NOTE: Issues range from 1996–2006. Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated. For current information, please contact the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, 907-474-1902.
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Aleut/Alutiiq Region: Kodiak Island's Alutiiq Language Regeneration Project by Olga Pestrikoff by Olga Pestrikoff, Teacher, Old Harbor School:Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever does. -Margaret Meade I am an Alutiiq from Afognak, a parent, a grandparent, a teacher and a community-minded citizen. I am committed to the effort of regenerating our heritage language. Like many other indigenous cultures, our language requires strategic attention soon. We are not alone in this dilemma, and I feel as though I have something to offer in this cause. Alutiiq Language Programs in the Kodiak Region Over the years Kodiak Island schools have implemented a program called Cultural Days that has evolved into Cultural Week. This is time set aside from the routine academic process to study local, place-based educational endeavors. Classes have included cold weather survival, subsistence gathering, local foods preservation and preparation, craft classes like beadwork and basket weaving and different types of carving. The classes are culturally significant and tied to the people and community, drawing in family participation. Vocabulary is taught within the context of the activities. The school staff is already in the school. Most community support is on a volunteer basis unless tribal councils have this program as part of their mission. The Alutiiq Museum offers Alutiiq Word of the Week through the media including the Kodiak Daily Mirror, various newsletters, the internet, faxes to villages and over the radio station. The Word of the Week is put into context within different sentences and includes background information. Craft classes that reflect the museum display items are offered through a registration and user fee system and incorporate teaching of Alutiiq vocabulary. The Kodiak Area Native Association spearheads a joint effort with other organizations in planning and implementing a summer youth camp. Students from the villages and the city of Kodiak come together in camp to explore cultural issues and participate in cultural activities in a bonding experience. They also learn and practice Alutiiq vocabulary. Activities include crafts, gathering of foods, talking circles, discussions and presentations on issues like drug and alcohol prevention, family planning, water safety, tool making and use, first aid training, story telling and more. The Association of Native Educators of the Alutiiq Region originated through the school districts' partnership with AKRSI. Currently this association is working on publishing a series of posters, in the Alutiiq language, of plants indigenous to the islands. The Association also writes thematic units using both Alaska Content and Culturally Responsive Schools Standards. Units on edible plants, driftwood and sea lions are nearly ready for publishing. With this study students can learn the Alutiiq vocabulary. The group also sends representation to the Native Educators' Conference that precedes the Alaska Bilingual/Multicultural Education and Equity Conference in February of each year. This has been beneficial in networking and generating potential ideas for classroom use. The Academy of Elders Science Camp brings Elders, teachers and students together in a remote camp setting. Students work on science projects with Elders teaching Alutiiq as part of each project. The Elders also practice their language and teach it to those present just by talking. Old Harbor Programs The Alutiiq Word of the Day is introduced during the daily opening of the school. For five days in the fall of 1998, Elders were recorded on language master cards. One of these cards is then played over the intercom daily for one week. Listeners repeat the word in the classrooms along with the two students who are making the announcements with the principal. The tribal council pays for the Elders' time. The principal, a teacher's aide and one teacher rotate in facilitating and assisting with the recording and management of the project. Language classes are offered to all students, kindergarten through junior high. Elders teach for thirty minutes daily totaling two-and-a-half hours with a half hour for prep time. The IEA parent committee bought the sound systems that are used to tape classes for classroom review. During the appropriate seasons, seal and duck hunting classes have been offered. They integrate gun safety, geography, survival, meat preparation, presentation protocol for giving meat to Elders culminating in an actual hunting trip. Students are able to complete the whole process because they learned the steps in the classroom. The teachers are community members with the certified teacher assisting in the classroom throughout the four-week unit. The community teachers are paid by the tribal council for their time. Some Alutiiq vocabulary is taught within the context of arts and craft classes. The IEA committee buys supplies for the classes taught by an IEA paid teacher's aide in the school. The tribal council also buys supplies for classes that are open to the public and offered as cross-generational opportunities through the Elders and Youth Center. In both places the tribal council pays for the time of the teachers who are community members. They are assisted within the classroom by the certified teacher, but are on their own in the Elders and Youth Center. Singing is performed in Alutiiq with the introductions in English. The school began the initiative to have students learn the dances when the IEA parent committee hired people from Kodiak to