Do Alaskans Feel American, Canadian, or “Just Alaskan”?

There are a lot of questions that we as Alaskans get regularly since a lot of people are curious about our state and its people. We’re asked all sorts of questions about us as Alaskans on websites like Reddit and Quora.

One of my favorites to answer is “Do Alaskans feel American?” I wish I was asked these types of questions more often. I like questions that make me think.

I’ll tell you now that most Alaskans don’t relate more to Canada than they do to America except probably the people in Hyder, but that’s a story for another time.

I’ll start by discussing some things some reasons why Alaskans might not feel American, and then we’ll look at reasons why they might.

Why Would Alaskans Not Feel American?

The single biggest reason, in my opinion, that some Alaskans don’t feel like Americans is that shipping companies and online marketplaces don’t treat us as Americans.

Nearly every Alaskan who has lived here for a certain length of time has a story about having to explain to someone over the phone that Alaska is, in fact, part of the United States.

I remember when I was growing up, people would always say that Americans were looked down upon across the world. I knew a lot of people who went to Europe or Mexico and said they were too embarrassed to tell people they were from America.

When these people were asked by people in a foreign country if they were Americans, they would always respond, “Oh, I’m Alaskan.”

For some of them, it was a way of skirting the issue. They were telling the truth without having to give a direct answer. For others, it was because they genuinely didn’t see themselves as Americans.

These reasons, among others, are part of the reason why some Alaskans don’t really feel like Americans.

Add in the fact that Alaska is so separated from the rest of America by sheer geographical distance and it becomes easier to feel an emotional separation.

Why Some Alaskans Do Feel American

On the other hand, there are reasons why some people up here do consider themselves to be Americans.

Since a lot of people come to Alaska for our relative freedom and independence, we have a lot of strong patriots who love the United States and are proud to consider themselves citizens.

There are also a lot of Alaskans who have served their country, either as part of the military or in another capacity. I haven’t asked all of them individually, but I imagine most of them would consider themselves Americans.

It blew my mind the other day to realize that Alaska has only been a state for 63 years. There are people alive today who grew up before statehood and have seen the difference between the territorial days and now.

A lot of them feel like Americans because they remember the day they officially became recognized as such.

Asking Resident Alaskans Their Thoughts

To get another perspective, I decided to ask some friends of various ages about their thoughts on the issue. I chose not to reveal why I was asking, so they will all remain anonymous.

The first person I asked told me that he considers himself an American because he loves this country and he votes for the US President every four years. If he wasn’t an American, he wouldn’t get that right.

Our next respondent told me that she felt like an Alaskan first and an American second. Since the culture up here is unlike any other state, she would have very little in common with someone in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, despite both of them being Americans.

Survey participant number three told me that he didn’t feel Alaskan because every time he goes down south and someone finds out he’s from Alaska, everyone asks him 20 questions about the state, making him feel like he’s from Mars and not a fellow American.

Friend number four told me that he feels Alaskan. He doesn’t vote in national elections because, as he puts it, “They don’t care about us. Why would I pretend to care about them?”

He also pointed out that Alaska has exactly one seat in the US House of Representatives out of 435. It’s more of a seat in the foyer than at the table in his eyes.

Another respondent told me that she feels like an American but in a bad way. She feels ashamed and sometimes wishes Alaska was independent, as she finds Alaska’s government more reasonable than Washington D.C.’s.

The last friend I spoke to said that he considers himself to be Tlingit, Alaskan, and American (in that order). He said that he’s a proud American because God has given us all certain rights and the US is one of the few countries in the world to have them enshrined in its constitution.

Interpreting The Data

The last thing that I’ll add is that I went to a WWE wrestling show in Anchorage a few years back and one of the Canadian wrestlers (I’m pretty sure it was Chris Jericho) started insulting America and said Canada was better.

There were a lot of angry boos and upset people around me, even before he started talking about how much he hated Alaska and Anchorage in particular.

Based on that and given that I received a variety of answers, I’m going to conclude that it depends on the individual. Some Alaskans do feel American and others don’t.

Some are proud to be Americans and some are ashamed. The one thing almost all of them have in common, though, is that they love Alaska and are proud to say that they live here.