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The Changing Role of Women Artists Over Time
For millennium in regions around the world, egalitarian cultures developed, where division of labor was prevalently based on gender and age, with status accompanying the expertise that followed experience. The situation in the arctic was no different: women did crafts work distinct from men, and status was in large part achieved through wisdom and demonstrated skill, which was acquired through experience, which accompanied age. Study of indigenous Alaskan cultures reveals that the social roles of the genders developed so that men and women worked complimentary to each other, while being guided by their elders. In large part, men served as the hunters, venturing to harvest sea mammals or large game inland to feed their families, while women served as the support for their men. Women prepared the specialized garments needed to survive in the severe arctic environment, helped to make the kayaks that allowed their men to venture forth as effective hunters, and processed the game men collected.
What this division of labor also entailed, on an apparently widescale cross-cultural basis across Alaska, was that women did not work with ivory, wood, or “hard” materials, instead specializing in making textiles and woven items. Men, on the other hand, did not specialize in sewing, and did not make textile crafts in general, though there was some crossing of skill sets for survival purposes. However, as times have progressed, women have moved into the fields of craftsmanship where once men were predominant. In some ways, the role of women artists has changed as they take on tasks that once were coded masculine. In other ways, women artists play the same roles as they always did: as people who support their families and work to ensure their survival, in the past and in the present day.
Though men and women worked in complimentary roles for centuries, in “The Social Role of Technology in Coastal Alaska,” Frink writes that “to accept an unflinching symmetrical status through time to these productive divisions is to deny the tensions and negotiations between women and men and their sometimes different economic and social strategies” (289). What this says is that although the roles of men and women were complimentary, they could also have competitive elements where either gender strove to maintain control (in the form of expertise). Frink writes that “identity is performed, parlayed, and reinforced through tool, task, and expertise” (Social Role 289). This says that the separate areas of expertise occupied by men and women were not merely because one gender had a greater aptitude for a certain task than another. Rather, as men and women began to specialize in different tasks, these tasks became more and more the metaphorical 'property' of the gender that owned them, with authority stemming from expertise granted to that gender in a specific area. As the craftsmanship native peoples worked on various items became ever more sophisticated over time, a group went on to 'own' various tasks even more thoroughly, though some crossing-over of expertise was also possible. However, the dominance of a particular gender in a particular task explains some of the difficulty modern Alaskan native women artists have had being accepted when they work in traditionally male materials such as walrus ivory.
The importance of age and experience leading to authority in tribal cultures shows in many aspects of Alaskan native life. Even chores that westerners consider to be simple call for a knowledge that runs deeper than the superficial to be done well, for instance, cleaning and preparing fish for drying. Frink observed native women at a fish camp, braiding fish on strands of grass to be hung over a rack and dried. In “The Identity Division of Labor in Native Alaska” Frink writes that “braiding is a skill that is much admired among women and a real point of pride to those who have mastered its labor-intensive and subtle technique demands” (25). In this technique, the cut fish are woven onto strings of grass including easily forty to over sixty fish, and middle-aged women still sometimes have to consult their mothers to successfully finish a braided strand without the weave breaking. In this case, the knowledge of the older women (and the fact that women run the cleaning of the catch) grants them authority in these areas. The men do the catching of the fish, but the two genders must negotiate and discuss how a family will allocate time over a fishing season, because both genders contribute to the final product. The men strive to catch fish at the best time so they will be easiest to prepare and so that the women will not be overwhelmed by the sheer number of fish that they must go through, and the women must work with the men as well, preparing the catch that the men bring in. This interrelation grants power to both parties.
The role of experience and artistry in braiding fish to be dried hints at two other interesting aspects of Alaskan native culture and life, as well. For one is the inversion that gender roles can undergo as people age. For instance, in the Inupiaq culture, in earlier stages of life the men are the predominant authority. They are the hunters and providers, and the women are the maintainers, and the providing activity grants the men more authority than the women in general matters of life. However, as the years pass, the power dynamics can shift in the opposite direction. Older women have been sewing and preparing materials to support their men and families all of their lives, and have a wealth of experience which they can still put to use with a needle and thread or in whatever task they are capable of keeping up with. Their skills only become honed with age. Men, on the other hand, played their major role as hunters during their younger years, and as they age become less able to venture out into the dangerous wilderness to bring down game. The most significant contribution an elderly man can make to the continued welfare of the group and family is passing on his hunting expertise through advice. Women can still contribute materially to the welfare of their people, so their authority increases while the authority of men diminishes, in this case, and in this particular culture.
Another aspect of Alaskan native culture that is hinted at in the sophisticated dynamics included in herring braiding and preparing fish is the complexity contained within the utilitarian that characterizes the material culture as well. In cultures across Alaska, items that westerners might dismiss as utilitarian were carefully made and decorated by craftsmen and women, and utilitarian items had another layer of purpose attached to them, be it on a spiritual or prestige level, than being 'mere' tools. For instance, Yup'ik women were potters, though the craft mostly disappeared once the copper cooking pot was introduced. Their pottery vessels, while used for cooking, also served a ritual purpose, and it was known throughout the group which of the elder Yup'ik women were the most skilled potters. Skill in pottery granted respect through recognition of expertise.
