Gwich’in

Gwich'in
Dinjii Zhuu

Former Grand Chief Clarence Alexander, Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award ceremony, Portland, Oregon, 2004
Total population
9,000 (2010)
Regions with significant populations
Canada (Northwest Territories, Yukon)	7,900
United States (Alaska)	1,100
Languages
Gwich’in language, English
Related ethnic groups
Alaskan Athabaskans and other Athabaskan peoples

The Gwich’in (or Kutchin) are an Athabaskan-speaking First Nations of Canada and an Alaska Native people. They live in the northwestern part of North America, mostly above the Arctic Circle.

Gwich’in men are well known for their crafting of snowshoes, birchbark canoes, and the two-way sled. The women are renowned for their intricate and ornate beadwork. They also continue to make traditional caribou-skin clothing and porcupine quillwork embroidery, both of which are highly regarded among Gwich'in. Today the economy is mostly a mix of hunting, fishing, and seasonal wage-paying employment.

Their name is sometimes spelled Kutchin or Gwitchin and translates as "one who dwells" or "resident of [a region]." Historically, the French called the Gwich'in Loucheux ("squinters"), as well as the Tukudh, a term also used by Anglican missionaries. Gwich’in often refer to themselves by the term Dinjii Zhuu instead of Gwich’in. Dinjii Zhuu literally translates as "Small People," but figuratively it refers to all Indians, not just Gwich’in.

The Gwich’in language, part of the Athabaskan language family, has two main dialects, eastern and western, which are delineated roughly at the United States-Canada border. Each village has unique dialect differences, idioms, and expressions. The Old Crow people in the northern Yukon have approximately the same dialect as those bands living in Venetie and Arctic Village, Alaska.

Approximately 300 Alaskan Gwich'in speak their language, according to the Alaska Native Language Center. However, according to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, Gwich’in is now a "severely endangered" language, with fewer than 150 fluent speakers in Alaska and another 250 in northwest Canada.