A story that my mother shared with me is that the Kenaitze Dena’ina originated from sisters who traveled from the Copper River area, to Yaghanen, the good land. Today their descendants live by the Kenai River and are known as Kahtnuht’ana (Kenai River People) or the Kenaitze Indian Tribe. The major clan for the Kenai area is Tulchina. My grandmother who is Tulchina (people who come from the sea and are symbolized by the color blue) married a man from across Tikahtnu (Cook Inlet), from Kustatan, who was from the Kakhyi clan (refers to the cawing of a raven, and symbolized by a red color). We are a matriarch system, which I follow the clan line of my mother’s mother, so I am from the Tulchina clan.
After Alaska statehood, in 1959, Indigenous communities protested the increasing large land withdrawals that impacted our hunting, fishing and gathering of our traditional lands. In 1962 Kahtnuht’ana organized under the leadership of Rika Murphy, Harry Mann, Emil Dolchok, Mary Nissen, and Alexander Wilson to create an effective political body under the Kenaitze Indian Tribe to address these concerns. Rika Murphy served as the first president (now called Council Chair). The Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Constitution was officially recognized by the United States in 1971. Rika Murphy was my grandmother and one of the signers of the Constitution.
One of the goals that we had as a Tribe was to buy our land back, to provide a home base for our Tribal Citizens. We have been successful at accomplishing that goal and now have lands that hold our Dena’ina Wellness Center, Tribal Court, Elders Center, Educational Fishery and Harvest buildings, greenhouses, Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht (Kenai River People Learning Place) Campus, and in the future our Elders Housing. We also are stewards of land throughout the Kenai Peninsula. Our ancestors taught us that no one truly has full ownership of the land but are stewards and borrowing it from future generations. We need to ensure that we are prudent about how we use the land, air, and water to ensure our future generations have these earthly gifts for a healthy life.
What guides us in our decision making are our Traditional Values:
- Nanutset– Our History
- Ch’anikna– Children
- Nagh’ut dalts’ina– Our Neighbors
- Henu– Work
- Nudnelyahi ch’u- Plants and Animals
- Daggeyi– Fellowship, Work with Others
- Nadesnaq – Our Elders
- Ada-Care, Concern
- Quz’unch’- The right way, the truth
- Yinihugheltani- One’s Spirit
- Ts’itsatna- Ancestors
- Chiqinik- Thanks
- Nageł’a- Our Honesty
- Na’ini – Our Courage
- Ey’uh qa ts’dalts’iyi- subsistence, living outdoors
- Nakenagh- lineage
- Naq’eltani- The one above us, God, creator
By Bernadine Atchison, Elder and Tribal Council Chair, Kenaitze Indian Tribe
Sources
Rika Murphy, past Kenaitze president, grandmother (deceased)
Virginia Hunter, mother (deceased)
The Kenaitze People, Indian Tribal Series, Copyright 1975
The Ethnography of the Tanaina, Cornelius Osgood Copyright 1976, reprinted
Historic documents of Kenaitze Constitution