Rosita Worl facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rosita Kaaháni Worl
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Sealaska Heritage Institute President and anthropologist Rosita Worl speaks at a Native Issues Forum in Juneau, Alaska, Feb. 22, 2012.
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| Born | April 29, 1937 |
| Alma mater | Alaska Methodist University Harvard University |
Rosita Kaaháni Worl is an American anthropologist and a strong leader for Alaska Native culture, business, and politics. She is the president of the Sealaska Heritage Institute. This group works to protect and share the cultures of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Native peoples in Southeast Alaska. She has led the institute since 1997.
Rosita Worl also served on the board of directors for the Sealaska Corporation for 30 years. This corporation helps Native people in the region. It has over 22,000 shareholders and provides a lot of money to the heritage institute.
Rosita Worl's Tlingit names are Yeidiklasókw and Kaaháni. She belongs to the Ch’áak’ (Eagle) group of the Shangukeidí (Thunderbird) Clan. Her family comes from the Kawdliyaayi Hít (House Lowered from the Sun) in Klukwan. She is also a citizen of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
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Rosita Worl's Career
Rosita Worl has been a professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska system campuses in Juneau and Anchorage. Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures. She has written many papers about traditional ways of life, issues for Native women, and laws affecting Native people. She also wrote about the culture and history of Southeast Alaska Natives.
Working with the Smithsonian
Rosita Worl has worked with the Smithsonian Institution. She was one of four editors for a book called "Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska." This book was published in 2010. It shows more than 200 amazing objects that represent the art and designs of 20 different Alaska Native groups.
Protecting Native Heritage
From 2000 to 2013, Rosita Worl was part of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) National Review Committee. She even led this committee for some time. This group helps make sure that Native remains and old artifacts in museums are returned to their original owners. It also helps solve disagreements between museums and tribes.
She also wrote a paper about NAGPRA called "Integrating Science & Stories: Tlingit Ancient History." This paper looked at how tribal leaders and scientists worked together. They studied the discovery of 10,000-year-old human remains in Southeast Alaska. They researched where this early Native man came from.
Early Work and Whaling
Earlier in her career, Rosita Worl worked in the Arctic. She studied how oil development affected the Inupiat people. She also studied traditional whaling. She advised the U.S. Department of State on whaling issues.
In 1982, Rosita Worl and her children started a magazine called Alaska Native News. It was a monthly magazine that shared in-depth stories about Alaska Native businesses, art, culture, and more. It ran until 1985.
Government Advisor
In the mid-1980s, Rosita Worl advised Alaska Governor Steve Cowper on Alaska Native and Rural Affairs. She helped create the first official policy for Alaska Natives in the state. She also looked at new laws that changed parts of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. This act created Native corporations. Rosita Worl worked to protect these corporations from being taken over by non-Native groups.
She also served on President Bill Clinton's Northwest Sustainability Commission. She has been a member of many important groups. These include the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Indigenous Languages Institute, and the National Museum of the American Indian.
Protecting Traditional Foods
Rosita Worl led the subsistence committee of the Alaska Federation of Natives. Subsistence means getting food directly from nature, like hunting and fishing. In 2013, she spoke to the U.S. Senate. She explained how important traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering food is for Alaska Natives. She said that at that time, an average person harvested about 544 pounds of food each year. This made up about half of their daily food. Rosita Worl pointed out that federal rules sometimes made it hard for Alaska Natives to feed their families.
New Directions for Sealaska Heritage Institute
In recent years, Rosita Worl has led the Sealaska Heritage Institute in new and exciting ways. In 2015, the institute opened its new main building in Juneau, called the Walter Soboleff Building. This building has modern and traditional Native art, a museum, a place for performances, and classrooms.
In 2020, the institute also started building a new cultural arts complex. This new campus will have classes and live demonstrations of traditional Southeast Alaska Native arts. It will also display large works of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian art. College-level courses will be offered there with the University of Alaska Southeast and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Rosita Worl's Early Life
Rosita Worl was born in 1938 in a small cabin near Petersburg, Alaska. She was raised by her grandmother, aunt, and mother. When she was six years old, she was taken from her home and brought to Haines House. This was a Presbyterian mission in Haines. There, she and other Alaska Native children were taught English and the Christian religion.
Because Rosita was forced to leave her home, her grandparents, John and Jennie Thlunaut, had to "rent" her from the missionaries to spend time with her. Her aunt, Agnes Bellinger, even went to work at Haines House to watch over her. Rosita stayed there for three years. Then, her mother, Bessie Quinto, was able to bring her home to live with her 12 brothers and sisters.
Rosita's mother taught her that she had a duty to help the Native community. She did this through groups like the Alaska Native Sisterhood. When Rosita was 10, she traveled with her mother as she organized workers at salmon canneries. Rosita had to take notes during these meetings. As a teenager, she even fished for money with an uncle. This was something girls her age were not usually allowed to do.
Education and Learning
Rosita Worl went to high school in Petersburg. After graduating, she ran a program that helped Alaska Natives go to college. She said she even recruited herself! She started college by taking one class at a time.
In the 1970s, she studied at Alaska Methodist University in Anchorage. She learned from famous professors like Richard Dauenhauer. She earned her bachelor's degree there. Later, she earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University. In 2012, the University of Alaska Anchorage gave her an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree. This is a special award for her achievements.
Awards and Recognition
Rosita Worl has received many awards for her important work. Some of these include:
- Ford Foundation Fellowship (1972-1977)
- Gloria Steinem Award for Empowerment (1989)
- Human Rights Award, Cultural Survival (2002)
- National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institution Honor (2006)
- Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology (2008)
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (2011)
- Alaska Federation of Natives Citizen of the Year Award (2011)
Family Life
Rosita Worl has three grown children: Celeste, Rod, and Ricardo Worl. She also has six grandchildren: Rico, Crystal, Kyle, Miranda, Ricky, and Sage.
Images for kids
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Sealaska Heritage Institute President and anthropologist Rosita Worl speaks at a Native Issues Forum in Juneau, Alaska, Feb. 22, 2012.
