clear, there’s more understanding. So when I think about what it means for me to be an indigenous person, I have a responsibility to making sure that people like my children, but also Oliver and Qasuglana and our whole community feels like they have a sense of place and it’s my responsibility to create that through my relationships in my work.”
The discussion continued and expanded on ideas surrounding identity throughout the two-hour panel. It is available to be viewed in its entirety on the UAF Northwest Campus website under the Community events, Shine a Light tab.