Nome resident Caitlin Tozier had the unique experience of sharing Inupiaq culture with French locals during the American Normandy festival a couple of weeks ago.
The American consulate in France and the American Normandy festival organizers invited Tozier, along with three others, to give demonstrations of Native games and Alaska native culture during the festival. A one-time grant was acquired to pay for their travel and three days in Caen, France, for the festival, which included many opportunities to share Inupiaq culture.
“We did demonstrations each day, and then, we did a presentation each day. One day, we did an Eskimo yo-yo making workshop, and (on another day)… we did a storytelling kind of introduction to the Inupiaq language,” said Tozier.
For this particular cultural sharing opportunity, Tozier was joined by three others whom she knows through local native organizations and clubs: a student coordinator for the Festival of Native Arts in Fairbanks who is originally from Unalakleet, a Native Youth Olympics (NYO) Coach for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District who coaches with Tozier, and a former NYO coach.
Tozier says that all four of them were selected based on their knowledge of Alaska Native culture and games so they could bring more diversity to the festival.
The American Normandy festival celebrates the U.S. relationship with France through American-themed performances and events, like country line dancing, old Western shows, and even horse rodeos. Tozier says this mix of French performers or enthusiasts, American culture, and Alaskan Native culture was strange at times. “There was a lot of different dynamics… there was French line-dancing, then French people performing in native American regalia, and there was real-live Eskimos,” joked Tozier.
Tozier says she enjoyed the opportunity to share her culture with others. She said, “I’m happy that the reason I was there was to talk to people about who we are as people and share my culture.”
And sharing her culture is very important to Tozier.
“If we are afraid to share our culture, then no one else is going to want to learn about it, and then no one else is going to want to think it’s important enough to help us preserve it,” she stated.
Tozier says her ethnic background includes Caucasian, Alaskan Native, and Puerto Rican, but she identifies foremost as Inupiaq. This is one of the main reasons why Tozier is so involved with organizations and clubs that educate others about Alaska Native culture. She’s a Native Youth Olympics coach, a student volunteer for the Festival of Native Arts, a member of the student club Natives for Positive Change, and a dancing participant in the Inupiaq Dance Group in Fairbanks.
Currently, Tozier is pursuing an interdisciplinary degree at UAF in Alaska Native studies, mathematics, and education, so that, after college, she can continue to teach others for a living.
