activities such as fishing and hunting. Many Native Alaskans converted either to Russian Orthodoxy or to Moravian Christianity after the encounter between Native Americans and Russians and U.S. settlers and explorers (Eskimo-Aleut religion, 2004).
Today, Native Alaskans number about 17 percent of the stateÆs population or about 100,000 as of 1993 (Sullivan & Brems, 1997). The peoples who comprise the group known generally as ôNative Alaskansö are, according to Sullivan and Brems (1997), quite diverse, consisting of Aleuts, Indian (Tlinglit, Athabascan, Tsimshian, Haida), and Eskimo (YupÆik and Inuit) peoples.
The Athabascans live throughout Alaska, usually in small groups of 20 to 40 people that used summer fish camps and winter villages as their base camps. According to the Alaska Native Heritage Center (Athabascans, 2004, p. 1), the Athabascans ôhave a matrilineal system in which children belong to the motherÆs clan, rather than to the fatherÆs clanà. Clan elders make decisions concerning marriage, leadership, and customs.ö Traditionally, Athabascan husbands lived with their wifeÆs family during the first year of marriage, working with his wifeÆs family and going hunting with his brother-in-law.
An important feature of traditional Athabascan life was the relationship between the motherÆs brother and his sister. Under this social organization, the motherÆs brother took responsibility for training and socializing his sisterÆs children in order that the children were exposed to and taught the history and customs of their clan (Athabascans, 2004).
The YupÆik and the CupÆik were Native Alaskans who lived in the southwest. Traditionally, the sexes were separated with all the males living in a menÆs house that is called a qasqiq. As soon as boys were old enough to leave their mothers, they moved into the qasqiq. Girls and women lived in an ena wh
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