Talk:List of Alaska Native tribal entities

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[edit] Alaska Natives vs. Native Alaskans

It's just been pointed out to me on my talk page that I did not seek discussion before changing the name of this article (i.e., moving it) from "List of Native Alaskan Tribal Entities" to List of Alaska Native Tribal Entities. I apologize to anyone affected by this change for not having sought consensus first.

If, as a result of this discussion, the consensus is to move it back, I will take responsibility for doing so & making all the link changes on other pages necessary.

The reason I made the change: common usage in Alaska by both Alaska Natives & non-Natives, as well official government usage both in Alaska and by the federal government, consistently refer to the indigenous peoples of Alaska when discussed as a whole as "Alaska Natives," not as "Native Alaskans."

The Federal Register 70(226) dated Nov. 25, 2005, which contains the most recent listing of federally recognized tribes in the Lower 48 & in Alaska heads its Alaska listing as "Native Entities Within the State of Alaska Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs." Thus, it uses neither "Alaska Natives" nor "Native Alaskans." But usage otherwise at the BIA website (as much of it as you can see, given the litigation going on right now) is "Alaska Natives." E.g., the Bureau of Indian Affairs homepage retrieved just now begins, "The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) responsibility is the administration and management of 55.7 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives." Other federal government pages referring to "Alaska Natives" rather than "Native Alaskans":

• Guide to USDA Programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives
• USGS Activities Related to American Indians and Alaska Natives
• Senior Tribal Liaison for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Department of Defense) - refers to the Department of Defense American Indian and Alaska Native Policy.
• FAQs about Native Americans (Department of Justice) - consistently uses the term "Alaska Native(s)"
• etc.

I'm confident I could come up with a similar list of sources from Alaska government and from the Alaska Native community itself, if it is necessary. So I do think my changing the name of this page is justified.

I regret, however, that I failed to discuss & seek consensus before making the change. I will know better next time. --Yksin 19:31, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Update: just noticed that the BIA list from Federal Register cited above also uses the term "Alaska Native" on the first page: "We have continued the practice of listing the Alaska Native entities separately solely for the purpose of facilitating identification of them and reference to them given the large number of complex Native names."--Yksin 20:30, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

That's the magic bullet. My overriding concern here and on the List of Native American Tribal Entities is to list all of the entities that the BIA tracks and the names that they track, because there are so many (often subjective and/or conflicting) ways to build those lists. Other lists on WP can take on the idea of unifying the consensus. If we're using the BIA-preferred terminology, then it's all good. Mind you, this says nothing about the usage Wikipedia-wide, where I have no clue what the right choice is, but here you seem to have made the right choice. -Harmil 20:49, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Hamil. Yes, I'm right with you that this list must reflect what is officially recognized by the U.S. federal government (BIA), because it reflects a recognition of a government-to-government relationship between the feds & the tribe. (Something that the State of Alaska sometimes doesn't want to go along with.) Just as an fyi, I've lived in Alaska for 25 years, & deal a lot with this stuff in my day-to-day work, including reading a lot of federal grant notices that always use the wording "American Indians and Alaska Natives."

I've updated the list now from the 2005 list -- just a minor name change here & there. Good work on setting this up in the first place.--Yksin 21:10, 13 March 2007 (UTC)