Kuskokwim Consortium Library Alaska Room Guide

Drawing on the remembrances of elders who were born in the early 1900s and saw the last masked Yup'ik dances before missionary efforts forced their decline, Agayuliyararput is a collection of first-person accounts of the rich culture surrounding Yup'ik masks. Stories by thirty-three elders from all over southwestern Alaska, presented in parallel Yup'ik and English texts, include a wealth of information about the creation and function of masks and the environment in which they flourished. The full-length, unannotated stories are complete with features of oral storytelling such as repetition and digression; the language of the English translation follows the Yup'ik idiom as closely as possible.Reminiscences about the cultural setting of masked dancing are grouped into chapters on the traditional Yup'ik ceremonial cycle, the use of masks, life in the qasgiq (communal men's house), the supression and revival of masked dancing, maskmaking, and dance and song. Stories are grouped geographically, representing the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and coastal areas. The subjects of the stories and the masks made to accompany them are the Arctic animals, beings, and natural forces on which humans depended.This book will be treasured by the Yup'ik residents of southwestern Alaska and an international audience of linguists, folklorists, anthropologists, and art historians.

The narrative of Tununak elders who tell the legends and stories of their region. They also tell their own stories, adding to the extensive repertoire of lore found with the Yupik people.

Before it was written, this book was spoken. For ten winter days in 1977, the orator Paul John--widely respected as a dean of Yup'ik elders, and recognized for his tireless advocacy of Yup'ik language and traditions--held an audience of Yup'ik students rapt at Nelson Island High School, in southwest Alaska. Hour after hour he spoke to the young people, sharing life experiences and Yup'ik narratives, never repeating a tale. Now, more than a quarter-century after Paul John's extraordinary performance, Sophie Shield's translations and Ann Fienup-Riordan's editing have brought his words back to life, and to a new audience. This book records one elder's attempt to create a moral universe for future generations through stories about the special knowledge of the Yup'ik people.Tales both authentically Yup'ik and marked by Paul John's own unique innovations are presented in a bilingual edition, with Yup'ik and English text presented in facing pages. As Paul John says, "In this whole world, whoever we are, if people speak using their own language, they will be presenting their identity and it will be their strength."

A fascinating collection of Yupik stories, both fictional and non-fictional. A unique collection of tales generally passed down through oral tradition.

An Athabascan native of Alaska's Yukon flats, author Velma Wallis retells a classic legend wherein two old women are abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine and must survive on their own or die trying. A wise and simple story now in paperback. Winner of a 1993 Western State Book Award.

In her spellbinding second book, the award-winning author interweaves two classic Athabaskan legends set in ancient central Alaska. This is the story of two rebels who break the strict taboos of their communal culture in their quests for freedom and adventure. Readers will be captivated by this profound myth about two young people who wander far from their culture's deeply held traditions and eventually must find a way to come home again. Wallis's first book,�Two Old Women, is an international best-seller, translated into seventeen languages.

Yup'ik elders of southwest Alaska recall, "Our ancestors were never heavy with a tool kit." They carried in their minds what they needed to live rich lives in the harsh environment of the Bering Sea coast. Frank Andrew, Sr. (1917-2006), was one of the few elders to bring this knowledge into the twenty-first century.Not only did Frank Andrew possess knowledge and wisdom--he shared it. For five years before his death he worked tirelessly with Yup'ik translators Alice Rearden and Marie Meade and anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan to document his knowledge of life on the Bering Sea coast. What he shared is specific to the Canineq (lower coastal) area at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River. When he talked about kayak building, tomcod fishing, or bird hunting, it was based on his own experience in the area surrounding Kwigillingok, where he spent his life. His unprecedented depth of knowledge and eloquent storytelling inspired this book. Paitarkiutenka / My Legacy to You is the bilingual companion volume to Yuungnaqpiallerput / The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival, which gives readers a sense of the complexity and variety of Yup'ik tools and technology. Paitarkiutenka offers greater detail about working with wood, kayak construction, and coastal hunting. Stories and information on seasonal activities in the Canineq area appear here for the first time. This book acknowledges the enormous amount of information and remarkable skills that each individual needed to live life on the Bering Sea coast; it is Frank Andrew's legacy to us all.

The result of a gathering of Yupik elders, this book is the written account of the maxims and teachings given by these elders for the care of children. Their candid guidelines are the result of generational life lessons, and are designed to help maintain their culture and dignity.