A spot on the of Anchorage’s Cook Inlet coastline known as Point Woronzof, a bit of Indigenous culture has been brought back to.
A signpost that was inaugurated last week bears the traditional Dena’ina name of the location, Nuch’ishtunt, which translates to “the area that is protected from the elements.”
The signpost on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is the fourth Indigenous name marker that has been installed within the town as part of an project that is managed through The Anchorage Park Foundation, in partnership with a variety of other entities. This project is an example local of what has become the national, statewide and international effort to reinstate Indigenous names for geographical sites.
For the scholar Aaron Leggett, who is the president of the Native Village of Eklutna and who has been the main driver of this project, the new trail marker is a part of the progression.
“When I was a child in Anchorage there was not any mention of the Dena’ina people, or even Dena’ina names for places,” Leggett said at the ceremony on Aug. 18 ceremony of dedication.
Boomtown influxes in the past which created Anchorage the state’s most populous city, obscured the initial Anchorage residents’ presence Leggett explained. He realized that when he was 19 in the Alaska Native Heritage Center and having conversations with Native people from all over Alaska, noted.
“I said I was Dena’ina. And they asked ‘Well what’s the matter?’ then they asked”Where’s the village you’re from?’ I responded”We’re from here,'” he said at the ceremony of dedication. It was quite a bit of explaining according to him. “Some people who lived in Anchorage told me, ‘Well, I didn’t even know that Native people inhabited this area. I responded”Well, we’re living here. We’ve never left.'”
The Anchorage interpretive signs program has helped place this city “on the forefront of recognition of indigenous names,” and serves as a model for other communities in which people are looking for similar program, Leggett said.
There are plans for another 28 signposts to be built in the vicinity of Anchorage according to Beth Nordlund, executive director of the Anchorage Park Foundation.
“We will continue until we recognize that we can all recognize that we’re walking on Dena’ina’s land,” Nordlund said at the ceremony.
The most well-known instances of the current trend toward revitalizing Indigenous name names for places – either through interpretive signs, such as those on the trail of Anchorage, or even in official geographical designations that concern the tallest mountain in North America.
In 2015 Obama and then-President Obama as well as then Interior Secretary Sally Jewell used their administrative powers to officially declare federal law what had, prior to Alaska long been the most commonly used and officially recognized Alaska State Government name: Denali. The name derives taken from the Koyukon people, whose homes are closest to the mountain and means “the highest one” or “the big one.”
The Dena’ina share a name, with the similar definition, Leggett said. The lower-lying Mount Susitna, a well-known landmark on the Anchorage skyline, is named after Dena’ina’s name Dghelishla meaning “little mountain” Leggett explained.
Another instance is another example is the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus that is officially named for the ridge upon which it’s located, Troth Yeddha’ in the Lower Tanana language. While the ridge was previously given no official title from the government however, it was a traditional place to gather wild potatoes. Troth Yeddha’ is roughly in the form of “potato the ridge.” The name was officially approved in 2013. was approved by the federal government in 2013.
A common European tradition has been to name places in honor of individuals, Leggett noted. Point Woronzof, for example was named in honor of an Russian Aristocrat who was the ambassador of England during Czarina Catherine the Great’s reign as per University of Alaska Anchorage historian Steve Haycox.
Contrarily, Leggett said, Indigenous names for places are typically descriptive.
Two signs in the Anchorage project One in Westchester Lagoon and one at a park located on the east-side of town show the Dena’ina name of Chester Creek, Chanshtnu meaning “grass creek.” The East Anchorage park itself bears this name. The sign on Potter Marsh on the south border of Anchorage was which was dedicated in honor of Indigenous People’s Day last October and displays that name Hkaditali Hkaditali, which refers to the driftwood that collects on the flats of the tidal. Tikahtnu is the name Dena’ina uses for the inlet, later named in honor of British captain and the explorer James Cook, means “big water river.”
Sometimes, these descriptions contain warnings worth paying attention to, Leggett said.
The name Dena’ina Nen Ghilgedi, meaning “rotten land” was applied to an area which modern Anchorage residents refer to as Turnagain. This residential area was badly damaged by the devastating magnitude-9.2 earthquake in 1964. It was a nexus for the phenomenon of liquefaction the phenomenon where the soil behaves as liquid when it is collapsed. Liquifaction in the region ate homes and killed people.
At a national scale on a national scale, on a larger scale, Department of the Interior, through the U.S. Geological Survey, is developing an program not just to reinstate Indigenous names, but also to take names that are discriminatory or deemed to be as derogatory.
A recent event of recent events in Alaska has been an Alaskan USGS choice to alter its official title for the area that was previously called the Chugach National Park’s Suicide Peaks. This name was thought to be a bit sour in a state with high youth suicide rates are incredibly high. Advocates were able to come in with North Yuyanq Ch’ex as well as South Yuyanq Ch’ex which means “heaven’s breath.”
Restored Indigenous place names appear on official maps and signs that are not in those in the United States as well. In Canada For instance there are signs were erected in time for 2010’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver and indigenous names are being restored or are currently being restored in places such as Iqaluit which is the Nunavut capital city of the territory which was previously known as Frobisher Bay. In Australia there is there is a program similar to the one similar to that in U.S. has been in place for restoring Indigenous names, and to remove contemporary offensive names.
The process hasn’t always been easy.
The vote in 2016 that was narrowly endorsed to adopt in 2016 to apply the Inupiaq name Utqiagvik to describe Barrow, the most northern U.S. community also known as Barrow was met with a lot of resistance and even the filing of a legal action. Also, the USGS choice in the year 2015 of officially recognize the names of the Gwich’in communityTeedriinjik River as well as the Ch’idriinjik River, meaning “shimmering river” and “heart river” in reference to the two major tributaries of Chandalar River system was not approved in the eyes of the government.
There is a current disagreement about the plan to give the Ahtna name to a location in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, also known in the area of Lion’s Head.
The Alaska Historical Commission recently put forward a proposal to adopt the name “Natsede’aayi,” which means “rock standing” for the location that is 49 miles to the northeast of Palmer and situated at the junction between Caribou Creek and the Matanuska River. There were a variety of issues and concerns raised which included the resolution of opposition that was passed on June 1st by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission according to Alaska Secretary of State Katie Ringsmuth. Refusing to approve the proposal is “really just allowing everyone the time to fully to inform people” about the issue and collect opinions, she explained.
This article was originally published in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
