Response Paper 7

 Sadie Inman

October 17th, 2020

Critical Geography

Response Paper 7

    The letter written by Harold Napoleon details the history of specifically the Yup’ik people and their response to contact with the white man. He goes into detail about his theory on why alcohol abuse is such an issue within the Alaska Native population. He pairs it down to the post-traumatic stress disorder that was instilled in the people when 60% of their population was killed due to disease brought by the Russians. During the wake of mourning the dead, western men entered and uprooted their entire culture and spiritual beliefs. It is the opportunistic westerner that I find highly interesting and terrifying. The sickness they brought provided the perfect time for them to take advantage of the Yup’ik’s vulnerable state. Instilling in them the shame of their old ways created a generation of stoic and internally grieving Alaska Natives. In their vulnerable state, they not only allowed missionaries to overturn their spiritual beliefs but they allowed them to also take over teaching the Alaska Native children. The intergenerational trauma began with those that watched their family and parents die and it has continued down to current times where the communities are ridden with violence, alcohol abuse, and suicide. Tribes also now rely heavily on government assistance and due to this natives don’t feel like a success in today’s world. Taking away someone’s ability to provide for their family and community through work is very damaging. 

    The western perspective that harnesses vulnerability to further their domination is a concerning thing to easily be able to identify throughout the American history of manifest destiny. It is the cheap nature that Americans and Russians were there to take advantage of and they were also able to assert their dominion over the tribes they came across by creating a stigma around their past beliefs. They were able to shape the indigenous people’s reality by cheapening their values and asserting their own values on them. Even asserting the fact that they were less than the white man and that too has been passed down.