Anthropology and the ANWR Drilling Controversy
The debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has tended to focus almost entirely on the effects oil drilling may have on the physical environment and wildlife (caribou, muskox, a variety of birds, whales, and bears) which depends on the refuge. Suprisingly little attention has been given to the potential human and cultural consequences which may await the Gwich’in Indians whose survival (both culturally and physically) depends on the Porcupine Caribou herd which uses the coastal plain of the wildlife refuge as its breeding grounds. What little attention which has been given to potential human and cultural damages has occurred due to the political lobbying of the Gwich’in Nation. While it has been immensely valuable to hear the voice of the Gwich’in themselves, there is also a deep need to gain an anthropological understanding of the Gwich’in before assesing the full consequences of drilling. It is unfortunate that such a politicaly charged debate has yet to seriously consider the research of anthropologists as a valuable tool in the determining of a peoples' future.
What Can Anthropology Bring to the Discourse?
1. A validation or disqualification of native claims reflecting the cultural, spiritual, and nutritional dependence of the Gwich’in on the Porcupine Caribou herd.
A recent report by the Gwich’in Steering Committee, "A Moral Choice for the United States: The Human Rights Implications for the Gwich’in for Oil Drilling in the United States" (http://www.gwichinsteeringcommittee.org/GSChumanrightsreport.pdf) made a series of claims including “The Gwich’in are caribou people … Our whole way of life is tied to the Porcupine Caribou. It is our language, and our songs and stories” and “it is our belief that the future of the Gwich’in and the future of the caribou are the same harm to the Porcupine Caribou herd is harm to the Gwich’in culture”. Serious ethnographic research, of anthropologists spending months making first-hand observations and using analytical evaluation tools, could go a long way towards validating these and similar claims.
2. Help determine the potential consequences of a decline in the Porcupine Caribou Herd.
Anthropological research can help answer such questions as:
-Could the Gwich’in continue to exist in their current physical space if the caribou could no longer be a significant food resource?
-What parts of Gwich’in culture are directly related to and dependent upon the continuation of hunting the caribou?
-Could a destruction of the Porcupine Caribou amount to cultural genocide?
3. Help contribute to the understanding and respect of Gwich’in culture by providing insights into the stories, histories, and life-ways of one of the last subsistence based cultures.
Suggested Readings from Recent Anthropological Research
http://faculty.philau.edu/dineros/research_interests_dinero.htm provides links and bibliographic information to the works of Stephen C. Dinero
Parlee, B., Berkes, F. and Teetl’it Gwich’in in Renewable Resource Council. 2005 "Health of the Land, Health of the People: A Case Study on Gwich’in Berry Harvesting." EcoHealth 2(2):127-137
Parlee, B., Manseau, M. and Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation. 2005 "Using Traditional Knowledge to Adapt to Change: Denesoline Monitoring of Caribou Movements." In: Artic 58(1):26-37.
Inoue, Toshiaki. 2004 “The Gwich'in gathering: the subsistence tradition in their modern life and the gathering against oil development by the Gwich'in Athabascan ” In: Circumpolar ethnicity and identity -- Osaka : National Museum of Ethnology 66: 183-204.
by John Haley