Quarterly Newsletter

A Message from NICWA’s Executive Director

Dear NICWA Members, Sponsors, Donors, and Friends,

Welcome to the Summer issue of NICWA News. The theme is “Belonging.” This deep, universal human need to belong is nurtured differently across societies and cultures. Native communities cultivate a strong sense of belonging and interdependence throughout life, connecting us to others, our environment, and something bigger than ourselves.

Many traditional practices emphasize care for one another, the land, and the plants and animals; they help maintain our continued existence as unique peoples. We draw on our ancestors’ teachings to raise thriving, spiritually strong children who are secure in their identity. Our communities are organized around extended families and kinship networks that create a natural helping system and protective capacity for children. We have clear responsibilities to other human beings—including those who came before us and those who will come after us—and to the environment on which we depend. These responsibilities are encoded in our values and creation stories, which some cultures view as their original instructions from the Creator.

The Kodiak Alutiiq worldview describes “a set of interrelated and valued elements that sustain our well-being,” including physical, emotional, social, ethical, and cognitive well-being. Our worldview emphasizes interdependence—out of necessity, we rely on one another. Each human being has different gifts and talents, all of which the community needs. Community members have the responsibility to contribute their gifts and talents; we are bound together, and each person is indispensable.
To ensure that all of these gifts and the natural resources on which our survival depends continue to support our existence, stewardship is essential. We are responsible for ourselves, other people, and our environment. We cannot afford to discount or ignore the very things that will allow us to continue to exist as humans, and specifically as the unique Alutiiq people we are.

Spirituality, including faith and prayer, is integral to how we are bound together and how we care for the relationships and resources that sustain us. Our interdependence and spirituality connect us to something larger than ourselves, give us purpose, meaning, and a sense of belonging, which all humans need.
Finally, conducting ourselves properly in human and environmental relationships is not enough. We are called to continue to learn more about our language, history, ancestors, and traditional arts and skills and to share that knowledge—to pass on what we know to continue our way of life.

In the spirit of belonging,

Sarah L. Kastelic, PhD (Alutiiq)