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Karen Kallen-Brown

Karen Kallen-Brown

Karen Kallen-Brown came to Alaska on a river trip on the Kobuk Rivere and decided to teach school in rural Alaska. In the 1970s, she married Randy Brown with whom she lived in a remote cabin on the Kandik River. They lived a subsistence lifestyle where women's activities were equally important for their daily survival even though the gender roles were fairly distinct. After having two sons and dealing with land ownership issues with the National Park Service after establishment of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, the family moved to Fairbanks, which provided more opportunities. Despite living in town, they returned to their fish camp every summer.
Karen Kallen-Brown appears in the following new Jukebox projects:
Interview Title Abstract Archive #: Oral History Project Date of Interview
Karen Kallen-Brown, Part 1

Karen Kallen-Brown was interviewed by Dan O'Neill on October 29, 1991 in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. She mentioned her hope that the oral history project would not overlook the "woman's perspective," and she suggested several names of women who lived subsistence lifestyles in the area. Some of the women she suggested had already been interviewed, or had been scheduled for interviews, but some names were new to the interviewers and they were added to the list. In this first part of a two part interview, Karen talks about coming to Alaska to be a teacher and living a subsistence lifestyle, with her husband Randy Brown, in a remote cabin on the Kandik River in the area of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. She discusses their seasonal lifestyle, building a cabin, raising children, the gender-based division of labor, her love of the country, and their decision to leave the area and move into Fairbanks.

 91-22-48 Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Oct 29, 1991
Karen Kallen-Brown, Part 2

This is the continuation of an interview with Karen Kallen-Brown on October 29, 1991 by Dan O'Neill in the audio studio at Elmer E. Rasmuson Library on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Karen talks about the challenges of moving the family from life in a remote cabin on the Kandik River to Fairbanks, returning to their fish camp every summer, and issues surrounding management of subsistence by the National Park Service and its impacts on people living in the country and wilderness preservation.

 91-22-49 Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve Oct 29, 1991