Synopses & Reviews
Alaska Natives are not a single, homogeneous entity. Broadly identified by anthropologists as Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians, Alaska Natives belong, more specifically, to one of twenty language and culture groups. Within those are particular village and tribal affiliations. And though many Natives have moved to Alaskas urban areas, each identifies with a different geographic region where their ancestors lived and where their home villages are today.This book takes a closer look at the rich and diverse cultures of Alaskas various Native groups, and how they continue cultural practices and activities within the context of contemporary society.
—from the Introduction
As the first people crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America, they arrived in what is now called Alaska. Today, many of the descendants of those migrating peoples who stayed in Alaska still live here, speaking their ancestral languages, performing ancestral dances, telling ancestral stories, and following values handed down from generation to generation. Since the short time span of about twenty-seven decades ago when the first Europeans discovered and explored parts of the Alaskan coastline under the command of Vitus Bering, Alaska Natives have met the challenges and solved the problems of todays world while more and more looking within their cultures for solutions.
Using updated maps, historical pictures, new contemporary photographs, and updated text, the revised edition of Native Cultures in Alaska: Looking Forward, Looking Back is now available in an elegant and accessible format. We are pleased to publish this work in collaboration with the Alaska Geographic Society.
Review
""It is a real treat to encounter this book. . . It gives the origin of the people as far as known, tells something of their traditional crafts and arts, illustrates with photographs of those and the people, and best of all, addresses their home territories and proper names. . . This little book gives a clear picture of the Native Alaskans working on a nice balance between the modern world and their traditional one, ‘Looking forward and looking back. . . Buy one to keep and one for a friend Outside.""
—Dee Longenbaugh, ObservatoryBooks.com, Sitka Sentinel
Review
“. . . lavishly illustrated with lots of beautiful photographs . . . a good volume for school libraries.”
—David A. James, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Synopsis
In the minds of most Americans, Native culture in Alaska amounts to Eskimos and igloos....The latest publication of the Alaska Geographic Society offers an accessible and attractive antidote to such misconceptions. Native Cultures in Alaska blends beautiful photographs with informative text to create a striking portrait of the state's diverse and dynamic indigenous population.
About the Author
Brown is a writer, editor, freelancer, program and book developer, journalist, quilter, mother, grandmother and wife. Her work has been nationally honored for compassionate, insightful depictations of Alaska natives and for children's literature. She began her award-winning literary career in journalism, and in 1984 was the founding editor of 'Heartland"", the Sunday magazine of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Later she wrote for the Anchorgae Daily News, then shifted into editing the popular monthly magazine Alaska, with a readership of more than a quarter million. She holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism and a Master of Fine Arts degree.
Table of Contents
Introduction Uniquely Alaskan
Map
Chapter 1 Alaskas Native Cultures and Homelands
Chapter 2 Looking Forward, Looking Back
Chapter 3 Unanga{ (Aleut)
Riding Ungiikan Home, by Barbara Švarný Carlson
Chapter 4 Sugpiaq (Alutiiq)
Who Are We, Anyway? by Gordon Pullar
Chapter 5 Yupik
The Four Seasons of Manokotak, by Anecia Lomack
Yupik Dance Masks: Stories of Culture
Chapter 6 Siberian Yupik
Chapter 7 Iñupiat
A Time for Whaling, by Sheila Frankson
Chapter 8 Athabascan
People of the Yukon Flats, by Velma Wallis
Chapter 9 Eyak
Chapter 10 Tlingit
Carving Traditions, by Nathan Jackson
Chapter 11 Tsimshian
Chapter 12 Haida
Delores Churchill: The Weavers Daughter
Bibliography
Index