Prestige items varied cross-culturally, of course, taking on a variety of different forms. Both men and women could contribute to making prestige objects, or objects which had a dual utilitarian and other purpose. For instance, T'lingit men made the paddles for cedar log canoes were carved and painted with designs that would be visible as rowers moved their paddles through the water. These designs were signifiers of identity. In the Aleut culture, on the other hand, to signify prestige and who was the senior hunter or chief, men carved visors which became more elongated as the wearer's status became greater. How did women contribute to making prestige items? In both the Aleut and the Athapaskan cultures, the clothing made by women was a telling marker of identity and prestige.
Aleut women sewed some of the finest clothing for waterfaring hunters that the world had ever seen. The clothing was warm, water-resistant by dint of the material it was made of, and the fine stitches laid in by Aleutian women allowed men to venture to hunt the icy waters not with impunity, but with a fighting chance. Women also sewed the covers of the ingenious Aleutian kayak, again using waterproof stitches that would preserve the flexible vessel and the man inside from falling prey to the oceans. Aleutian sewing was recognized as being so fine that upon contact, whalers would actually commission clothing from the women, and Aleut crafts became vaunted items of prestige for Russians in turn. Jackets changed form according to the pressures and demands of contact as well, with the outer layer changing form from the traditional coat for an Aleut man to being sewn in the appearance of a Russian greatcoat. Finer stitches and sewing meant that the man wearing whatever article of clothing sewn was better protected against the cold and wet, but skill in sewing could also be a feather in the cap of the woman who played the role of seamstress. Overall, skill at sewing offered a woman a chance to improve the lot of her family and to be acknowledged as an expert, which would increase respect for her in her community. Thus, a woman had much to gain grooming her sewing expertise to be the best it could be.
As for the Athapaskans, these inland-dwelling people led mostly nomadic lifestyles and could never settle in one place for long. Their habitat was less rich in subsistence foods than many of the living places enjoyed by other peoples of Alaska. Thus, the Athapaskans could not afford to carry many extraneous objects. Their camps had to be broken down quickly and easily carried so the people could expend as little energy as possible for maximum gain. However, they did develop a material culture, largely expressed through their clothing, which was of course made by sewing: women's work. Athapaskan women also prepared the hides that they used to make clothing. When beads were introduced through contact and trade with Europeans,
For millennium in regions around the world, egalitarian cultures developed, where division of labor was prevalently based on gender and age, with status accompanying the expertise that followed experience. The situation in the arctic was no different: women did crafts work distinct from men, and status was in large part achieved through wisdom and demonstrated skill, which was acquired through experience, which accompanied age. Study of indigenous Alaskan cultures reveals that the social roles of the genders developed so that men and women worked complimentary to each other, while being guided by their elders. In large part, men served as the hunters, venturing to harvest sea mammals or large game inland to feed their families, while women served as the support for their men. Women prepared the specialized garments needed to survive in the severe arctic environment, helped to make the kayaks that allowed their men to venture forth as effective hunters, and processed the game men collected.
What this division of labor also entailed, on an apparently widescale cross-cultural basis across Alaska, was that women did not work with ivory, wood, or “hard” materials, instead specializing in making textiles and woven items. Men, on the other hand, did not specialize in sewing, and did not make textile crafts in general, though there was some crossing of skill sets for survival purposes. However, as times have progressed, women have moved into the fields of craftsmanship where once men were predominant. In some ways, the role of women artists has changed as they take on tasks that once were coded masculine. In other ways, women artists play the same roles as they always did: as people who support their families and work to ensure their survival, in the past and in the present day.
Though men and women worked in complimentary roles for centuries, in “The Social Role of Technology in Coastal Alaska,” Frink writes that “to accept an unflinching symmetrical status through time to these productive divisions is to deny the tensions and negotiations between women and men and their sometimes different economic and social strategies” (289). What this says is that although the roles of men and women were complimentary, they could also have competitive elements where either gender strove to maintain control (in the form of expertise). Frink writes that “identity is performed, parlayed, and reinforced through tool, task, and expertise” (Social Role 289). This says that the separate areas of expertise occupied by men and women were not merely because one gender had a greater aptitude for a certain task than another. Rather, as men and women began to specialize in different tasks, these tasks became more and more the metaphorical 'property' of the gender that owned them, with authority stemming from expertise granted to that gender in a specific area. As the craftsmanship native peoples worked on various items became ever more sophisticated over time, a group went on to 'own' various tasks even more thoroughly, though some crossing-over of expertise was also possible. However, the dominance of a particular gender in a particular task explains some of the difficulty modern Alaskan native women artists have had being accepted when they work in traditionally male materials such as walrus ivory.