come out and teach the songs and dances to the students during Alutiiq Week for several years in a row. A teacher led dancing that had all students practicing from grades K-8 at least once per week over the course of the school year. Now the community needs to think about what can improve this program. I have worked with Elders who teach language classes in my first- and second-grade classroom at Old Harbor School. After listening to the joys and frustrations expressed by both the Elders and teachers, I initiated a joint effort constructing an eight-week Alutiiq language curriculum project for the fall of 1999 in K-8 classrooms at Old Harbor. Our intention was to come up with a scope and sequence following the subsistence seasons, laying the groundwork for a three-year curriculum project. In the middle of implementing the unit, we take one day to build the next eight-week unit using the same framework. The initial plan was to continue doing this over a three-year period. We did not get a chance to finish it because of timing and community crises. I heard about the Bread Loaf Summer Institute on Indigenous Languages in Juneau and decided to attend that as a way to help me finish the unit. Regenerating the Alutiiq Language In order for us to save our language we need to adopt a strategy and address it from all fronts. We need to implement programs within the community as well as keep the school programs going. In the language revitalization efforts that I have studied, I found they all began through grassroots efforts. Recommendation * Continue language programs in the schools. * Continue arts and crafts programs with an Alutiiq language component directing the focus. * Continue Alutiiq dancing in the community, available to all, and include an Alutiiq language introduction and learning opportunity. * Initiate preschool programs using Alutiiq immersion modeled after the Maori Kohango Reo and other second language programs. * Implement master/apprentice programs for individual instruction. * Implement a policy that requires any person applying for scholarships or funding to demonstrate their involvement in one or more efforts at learning Alutiiq. Future of the Alutiiq Language These programs are specific models available for our use. Our language is in danger-it is in our hands and every one of us has an obligation to act. Nobody is going to run in to save us or our language. People in our region have begun several grass roots efforts aimed at helping ourselves. The language regeneration effort is an opportunity we have undertaken in a better, more effective manner. We can choose to leave things as they are and watch our language die. Some of the fun things that we practice will still be here but not in the natural context and therefore will become disembodied. Children will learn, but could miss the underlying education that goes along with dancing, singing, subsistence foods, etc. Parts of our culture will become like pieces in a museum, just there to look at with no real meaning. We can choose inaction and help our culture to die or we can take a proactive stance in a unified strategic manner through some of the efforts presented above. We can keep delaying our decisions, but please understand that we are all on alert as to the dangerous state of our language. Remember how activists from all over the country took up the fight to save the spotted owls in the forests of the Pacific Northwest? Eagles, seagulls and sea lions are protected as well. But we do not have any environmentalists rising up to save the Alutiiq way of life or language-it is up to us. If we do not act now we run the risk of not having a culture left for future generations of Alutiiq people. We cannot afford to let this happen, especially after the Alutiiq people have been here for many thousands of years. We must be proactive in saving our language. Let's get started! | |
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Aleut/Alutiiq Region: The Academy of Elders/Science Camp 2001 by Teri Schneider:Camp #1 will be held from July 23-July 29, and Camp #2 begins July 30 and ends on August 5. Both camps are being held at the Dig Afognak site at Katenai, Afognak Island. Transportation, food, facilities and staffing costs are being paid for by the three sponsoring organizations. Those who are able are asked to pay a $30 registration fee. Participants unable to pay will not be denied. This camp is open to all students currently living in the Kodiak area, grades 2-12 (young students may be considered if they are successful applicants and are accompanied by a participating adult family member.) Participants should have an interest in Alutiiq Native culture, language and ways of knowing and perhaps science, math, and/or technology. Also invited are local indigenous Elders, educators of the Kodiak Island Borough School District, members of the Native Educators of the Alutiiq region and other interested community members as space allows. This camp began in the summer of 1997 to orient new teachers to the region before they began teaching in the Kodiak schools. The Elders attending that summer said that we should bring students to such a camp, along with teachers, so that all could learn together. The camp acknowledges the Alutiiq Elders as the first teachers of their culture and allows participants to learn firsthand from Elders and community members with hands-on projects related to rural survival, lifestyles and Native ingenuity. While learning more about the rich history of our island communities and exploring the culture of the Alutiiq people, past and present, we are able to orient new teachers to the cultural and environmental uniqueness of our island community. In bringing together Elders, teachers and students outside of the formal school setting