Incising the Future in Early Colonial Alaska

Abstract This article centers on Alaska's global maritime histories, emphasizing the significance of little-known and therefore understudied collections of Alaskan Native material and cultural heritage in Estonia. Through a sustained analysis of one artwork in this collection, an incised sperm whale tooth, I argue that close attention to the object's imagery, marine materiality, and visual form provide insight into Alaskan Native, particularly Sugpiaq, history. By reading this imagery in the context of the emerging field of Alaskan Native Studies, I advocate understanding the artist's choices as reflecting relations with marine worlds throughout and despite the Russian occupation and colonialism. Observing such a protocol helps to generate Native futures beyond the limits of coloniality's structures.