Kaitlin Armstrong got her start working in media and freelance writing articles about Alaska culture, and says she kept running into the same Alaska trope over and over again.
“Certainly, yes — living in Alaska it is undeniable that there are elements of that in Alaska culture — but I was very interested in how that type of interpretation of Alaska’s culture is also so heavy in reality television,” Armstrong said. “And yet it’s really derided by Alaskans because they are like, ‘It is not authentic.’”
Before starting The Alaska Myth, Armstrong’s initial idea for a podcast was inspired by “anti-Alaska reality tv,” influenced by her freelancing days. She says she would bounce ideas off her brother, Cashman, who was pursuing a history degree from the University of Alaska Southeast at the time. He would recommend books for Armstrong to read, and from there, she says it morphed into a history podcast.
“Obviously it is ridiculous, and yet I do think there is a way in which settlers use those same tropes in order to talk about our own identities,” Armstrong continued. “We just deploy them in ways that read as authentic amongst ourselves. I was really interested in that dichotomy and developing this podcast that was like peeling back layers of Alaskan identity.”
Armstrong is the host and executive producer of The Alaska Myth, a podcast dedicated to analyzing Alaska settler myths. The team consists of Armstrong, a research consultant as well as Armstrong’s brother Patrick Cashman, and story and cultural advisor Alice Qannik Glenn of the podcast Coffee and Quaq. Erisa Apantaku and Allison Behringer also work on The Alaska Myth as story editors. In April of this year, the podcast received first place for best audio program from the Alaska Press Club.
Armstrong describes the podcast as “food for thought on what it meant to be Alaskan.” Topics so far explored include the gold rush era, the sole prospector, the “last frontier” and how the public remembers Russian colonization in Kodiak.
“It is often portrayed as these cute little chronicles of people who are little heroes fishing and panning for gold,” Armstrong said. “I think romanticization of those narratives is very dangerous, because it washes the violence out of them.”
The Alaska Myth is available to stream on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and on their website. Armstrong says that the team is currently working on more episodes.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
