Smooth the Dying Pillow: Alaska Natives and Their Destruction [original paper]

A slightly revised version of this paper was published as: Conn, Stephen. (1990). "Smooth the Dying Pillow: Alaska Natives and Their Destruction." Law & Anthropology: Internationales Jahrbuch für Rechtsanthropologie [International Yearbook for Legal Anthropology] 5: 167–183. Special issue on "Group Rights: Strategies for Assisting the Fourth World." Vienna, Austria: VWGO-Verlag. (http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9786).The policy for Native self-determination in Alaska developed by the Congress and the state has sought to replace a tribal model of governance with a body of legislation which confirms land rights without the direct political involvement of Alaska Native villages. However, the author argues, the absence of tribes as formal political structures has contributed to a loss of self-determination among Alaska Natives and to serious negative effects on Native village life.[Introduction] / The Pre-Land Claims Agenda: 1955–1965 / The Land Claims Era: 1967–1972 / 1988 — A Watershed / Footnotes / Bibliograph

Aboriginal Rights in Alaska

This paper was originally presented at Session A.1, "The Aborigine in comparative law," at the 12th Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law, Sydney, Australia, August 1986. The paper as originally presented can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9784.This paper describes the current state of aboriginal rights in Alaska and the impact of federal and state laws and policies on Alaska Native political and legal rights, tribal status, self-determination, and access to tribal lands. Topics covered include the legal determination of Alaska Native identity, the legal status of Alaska Native groups, Alaska Native land rights, sovereignty and self-government, subsistence, recognition of family and kinship structures, the criminal justice system in rural Alaska, customary versus formal legal process, and human rights and equality before the law.Factual Background / Legal Identity and Membership / Legal Status of Native Groups / Land Rights/Self-Government/Use of Natural Resources (Local or Regional Governments; Control of or Participation in Decisions Concerning Natural Resources) / Recognition of Family/Kinship Structures (Experience under the Indian Child Welfare Act 1978; Impact on Customary Law) / Criminal Justice and Procedure: Impact of the Criminal Justice System (Relationship between Law Enforcement and Self-Government; Procedure and Customary Conflicts) / Special Legal Institutions (Local Methods of Dispute Resolution; Distribution of Funds, Benefits and Services, and Political Representation) / Human Rights and Equality Before the Law / Notes / Bibliograph

Smooth the Dying Pillow: Alaska Natives and Their Destruction [chapter]

This paper was originally presented in Symposium III, "Group Rights at the Close of the Twentieth Century: Strategies for Assisting the Fourth World; Session 3, Evaluating Strategies for Change" at the 12th International Congress, Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism, International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, Jul 1988. The paper as originally presented can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11122/7350.The policy for Native self-determination in Alaska developed by the Congress and the state has sought to replace a tribal model of governance with a body of legislation which confirms land rights without the direct political involvement of Alaska Native villages. However, the author argues, the absence of tribes as formal political structures has contributed to a loss of self-determination among Alaska Natives and to serious negative effects on Native village life.The Pre-Land Claims Agenda: 1955-1965 / The Land Claims Era: 1967-72 / 1988 — A Watershed / Notes / Bibliograph

Punishment in Pre-Colonial Indigenous Societies in North America [original paper]

A revised version of this paper was published in the "proceedings" volume for this conference: Conn, Stephen. (1991). "Punishment in Pre-Colonial Indigenous Societies in North America." La peine, Quatrième partie. Mondes non européens [Punishment – Fourth Part. Non-European worlds], pp. 97–107. Recueils de la Société Jean Bodin pour l'histoire comparative des institutions [Transactions of the Jean Bodin Society for Comparative Institutional History] #58. Brussels: De Boeck Université. (http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9753).Using northern Athabascan villages as examples, the author discusses how punishment in indigenous societies was traditionally interwoven with other societal functions. The influence of alcohol and the western legal process changed post-colonial societies and their methods of punishment because punishment decisions in indigenous societies were traditionally arrived at through group deliberation, whereas the western legal system works in a hierarchical fashion. The author concludes that imposition of western-style decision-making disrupted tradtional law ways in post-colonial society

Book Review of Village Journey by Thomas R. Berger

This review is as submitted to the Tundra Times. A revised version of the review, as edited by Tundra Times editorial staff, was published as "Doctrinal Overload Flaws Berger's 'Village Journey'" by Stephen Conn, Tundra Times, 23 Sep 1985, pp. 7, 11–12.This article reviews Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission by Thomas R. Berger (New York: Hill and Wang, 1985). The Alaska Native Review Commission, headed by former Canadian parliamentarian and justice Thomas Berger, initiated an inquiry into the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1984, visiting 62 villages and hearing 1600 residents to determine ANCSA's impact on Alaska Native lands and communities. Berger found that ANCSA had placed Native land at risk, endangering not only its title but the rights of Alaska Natives to subsist upon it.Book review / Appendix: Letter to Justice Thomas Berger, October 28, 198

Stock, Corporations, and Native Land Claims Settlement: One of a Series of Articles on the Native Land Claims

This article focuses on the role of village and regional corporations as established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1972. The booklet presents a simulated case study and open-ended class discussion questions relative to the use, purpose, and development of corporations, how corporations are managed and governed, and provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which led to changes in Alaska law with regard to Alaska Native shares in ANCSA corporations. The article is one of a series by different authors designed to stimulate reading and discussion at an advanced secondary or adult level.Alaska Department of EducationWhat are Corporations? / How Your Money and Land Will Be Used / Why Corporations? / Money to Spend and Money to Invest / Investment - Familiar Ways / Sole Proprietorship / Partnership / Corporations Protect People / Working for the Corporations / The Building Blocks of a Corporation / Differences Between Co-operatives and Corporations / Three Students Discuss a Corporation / Lessons Ronald, Jim, and Mark Learned / A Legal Contract / Directors / Compare the Old Days With the Future / Review of Corporations / Alaska Law and Native Claims Stock / Class Discussion

Punishment in Pre-Colonial Indigenous Societies in North America [chapter]

This paper was originally presented at the Conference on Punishment of the Jean Bodin Society for the Comparative History of Institutions, Barcelona, Spain, May 1987. The paper as originally presented can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11122/8276.Using northern Athabascan villages as examples, the author discusses how punishment in indigenous societies was traditionally interwoven with other societal functions. The influence of alcohol and the western legal process changed post-colonial societies and their methods of punishment because punishment decisions in indigenous societies were traditionally arrived at through group deliberation, whereas the western legal system works in a hierarchical fashion. The author concludes that imposition of western-style decision-making disrupted tradtional law ways in post-colonial society