Braided Storytelling as a Method in Archaeology: Reimagining Sugpiaq Pasts and Futures Through Story

Dr. Miller  will explore various storytelling methods in archaeology, as situated within a community-based project in Old Harbor, Alaska, a Sugpiaq village in the Kodiak Archipelago. Different methods of storytelling have a place in the practice of archaeology, from the initial formation of a research question to the sharing of results with community members and heritage professionals. Within this community-based research project, it is crucial that the results and interpretations are legible to the Old Harbor community. Here, I review existing information from historical accounts and archaeology to construct story models that generate predictions for new archaeological research into the Russian colonial period at the Ing’yuq Village site. I then braid these story models together with an imagined narrative by Allison Pestrikoff about the Sugpiaq experience of initial Russian arrival in their homelands and artistic interpretations of the Ing’yuq site by Tamara Swenson. Taken together, these different storytelling strategies create a more nuanced picture of Sugpiaq lifeways at Ing’yuq – a picture that includes the historical, emotional, and experiential context of relations to this specific place on the land. I will conclude by discussing how storytelling is an important factor in imagining Sugpiaq futures in Old Harbor.

Dr. Miller is an assistant professor in the Sociology/Anthropology Department at the State University of New York, Cortland, who specializes in archeology and bioarcheology. She received her B.A. degree from Lafayette College where she double-majored in Geology and Environmental Geosciences and Antropology and Sociology.

This presentation is part of the series Woven Together: Braiding Indigenous and Western Sciences for Shared Solutions to Environmental Challenges.