Ethnohistory and the Anthropologist as Expert Witness in Legal Disputes: A Southwestern Alaska Case

Alaska is only beginning to address the questions related to aboriginal title; the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act did determine the broad outline of the land claims issue among Native Alaskan peoples, but refinements of the settlement will take decades to resolve. Anthropological expert witness testimony is being requested in legal disputes arising as a result of the 1971 act; one such dispute provides the point of departure for this essay. In the dispute over water rights claimed by a Native village corporation, anthropological expert testimony was requested concerning ethnohistorical data. The constant strain between the requirements of law and those of anthropological research and inference modes is discussed in light of the issues of the case at hand. Suggestions are offered for the conduct of anthropological inquiry in expert witness requests, and eliciting adequate ethnohistorical data in the context of a legal dispute is seen to be improbable.