Barrrow votes to change its name to Alaska Native name
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Residents in the nation’s northernmost community have voted to change the name of the Alaska town to its traditional Inupiat Eskimo name.
A slight majority of voters in the largely Inupiat city of Barrow approved efforts to change the community’s name to Utqiagvik (oot-GHAR-vik) in their local election Oct. 4. The vote was tight, with 381 in favor of the name change and 375 against it.
“Basically, it reinforces the cultural identity of the people,” said Mayor Bob Harcharek, who is not Native. He noted that early day missionaries set up schools in the area where students were forbidden to speak in their native language and were punished if they did so. “It caused some social psychological problems.”
Barrow City Council member Qaiyaan Harcharek, the mayor’s son, introduced a local ordinance in August that began the process ratified by voters. The younger Harcharek is Inupiat on his mother’s side.
Read more: http://www.heraldnet.com/news/alaska-town-votes-to-change-its-name-to-alaska-native-name/
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