Sealaska Heritage to host lecture on Tlingit territoriality

As part of Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Native American Heritage Month lecture series, SHI will host a talk on the T’akdeintaan clan of Huna Káawu.

The lecture, “Territoriality in Offshore Waters: Sea Otters, Tsimshians and U.S. Response” by Dr. Steve Langdon, will focus on the T’akdeintaan clan’s use of offshore resources and response to an invasion in 1880, when Tsimshians arrived in Hoonah to harvest sea otter. Hoonah leaders told the Tsimshian they would kill them if they returned and met with a U.S. Naval Commander to explain the situation. The commander told the U.S. government he would tell the Tlingit to fight the Tsimshian if they returned.

Dr. Langdon, a professor emeritus of anthropology from the University of Alaska Anchorage, will speak about the impact the commander’s remarks had on Tlingit claims to unextinguished offshore aboriginal resource rights.

Over the course of his 50 year-long career, Dr. Langdon advocated for policies promoting Indigenous authority over subsistence hunting, land management, tribal governance and more. Before authoring “The Native People of Alaska,” which is widely used as an introduction to Alaska Native peoples, he specialized in the history of Southeast Alaska Native cultures from precontact through early 20^th century U.S. governance. He has studied traditional ecological knowledge and uses of salmon by the Tlingit and Haida and researched Indigenous knowledge on the Alexander Archipelago for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2017, he received the Denali Award, which is the highest award given to a non-Native person by the Alaska Federation of Natives.

His lecture will be held from noon-1 pm, Tuesday, Nov. 17, in Shuka Hít (the clan house) on the first level of Sealaska Heritage Institute, which is located at 105 Heritage Way in downtown Juneau. Langdon’s lecture will also be livestreamed and available to watch on SHI’s YouTube channel.

Sealaska Heritage Institute is a non-profit tribal organization founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cross-cultural understanding by educating the general public about the Indigenous cultures of Alaska. SHI also conducts scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee, a Southeast Regional Language Committee and an Education Committee.

CONTACT: Kathy Dye, Deputy Director of Publications and Communications, kathy.dye@sealaskaheritage.com

Caption: Flyer for Dr. Steve Langdon’s lecture. Note: News outlets are welcome to use this photo for coverage of this story. For a higher-res version, contact chloe.anderson@sealaskaheritage.com.