Forest sounds with birds and ducks
I've been Alaska now 45 years, the last 35
I've been teaching cross-cultural communication either for Alaska Pacific University
or the University of Alaska system.
I got into that because I was teaching in rural communities where
so much misunderstanding occurred between newly arrived professionals
and I would try to do my best to be a liaison between the community
and these new professionals who kind of circulated through the village.
Because it's not a matter of deliberately
trying to discriminate against anyone but the effect of miscommunication is indistinguishable
and sometimes with negative consequences.
It's not just Fish and Wildlife, it's the dominant culture coming to impose
itself on the local one with very little appreciation for what the
local culture represents.
The first ones would have been schoolteachers who came with their own agenda.
Not just to teach reading and writing but to stamp out the local language.
To punish students for speaking the only language
they knew to give them instruction in a language they
didn't understand and then penalize them for not doing well.
A village is a community where everybody knows
everybody's voice. Everyone is so familiar with everybody else.
You deal 99% of your life with people you've known forever
and then this stranger comes in and . . . you're not used to dealing with any kind of stranger
let alone a stranger from another culture, of another race
...from another part of the world.
It's triply intimidating for the person in a local bush community.
I think it has to be broader than just Fish and Wildlife. It's the way . . .
non-Natives coming to the village to do any kind of professional service are viewed.
Native narrator: One bad experience in the villages can cause
bad feelings in many surrounding villages. What I would like to see for the law enforcement
to work with our people. First of all, to be polite to be courteous
and freely explain what their duties are and why they're doing it.
So that the person they approach understands I'm only here to enforce what's the wishes
of your people have written for the protection of those resources that
you are harvesting so that you continue on to harvest these resources
for the future to come.
I don't think we can rid it because the miscommunications are going to happen
but we can spot it as miscommunication and not stupidity
or deviance or dishonesty
you know 'cause that's how we analyze that now
purely based on the process of cross-cultural miscommunication.
One of the biggest differences I've encountered
is simply the pace at which things move
the tempo at which people talk. If you're from the northeast part of the United
States or maybe the West Coast you probably have a pretty fast tempo by which
you do everything.
It's probably going to be faster than the Alaska Native rural person.
This is a huge difference when it comes to conversations because when people think
that the other guy is waiting too long to answer
their gut-level response to that is they're not telling the truth.
Someone is taking too long to answer the question
is potentially making something up.
Not just tempo but volume, for example. We all have a volume dial that was set before
we were two and there's the regular volume at which we
speak. Most Alaska Natives have a much quieter volume
dial setting. Again, it sounds like they're not trying to
answer the question. Loud talking sounds confrontational and aggressive.
You're not going to behave that way in front of a law enforcement officer.
It's another level of misunderstanding that is inevitably going to occur.
When they're speaking in a language that's
even their second language people are especially careful with what they
say. They have to pause even longer, most probably,
to be sure they're telling the truth, not saying anything inaccurately
in a language they're not totally familiar with.
You add the linguistic complication and the
pauses get even longer which tends to convince the interrogator that
the person being questioned is lying.
When you're from a traditional culture it's what you say that's binding.
Not what you write or sign. Because you respect authority when someone
in authority tells you to do something like sign this it's for your own good
the tendency will be to comply unless you realize how serious it will be
once you put your name on a confession.
In the dominant culture if you're honest with someone you look them right in the eye.
In many traditional cultures if you really respect someone you behave in a humble way
before them which means looking down.
The respect in one culture looks like dishonesty in the other.
I remember hearing of an Alaska Native village
safety patrol officer going to interview a suspect
with a trooper. The trooper was a non-Native. They went and interviewed the same guy and
as they left the house The trooper said, "I guess we got our man,
he's obviously guilty" and the Alaska Native guy said, "What do you
mean? He's obviously innocent."
They had come to two completely different analyses
of the same interrogation of the same man at the same time and place
Officer Narration: In this first scenario
you'll see that I am interviewing a non-Alaska Native suspect. This person, for this scenario
has indeed committed the crime. I'm asking questions in the interview phase and assessing
verbal responses and nonverbal responses.
So last week I was patrolling just downstream
from your huntin' shack, maybe quarter mile, and I found a cow moose that had been wasted.
Shot and wasted. Do you know anything about that?
No. I don't know anything
You know pretty much everybody along that
stretch, correct?
I know, I know a few people.
Then you must have some idea. Do you know
who would have done this?
No.
You got nothing for me?
That's not my business.
I think it is. I think it probably is your
business. I think it's important to all of us.
Everything we got, everybody we've talked
to, all the evidence dictates that you were the one that pulled the trigger on that cow.
Officer Narration: In scenario #2 the interview
I'm conducting is with an Alaska Native. We are discussing the same exact crime but this
Alaska Native is not guilty. What you will see is the similarities of the responses even
though one committed the crime and one did not.
So last week I was patrolling just downstream
from your huntin' shack, maybe a quarter mile, and I found a cow moose that had been wasted.
Shot and wasted. Do you know anything about that?
No (throat clearing).
You know pretty much everybody along that stretch, correct?
Some.
Then you must have some idea. Do you know
who would have done this?
No.
You got nothing for me?
I don't know, it's none of my business.
I think it is. I think it probably is your
business. I think it's important to all of us.
Everything we got, everybody we've talked to,
all the evidence dictates that you were the one that pulled the trigger on that cow.
Officer narration: The whole idea behind this
video is to be aware that in the Alaska Native culture it can be very common that the verbal
and the nonverbal displays that may come from Alaska Natives may be similar as a non-Alaska
Native suspect that was indeed guilty. So it's all about awareness. None of this is
black and white, none this is 100% at all. These cultural traits when being confronted
by a law enforcement officer are things that are important for the officer to know that
are common. It's okay if you're not getting looked in the eye. It's okay that they're
nervous. The best answer you may get from an Alaska Native might be a simple, "No" and
then will look away. That might be it. That might be, in their mind a firm and adequate
denial to a crime they didn't commit.
Understand these cultural traits and that
they are common within the Alaska Native culture.
Father Michael Oleksa: These situations do
arise and that creates in the community even greater suspicion of not just the efficiency,
but the honesty of the system. Being aware that these behaviors are different across
cultural boundaries is already a huge step.
Alaska Native voice: We must all work together.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services are providing those services only to enforce the wishes
of our people so that the future generations will have the same resources available to
them for the future to come.
Officer narration: Building relations between
Alaska Natives and particularly Law Enforcement is huge. It is important that we do everything
we can; we build trust among the folks that we serve.
It's important to get it right.