Billy budd, choker-setter: Native culture and Indian work in the Southeast Alaska timber industry

This article discusses the effects of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 on the timber industry in Southeast Alaska from the perspective of Alaska Native "choker setters." Choker setters form lowest wrung on the logging production hierarchy, providing much of the labor involved in deep woods harvests. The argument that emerges from this material highlights the importance of a distinction between the relations of work and the relations of production in advancing anthropological notions of culture, while emphasizing the continuing importance of culture and meaning for understanding class-based social processes. The primary material for the article is based on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Southeast Alaska by the author.