July 8, 2011

Daily Report from the Journalism Committee

A Whole New World by Allison

Entering The Native Heritage Center it just appeared to be another museum that we were going to attend. What we didn't know was that beyond the front doors, the cultures of the native Alaskan peoples were being represented, recreated, and shown to us as authentically as possible. As soon as we walked in the doors of The Native Heritage Center the cultures of the different native people seemed to be spilling everywhere. There were natives telling about the history of their people, artwork displayed, native dancing, storytelling, games being presented on stage, and much more. We divided into groups based on the committees we were in once we got there. My group went outside first to visit all of the models of the different types of homes the native groups used to build. In almost all of the buildings there were people telling about the meanings of certain structures or objects within the homes. In one of the houses there were even native teenagers teaching their native dances to us and anyone else who came to see the house. When we arrived back inside the main building at eleven o'clock, we went to the auditorium to watch a dance group perform native dances. It was so amazing to see all of the energy and passion the young people were putting into the dances that told the stories and history of their culture. When the dancing was done, the whole group went outside to eat lunch, and when we came back inside we got to visit the gift shop, which, unlike the gift shops of the other museums we have visited, sold artwork and other native objects made by people in the different native Alaskan groups. Almost everything for sale in the shop was hand-made in Alaska by Alaskans. After browsing the shop for a few minutes we caught the presentation of the native Alaskan games. The people showing the games could do amazing things, like kick objects taller than them, moving their feet at extreme speeds, and others that just came naturally to them. They had grown up competing in the games, so they were used to doing things that would be impossible for us. The culture of the people represented at The Native Heritage Center was like a whole different world. The people were just like us in many ways, but in other vital ways their cultures, they were completely different. It was intriguing to see the difference in their customs, and by the end of our visit to The Native Heritage Center I had an even greater respect for the native people of Alaska and their culture.