ABSTRACT
ALASKA is geographically the largest state in the United States and the last American frontier. Sep-
arated from the lower forty-eight states by Canada, Alaska in the American imagination is an untamed expanse, a frigid wilderness with close ties to Native American folklife. A land of extremes, Alaska comprises opposites: glaciers and volcanoes, arctic taiga and rain forest, boreal tundra and Pacific islands, industry and wilderness, indigenous peoples and urban congestion. Today 226 federally recognized tribes from fifteen indigenous-language groups in Alaska share an energetic political arena with pioneer immigrants, commercial developers, and resource management departments for both the state and federal governments.
