Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission

by Thomas R. Berger

Discusses the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and describes the current life style of Alaskan Eskimos

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Dillon Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book. The author draws on history, ethnography, law, and morality to contemplate the effects of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Written in 1985, the book provides an in-depth look of the early years of ANCSA informed by Berger’s extensive travel across rural Alaska. Liberal use of block quotes provides a much better understanding of Alaska Native perspectives across the state. Ultimately, Berger critiques ANCSA’s many shortcomings, particularly concerns surrounding the transfer of Native lands to Native corporations, and leaves the reader yearning to learn how things have played out since 1985. All Alaskans should read this book.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berger's report on the effect of the US government's 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act on native communities. This Act formed corporations with the native people as shareholders, in an attempt to force economic assimilation on native life and end land claims issues. The Act had extinguished Native land claims in exchange for their selecting lands that would be under this corporate imperative. In 1983 Berger visited 60 villages for public hearings to understand the effect of this Act on these communities. By and large his findings were not positive because most communities lived, and wished to live, by subsistence and were not suitable for monetizing as "corporations." By law if "corporations" became insolvent it could result in the lands being sold to non-Native peoples or interests, while individual shareholders could chose to sell their shares outside the tribes as well - and the primary concern of the native peoples was to keep the title to their lands in perpetuity. I read it hoping for a window into Alaska native life, which this is only tangentially, but found it a worthwhile read.