The Alaska Native Heritage Center says its study of church records that go back to the 1800’s is not research for research’s sake.
Benjamin Jacuk-Dolchok, an indigenous researcher, says he hopes to reconstruct the story of how early churches used schools to separate Alaska Native peoples from their land, their culture and their spirituality. He says the impacts are still felt today.
“You can't understand what you need healing from, unless you pull back the band aid and understand the wound," said Jacuk-Dolchok, who believes the first step is looking at how churches closely coordinated their efforts.
"While these might be different denominations," Jacuk-Dolchok said, "the ideology was mostly the same. And that was forced assimilation.”
He says some of the research looks at the role of boarding schools -- and how Americanization and Christianity intersected to break the close connections Alaska Natives had with their land.
Jacuk-Dolchok says the forced use of English in schools took away the “heart language” of the people, which sped up the assimilation process.
"The major takeaway from what we're doing is understanding the truth, to bring healing, so that younger generations can thrive," he said.
Jacuk-Dolchok is a member of the Kenaitze Tribe. He has studied Native boarding schools for more than a decade and credits his grandfather, who attended boarding school, for inspiring his work.
Dolchok, who is a Princeton Seminary graduate, says his theology studies have helped him with his research and given him access to important documents.
He says his work builds on some of the work done earlier by the Alaska Native Heritage Center's president and CEO, Emily Edenshaw.
Jacuk-Dolchok will share some of his research at the Alaska Native Heritage Center’s Spring Brunch Fundraiser on Friday. He also plans to discuss the discovery of new cultural items the museum has acquired and how those will be used to bring healing.
Proceeds from the luncheon will be used to support programs to preserve Alaska Native traditions, languages and arts. The event is co-sponsored by Southcentral Foundation. For more information about the fundraiser, contact Kelsey Ciugun Wallace at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.
###