The importance of age and experience leading to authority in tribal cultures shows in many aspects of Alaskan native life. Even chores that westerners consider to be simple call for a knowledge that runs deeper than the superficial to be done well, for instance, cleaning and preparing fish for drying. Frink observed native women at a fish camp, braiding fish on strands of grass to be hung over a rack and dried. In “The Identity Division of Labor in Native Alaska” Frink writes that “braiding is a skill that is much admired among women and a real point of pride to those who have mastered its labor-intensive and subtle technique demands” (25). In this technique, the cut fish are woven onto strings of grass including easily forty to over sixty fish, and middle-aged women still sometimes have to consult their mothers to successfully finish a braided strand without the weave breaking. In this case, the knowledge of the older women (and the fact that women run the cleaning of the catch) grants them authority in these areas. The men do the catching of the fish, but the two genders must negotiate and discuss how a family will allocate time over a fishing season, because both genders contribute to the final product. The men strive to catch fish at the best time so they will be easiest to prepare and so that the women will not be overwhelmed by the sheer number of fish that they must go through, and the women must work with the men as well, preparing the catch that the men bring in. This interrelation grants power to both parties.
The role of experience and artistry in braiding fish to be dried hints at two other interesting aspects of Alaskan native culture and life, as well. For one is the inversion that gender roles can undergo as people age. For instance, in the Inupiaq culture, in earlier stages of life the men are the predominant authority. They are the hunters and providers, and the women are the maintainers, and the providing activity grants the men more authority than the women in general matters of life. However, as the years pass, the power dynamics can shift in the opposite direction. Older women have been sewing and preparing materials to support their men and families all of their lives, and have a wealth of experience which they can still put to use with a needle and thread or in whatever task they are capable of keeping up with. Their skills only become honed with age. Men, on the other hand, played their major role as hunters during their younger years, and as they age become less able to venture out into the dangerous wilderness to bring down game. The most significant contribution an elderly man can make to the continued welfare of the group and family is passing on his hunting expertise through advice. Women can still contribute materially to the welfare of their people, so their authority increases while the authority of men diminishes, in this case, and in this particular culture.
Another aspect of Alaskan native culture that is hinted at in the sophisticated dynamics included in herring braiding and preparing fish is the complexity contained within the utilitarian that characterizes the material culture as well. In cultures across Alaska, items that westerners might dismiss as utilitarian were carefully made and decorated by craftsmen and women, and utilitarian items had another layer of purpose attached to them, be it on a spiritual or prestige level, than being 'mere' tools. For instance, Yup'ik women were potters, though the craft mostly disappeared once the copper cooking pot was introduced. Their pottery vessels, while used for cooking, also served a ritual purpose, and it was known throughout the group which of the elder Yup'ik women were the most skilled potters. Skill in pottery granted respect through recognition of expertise.
Prestige items varied cross-culturally, of course, taking on a variety of different forms. Both men and women could contribute to making prestige objects, or objects which had a dual utilitarian and other purpose. For instance, T'lingit men made the paddles for cedar log canoes were carved and painted with designs that would be visible as rowers moved their paddles through the water. These designs were signifiers of identity. In the Aleut culture, on the other hand, to signify prestige and who was the senior hunter or chief, men carved visors which became more elongated as the wearer's status became greater. How did women contribute to making prestige items? In both the Aleut and the Athapaskan cultures, the clothing made by women was a telling marker of identity and prestige.
Aleut women sewed some of the finest clothing for waterfaring hunters that the world had ever seen. The clothing was warm, water-resistant by dint of the material it was made of, and the fine stitches laid in by Aleutian women allowed men to venture to hunt the icy waters not with impunity, but with a fighting chance. Women also sewed the covers of the ingenious Aleutian kayak, again using waterproof stitches that would preserve the flexible vessel and the man inside from falling prey to the oceans. Aleutian sewing was recognized as being so fine that upon contact, whalers would actually commission clothing from the women, and Aleut crafts became vaunted items of prestige for Russians in turn. Jackets changed form according to the pressures and demands of contact as well, with the outer layer changing form from the traditional coat for an Aleut man to being sewn in the appearance of a Russian greatcoat. Finer stitches and sewing meant that the man wearing whatever article of clothing sewn was better protected against the cold and wet, but skill in sewing could also be a feather in the cap of the woman who played the role of seamstress. Overall, skill at sewing offered a woman a chance to improve the lot of her family and to be acknowledged as an expert, which would increase respect for her in her community. Thus, a woman had much to gain grooming her sewing expertise to be the best it could be.
As for the Athapaskans, these inland-dwelling people led mostly nomadic lifestyles and could never settle in one place for long. Their habitat was less rich in subsistence foods than many of the living places enjoyed by other peoples of Alaska. Thus, the Athapaskans could not afford to carry many extraneous objects. Their camps had to be broken down quickly and easily carried so the people could expend as little energy as possible for maximum gain. However, they did develop a material culture, largely expressed through their clothing, which was of course made by sewing: women's work. Athapaskan women also prepared the hides that they used to make clothing. When beads were introduced through contact and trade with Europeans,