This week\u2019s readings, especially the piece by Nancy Green, were refreshingly\u00a0critical. Green\u2019s discussion of agency\u00a0calls for a \u201chistoriographic focus on the difficulties embedded in the lived practice of transnationalism\u201d (860). Her\u00a0recognition of the trials and tribulations of forging transnational\u00a0connections\u00a0has been\u00a0echoed by\u00a0the social sciences\u00a0and leads us to question the upbeat tone of transnational history. As Green writes, \u201c\u201cCertainly, we could emphasize the lost-in-translation trials of travel, trunks separated from their owners then, shoes and belts off at airports now\u201d\u00a0(863),\u00a0I am reminded of my own\u00a0experiences as a quasi-expat. Studying at St Andrews as an American, and even more so as an American split between two states, the trials and tribulations of a transnational existence are deeply familiar to me, from delayed flights to visa checks to\u00a0setting up a UK bank account. Green\u2019s concentration\u00a0on\u00a0\u201cthe complexity of the transnational situation: how wandering can be wearisome and how transnational ties may lead to complicated [issues and trials]\u201d\u00a0also highlighted some patterns in\u00a0Alaska history, what I plan to dive into\u00a0for our project\u00a0in\u00a0this module.\u00a0Alaska is a difficult place to get to, and its inaccessibility\u00a0means many things for its unique history.\u00a0Firstly,\u00a0Alaska\u2019s status as a difficult territory to access and control bulwarked Native communities from the displacement crises\u00a0and\u00a0unmerciful\u00a0violence\u00a0inflicted\u00a0upon thousands of Indigenous peoples by the\u00a0U.S. Government during the throws of westward expansion of its borders.\u00a0Native Alaskan communities\u00a0did suffer horrific wrongdoings\u00a0\u2013\u00a0note the notorious forcible evacuation and internment of\u00a0hundreds of\u00a0Aleut\u00a0people\u00a0from\u00a0islands\u00a0in\u00a0the Aleutian Chain\u00a0during\u00a0WW2\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and yet because\u00a0Native Alaskans\u00a0have in large part defended ownership over their ancestral lands, their\u00a0varied\u00a0cultures\u00a0have\u00a0maintained a vibrant presence throughout the state.\u00a0Alaska\u2019s inaccessibility has also defined its historical character\u00a0as a place of wilderness\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0American imagination. From Jack London to Jack Kerouac, Alaska has captured the imaginations of writers and explorers. The Klondike Gold Rush drew thousands of\u00a0hopefuls, but many journeys were cut short by the harsh weather conditions and unforgiving terrain of the Last Frontier.\u00a0The\u00a0industrial\u00a0history of Alaska in producing\u00a0precious resources, like whale oil, gold, furs, and copper, can be attributed in part to their geographic placement in an area which is difficult to access. A transnational\u00a0view of\u00a0Alaska\u00a0recognizes not only its connections between or through other places, but the\u00a0effort\u00a0required\u00a0and the\u00a0difficulty\u00a0in\u00a0establishing\u00a0those connections.\u00a0The EUI Global History Seminar Group also brought a critical eye to the transnational approach.\u00a0Certainly, residents of Alaska qualify as\u00a0those\u00a0simultaneously\u00a0connected\u00a0and\u00a0\u2018disconnected\u2019 by the global.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week\u2019s readings, especially the piece by Nancy Green, were refreshingly\u00a0critical. Green\u2019s discussion of agency\u00a0calls for a \u201chistoriographic focus on the difficulties embedded in the lived practice of transnationalism\u201d (860). Her\u00a0recognition of the trials and tribulations of forging transnational\u00a0connections\u00a0has been\u00a0echoed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5wNtZ-Ls","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2943,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions\/2943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}