Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II

Guise's recent book Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II uncovers the perspectives of Alaska Native peoples and their assertion for sovereignty during the Pacific War. This talk will pay particular attention to gender and war with Alaska as a case study. Guise will highlight the perspectives of Native women segregated by the US military, Native women's activism to combat segregation, violence against Native women, and Native women who contributed to wartime efforts through the Alaska Territorial Guard and in government contracts making cold weather gear. 


Holly Miowak Guise is enrolled Iñupiaq (Alaska Native). She is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico. Her book, Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II focuses on gender, Unangax̂ (Aleut) relocation and internment camps, Native activism/resistance, and Indigenous military service during the war. Her research methods bridge together archives, tribal archives, community-based research, and oral histories with Alaska Native elders and veterans. She is interested in the colonial/Indigenous relationship during war and social history. She launched a digital humanities website (ww2alaska.com) that features her YouTube channel (World War II Alaska) with oral history content from Native elders, veterans, and Unangax̂ internment survivors.