Fur Trade Lives On

Peter Williams is a hunter, designer and maker of sea otter fur products.

Came across an interesting story on a native man in Alaska who is both a hunter of fur and a designer and maker who is challenging the standard urban attitude toward the fur trade. The New York Times did a piece on him, as did The Guardian, and he is the subject of a short subject documentary titled HARVEST: QUYURCIQ.

Yup’ik fur sewer and hunter Peter Williams is among a handful of young Natives today whose professional, cultural and spiritual lives are seamlessly interwoven. In a poetically just twist, he harvests and crafts the fur of the same marvelous animal that motivated Russia’s colonization of Alaska over 250 years ago: the sea otter. Colonial desire for otter furs brought multi-generational trauma to Alaska’s indigenous peoples, and near-extinction to the otters themselves. But with otter populations revitalized in Southeast Alaska today, the respectful and sustainable harvest of these creatures keeps coastal Natives healthy, empowered, and inherently connected to Place. The film documents Peter’s efforts to perpetuate the practice of sea otter harvest among increasingly-mainstreamed Alaska Native youth, and to clear up misconceptions among the non-Native public about Native ties to marine mammals.

The fact that he is a native man who can authentically and sincerely talk about sustainability and spirituality in the context of shooting and skinning a charismatic animal like the sea otter will inevitably mess with the moral clarity of the urban meat-is-murder crowd, which can only be a good thing. And his business, Shaman Furs, is interesting — both arduously outdoors-oriented and artsy. I just love stories like this.

https://vimeo.com/134904462