Iñupiaq men in qayaqs, Noatak, Alaska, circa 1929. Edward S. Curtis Collection, Library of Congress Digital Collections.
Crossing the Chilkoot Pass, circa 1898. Courtesy Candy Waugaman and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
The Gold Rush boomtown of Nome on the Seward Peninsula, 1900. Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library.
The conference opened with an afternoon tour of the Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Church, a National Historic Landmark, followed by a reception at the Kenai Visitors Center with a performance by the Salamatof drummers. Thank you to the Church and the Salamatof drummers! Presentations ran Friday morning through Sunday afternoon at Kenai Peninsula College.
This year’s conference theme, “Connections and Disconnections in Alaska History,” speaks to how historic developments have had both positive and negative impacts on the territory and state. We hoped the theme would inspire presenters to explore many facets of Alaska. An overview of the conference schedule shows it worked. Keynote speaker Diane Hirshberg will hone in on Alaska
education, especially that affecting Indigenous and rural youth, while examining why many Alaska students struggle to succeed.
Other panels take up Alaska transportation modes and industries and colorful and unorthodox contributors to Alaska history. Even the diversity of Alaska place names reflects our historical connections and disconnections. We’re especially pleased with a major focus on Kenai Peninsula history to help us better appreciate this year’s conference site. Viewing Alaska’s history through the lens of connections and disconnections helps us understand our past and inform discussions and decisions about today and tomorrow.
Diane Hirshberg is director and professor of education policy at the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, and vice-president academic for the UArctic Thematic Network on Health and Well-being in the Arctic. Her research interests include education policy, Indigenous and circumpolar education, and the role of education in sustainable development in the Arctic. She co-edited the book Education, Equity and Inclusion: Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable North, published in 2023, which features her co-authored chapter “Adaptation isn’t Just for the Tundra: Rethinking Teaching and Learning in Alaska’s Arctic.” Her current work focuses on the role of education and knowledge sharing in self-determined sustainable development in remote villages and in supporting community efforts to build energy security and sustainability in northern and Indigenous communities. Hirshberg
teaches in the Master of Public Policy Program at UAA. She has a Ph.D. in education from UCLA, an MPA from Columbia University, and two bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley.
Across Alaska, students, especially Indigenous and rural youth, struggle to succeed in school, as measured by (admittedly flawed) standardized measures of proficiency such as graduation rates, dropout rates, and achievement test scores. Many factors are blamed for this, from high rates of teacher turnover to poor school facilities to inadequate teaching methods and curricula. However, too many policymakers, researchers, and educators fail to critically examine how historic colonization and assimilation efforts in Alaska created and propagated the current situation. Hirshberg will discuss the history of the schooling system in Alaska including its intended purposes from early territorial days through the residential schooling era to the present, and trace how the contemporary education system continues to reflect and suffer from this oft-unexamined history.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
Read the abstracts for the sessions and short bios of each presenter in our full conference guide, located here.
