More Than God Demands: Politics and Influence of Christian Missions in Northwest Alaska, 1897-1918

by Anthony Urvina, Sally Urvina

Overview

Near the turn of the twentieth century, the territorial government of Alaska put its support behind a project led by Christian missionaries to convert Alaska Native peoples—and, along the way, bring them into “civilized” American citizenship. Establishing missions in a number of areas inhabited by Alaska Natives, the program was an explicit attempt to erase ten thousand years of Native culture and replace it with Christianity and an American frontier ethic.
            Anthony Urvina, whose mother was an orphan raised at one of the missions established as part of this program, draws on details from her life in order to present the first full history of this missionary effort. Smoothly combining personal and regional history, he tells the story of his mother’s experience amid a fascinating account of Alaska Native life and of the men and women who came to Alaska to spread the word of Christ, confident in their belief and unable to see the power of the ancient traditions they aimed to supplant.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602232938
Publisher:	University of Alaska Press
Publication date:	03/15/2016
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Anthony Urvina has lived in Alaska for more than thirty years and worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Preface xiii

Introduction 1

Part I A Peculiar Work

Chapter 1 The Bureau of Education in Alaska 19

Chapter 2 Sectarianism, Human Hierarchy, and the Decades of Change 31

Part II The White Man's Window

Chapter 3 A Matter of Perspective 61

Chapter 4 A Strategy for Change 91

Part III The Children of Conflict

Chapter 5 Trouble Comes in Threes 119

Part IV The Reindeer Files

Chapter 6 A Perception of Progress 155

Chapter 7 The Exodus to Noorvik 183

Conclusions 205

Epilogue 213

Appendix 1 Missionaries and Bureau of Education Teachers in Northwestern and Northern Alaska 1890-1918 215

Appendix 2 Village Population Data Chart, Winter 1909-1910 229

Bibliography 231

Notes 253

Index 297

Editorial Reviews

Brings much needed research to the history of Northwest Alaska. . . . In a rare piece of historical writing, Urvina is both a former Bureau of Indian Affairs administrator and an Alaska Native whose mother lived some of the times and settings. . . . Thoughtful, while critical, seeking not just to expose but also to understand.

Alaska History