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Climate change heightens the vulnerability of Alaska’s indigenous communities to shipping in the Bering Strait. Federal policy requiring “meaningful consultation and collaboration” with Alaska’s native communities does not adequately ensure utilization of indigenous knowledge in policy practices, consideration of native governance, or the facilitation of relationships strengthening collaborative processes. The discrepancy between present practices and Alaska Native expectations is examined in a recent U.S. Coast Guard survey raising questions concerning the capacity of federal consultative practices to safeguard indigenous communities. Results support scholarly findings on the value of relational knowledge for strengthening collaborative procedures with indigenous communities. Strengthened relationships between Alaska Native communities and agencies like USCG should enhance sustainable maritime and resources practices in the Bering Strait. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses ethical engagements with difference by articulating the notion of opaque alliance. Using the work of postcolonial theorist Édouard Glissant to analyze the relation between scholars, NGOs, alterity and indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon, it argues that the concept of opacity, that which cannot be reduced, helps counter the depoliticizing implications of current debates surrounding indigeneity and nature. We combine an explicit politicization of scholarly work-writing with, rather than about-with an explicit ethical stance or what Glissant calls "giving-on-and-with," to help enact concrete ethical responses to the productiveness of opacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]