In this one, Cody talks to Kaitlin Armstrong. She’s the host of The Alaska Myth, a podcast that deconstructs the stories created during the Russian settlement and European colonization of Alaska that began in the mid-1700s. Utopian settler stories, stories of the rugged outdoors, ones of monetary opportunity and ones of lawlessness. These stories — often embellished or completely fabricated — have informed the Alaskan identity and sense of place for generations. Meanwhile, overlooking or ignoring the history and the lifeways of the many Alaska Native cultures. Kaitlin says that she’s been thinking about all of this for years, about how the idea of The Last Frontier is subtle and insidious because of what it hides. On the surface, these stories are ones of can-do spirit and gritty individualism, stories that reinforce our idea of Alaskan pride. But underneath all of that, there’s violence, resource extraction and the erasure of Native peoples and their cultures.
Kaitlin grew up in Homer, Alaska. There, she says she had an idyllic upbringing in the small, tight-knit community. But her understanding of what goes into creating this idyllic place changed over the years. That the land had to be conquered first and then it could be made into the place she grew up in. That knowledge and curiosity extended to her own Honduran heritage, of which she knew little about as a kid. Because, for so long, it was just too difficult for her mom to talk about. But every summer, Kaitlin’s grandma would visit and she would connect with her heritage through her. But, Kaitlin says, she always felt more Alaskan than anything else.
EP 021 with Lisa Sauder
EP 20 with K Jered Mayer
EP 019 with Jesse Burtner
EP 018 with Melissa Mitchell
EP 017 with The Spenardian
EP 016 with John Woodbury
EP 015 with Tim Davis
EP 014 with Aurora Ford
EP 013 with Richard Bowen
EP 012 with Michael Cofey
EP 010 with Jana Weltzin
EP 009 with Craig Medred
EP 008 with The Hoffman Life
EP 007 with Dr. Alexander James
EP 006 with Michael Downey
EP 005 with Aaron Leggett
EP 003 with Dustin H James
EP 002 with David Holthouse
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