KU experts: Renaming Denali recognizes historical, cultural value of indigenous communities

LAWRENCE — President Barack Obama announced Sunday that Mount McKinley in Alaska will be renamed Denali in an effort to restore North America's tallest mountain to the Alaska Native name with deep cultural significance.

According to news reports, the administration said the executive order was part of a series of steps the president will take meant to address concerns of Alaska Native tribes and improve relations with the federal government and the nation's Native American tribes.

Two University of Kansas experts are available to comment on the geographic and cultural significance of the renaming the mountain.

Jay T. Johnson, a KU associate professor and associate chair of geography, currently researches the broad area of indigenous peoples' cultural survival with specific regard to the areas of resource management, political activism at the national and international levels, and the philosophies and politics of place that underpin the drive for cultural survival.

"In my research I have argued that indigenous peoples’ cultural survival projects, including place name preservation, are not merely about cultural conservation but also critical for the protection of traditional ecological knowledge," Johnson said. "By acknowledging Denali as the name of this mountain peak, President Obama is not only changing the map of America to include the Athabascan peoples who live around and revere Denali, he is also edifying all Americans by preserving the language and ecological knowledge of Native Alaskans."

To interview Johnson, contact Brendan Lynch at blynch@ku.edu or 785-864-8855.

Stephanie Fitzgerald, a KU associate professor of English and executive committee member of the KU Indigenous Studies Program, conducts interdisciplinary and trans-historical research that broadly focuses on Native women's textual and cultural productions from the colonial era to the president.

"Renaming Denali is a significant development toward positive relations with Alaskan Natives and more broadly all Native Americans," said Fitzgerald, a member of the Cree tribe based in Manitoba, Canada.

Fitzgerald is author of the book "Native Women and Land: Natives of Dispossession and Resurgence." Her book focuses on the roles literary and community texts and social media played in the memory, politics and experiences of those who had their land dispossessed.

To interview Fitzgerald, contact George Diepenbrock at gdiepenbrock@ku.edu or 785-864-8853.