Nakenaghch’ Sutdu’a brings Upper Cook Inlet culture and history to Shareholders and Descendants
A Shareholder dons the white headset and picks up the two-touch hand controllers. After a moment, she is immersed in an imagination-defying virtual world, transported back in time. “I actually found the experience to be emotional,” she says, once she removes the headset and takes a moment to readjust to her surroundings. “I’m Inupiaq, not Dena’ina; my family enrolled with CIRI because we were living in Anchorage (when the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed). We’re originally from Point Lay, on the Chukchi Sea coast. But the scenes depicted are universal to Alaska Native people. It was like getting a glimpse into the world my ancestors inhabited.”
The virtual reality (VR) experience is but one component of the Nakenaghch’ Sutdu’a (Dena’ina for “Our Traditional Stories and Lifeways”) traveling exhibit, a partnership among CIRI, the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC), and Cook Inlet villages and Tribes that debuted April 20 at the Anchorage Information Meeting.
“CIRI worked in partnership with ANHC to build a custom traveling exhibit that showcases the rich history of the Cook Inlet region and celebrates the people and living cultures thriving here today,” said Darla Graham (Yup’ik), director, CIRI stakeholder engagement. “We believe our Shareholders and Descendants—regardless of geography—deserve access to their traditional language, culture, knowledge and community.”
The Raven’s Circle sat down with ANHC’s Angie Demma, curator of collections and exhibits, and CIRI Descendant Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna), assistant curator, to discuss the exhibit.
WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR THE NAKENAGHCH’ SUTDU’A TRAVELING EXHIBIT COME FROM?
Angie: CIRI floated the idea to ANHC leadership about a year ago. Our first steps involved talking with the eight Cook Inlet Tribes and seven villages to envision what we collectively wanted to share. The cultural belongings and most of the information will reflect the Dena’ina, Ahtna, and Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) people and the geography of the Upper Cook Inlet, but CIRI Shareholders and Descendants are unique in their backgrounds. We wanted the exhibit to reflect that diversity.
WHAT DOES THE EXHIBIT CONSIST OF?
Angie: Many of the cultural objects come from ANHC’s collections, and we’ve drawn from the Anchorage Museum’s collections as well. The VR experience was an idea that (ANHC President and CEO) Emily Edenshaw came up with. Beyond that, we have posters and signs, archival photographs, a timeline, videos and more. We want to give folks different ways of engaging with the exhibit.
Melissa: A lot of the exhibit items focus on subsistence hunting and gathering. We thought, what would be a unique thing for a VR experience? And we thought of beluga hunting, because here in Degheyey kaq’ (Anchorage), it’s a very special thing. [Due to declining beluga populations, Cook Inlet subsistence hunting ended in 1999.] We wanted to bring it to life because it’s not that long ago that people stopped doing it.
IS THE EXHIBIT SOMETHING YOU PLAN TO ADD TO OVER THE YEARS, OR IS IT MORE LIKE A SET COLLECTION?
Angie: CIRI commissioned this traveling exhibit to share with CIRI villages, Tribes, local schools, and Shareholders and Descendants. When we’re in those places, what is it that people want to see that they don’t have access to? We might want to switch things up, depending on where we are.
SINCE THIS IS A TRAVELING EXHIBIT, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO TRANSPORT IT FROM PLACE TO PLACE?
Melissa: The exhibition is not something we can just pack into suitcases; we have a responsibility to take care of these cultural belongings. We’re still learning and figuring it all out. The idea of taking the museum outside of the museum is important, right? To show how much these things are still alive to us and not that distant from our own lives. The process of making that happen is making the museum stretch itself, but it’s a good thing—sharing culture and meeting people where they’re at.
WHAT ARE YOU HOPING VIEWERS TAKE AWAY FROM THE EXPERIENCE?
Melissa: As curators, we’re always thinking about how the audience perceives the information we’re putting out there. But with CIRI, there’s such diversity—those who are from the villages, and those who live in other places, especially outside our region and the state. Nearly half of CIRI Shareholders live outside Alaska, and many have never been here. It’s a delicate balance of how to share culture in a way that is accessible to all. ANHC’s multifaceted approach helps—providing different ways of interacting with the exhibit. Our goal always is to be coming from an Indigenous-centered perspective. I think we’ve achieved that.
