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Prophecy, Sorcery, and Reincarnation
from any analytical or theoretical gaze. I was not going to sacrifice
my credibility as a student of anthropology, and I felt I lacked both
the necessary language and empathy to write about these events with
any conviction. In short, I struggled with my particular vocation of
anthropology as a science. Partly out of convenience, partly out of
fear, I wrote about a world in the Arctic that was disenchanted and
wholly devoid of mystical presence. I would explain accounts of ex-
traordinary or mystical experiences with the tools of social theory, psy-
chology, and history. I interpreted Mary Ellen’s claim that Levi was a
reincarnated being as the result of Mary Ellen’s exaggerated faith in
pre-Christian cosmology. His phobia could be explained as some ac-
quired voluntary or involuntary response resulting from a prior trau-
matic experience in the water.
Looking back on this experience, I realize that I had some unre-
solved and unfocused anger toward a particular form of Christianity,
which had colored my views of institutional religion. I was still dis-
oriented by a disturbing and confusing experience I had had with an
evangelical faith community in Port Alsworth, Alaska, in the spring
of 1993 , about six months before I began my dissertation research.
Sent to do a field study of the subsistence practices of the residents in
and around Lake Clark National Park and Preserve by the National
Park Service and the College of Forest Resources at the University of
Washington, I wanted to know how these residents were using forest
resources for food, shelter, fuel, and medicine.
Port Alsworth was home to a small community of Park employ-
ees and small business owners. The town’s loyalties were sharply di-
vided between those who belonged to the local evangelical church
and those who did not. Glen Alsworth, one of the original residents
of the town, had built a mini-empire of bush planes, cabins, and air-
plane hangars with revenues generated by guiding an international
clientele of outdoor enthusiasts on sport-hunting and fishing trips of
all types, from brown bear to salmon. He lived in a spacious, multi-
level log cabin with his wife and children. They were hospitable and
gracious to me, offering me food and company on a number of occa-
sions. Glen was the leader of the local church, an independent evan-
gelical church, and he invited me to attend one of the Sunday services.