we are giving participants the opportunity to live with and learn from people of another culture. Because this camp is academically oriented, we are hoping to stimulate interest in math, science and engineering fields among Alaska Native students. These are fields of study and work that have seen very little representation from within the Native community. We would like to increase students' confidence and knowledge in math, science and technology while incorporating Native values and perspectives with Western math, science and technology. The Academy of Elders/Science Camp has provided an opportunity to very naturally integrate academic learning with cultural enrichment. If you or someone you know is interested in attending, you may contact Teri Schneider at 486-9276, email tschneider@kodiak.k12.ak.us or Olga Pestrikoff at 486-6357, email olga@afognak.org. | |
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Alutiiq Elder Lights the Way:The rock oil lamp has been used in the northern cultures from Greenland to Kodiak Island as a means of providing light and heat. Some lamps are elaborate with animal and human figures carved from the solid rock. Others are simply utilitarian and made useful for packing in traveling gear and used on cold nights while hunting. Typically seal oil or other mammal fat was burned with a twisted wick of cotton grass or moss. Today, many use cooking oil and cotton wicks. Rock lamps continue to be used in homes and during ceremonies and gatherings throughout the Alutiiq region as a way to honor our ancestors while celebrating the continuity of our culture. Frequently, the youngest and oldest persons are asked to light the lamp as a way to live the tradition of passing on our ways from one generation to the next. | |
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Alutiiq Region by Teri Schneider:In cooperation with the Kodiak Area Native Association, Afognak Native Corporation, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the Kodiak Island Borough School District hosted the Second Annual Academy of Elders Cultural Camp in conjunction with the First Annual AISES Science Camp. Once again this event was held at Katenai on Afognak Island. During two six-day camps, held July 26-August 8, a total of 74 Elders, teachers, students, community members, as well as "Dig Afognak" staff and other observers, participated in various activities including talking circles, Alutiiq dance/singing, language classes, scientific inquiry, swimming, beachcombing, and lots of eating! The only schedule that we had was that of our cooks, Mary and Sven Haakanson, Sr.: breakfast, lunch, and dinner! The agenda was simple: bring together Alutiiq Elders, youth, and other community members, including Native educators, at a location that "had everything" and learning and good things would happen. Actually, GREAT things happened! With the help and guidance of Alan Dick, I gathered materials to take to camp, in case of rain or "bored" students . . . neither occurred! Students were extremely resourceful, gathering most of their needed materials from the beach, or not far from it. Instead of using the wood I brought in boxes, "just in case," Sven Haakanson, Jr. and Dennis Knagin shared their skills of identifying and collecting the various driftwood that comes ashore at Catcher Beach. By the end of the first camp, most everyone had begun a carving project. Traditional bows were carved from yellow cedar, models of boats immerged from chunks of red cedar, and faces began to appear on the bark of cottonwood. Students were asked to come with a question regarding their environment, Native culture, or history. During camp we helped the students to focus on their question and formulate a science project. For some children this meant testing various bait with squirrels, eventually leading to a feast of squirrel stew. Others spent most of their time exploring the tidepools and formulating hypothesis regarding animal behavior and habitat, while a small group worked with the insulating qualities of the various furs still used in our area. Still others explored the various qualities of driftwood, testing samples in the smokehouse, in the fire pit, and as floats. Three visitors from Alutiiq villages on the Kenai Peninsula were able to attend: Sperry Ash, Lydia Robart, and Feona Sawden. Each carried with them a gift that they generously shared. Martha Randolph, a Kodiak community member, expressed that their contributions "expanded our knowledge and awareness of our heritage and language." An open invitation will always be theirs, and to other Sugpiaq/Alutiiq, as we plan for future camps. Next year's plans are being made to continue the science focus, but also include more opportunities for language and curriculum development. Interested Alutiiq should contact Teri Schneider at 486-9031, 486-2455 or email tschneider@kodiak.alaska.edu "I learned from the youth-their willingness to share their thoughts during the talking circles. Their inquisitive minds and the knowledge they're gaining in their young years-they will have much to pass on to others as they grow and mature. They have opportunities which weren't available to . . . my generation." -Martha Randolph Alutiiq community member "Being a small part of encouraging and teaching our youth the importance (of) investigating our past can only enhance our future. The more exposure I get to this way of thinking and remembering instills pride and determination in achieving my own goals." -Susan Malutin Alutiiq artist/community member "This camp was the most rewarding thing I've been involved in in many years, surely above and beyond anything I expected." -Otto C. Mahle Alutiiq community member | |
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Alutiiq Region: Improvisation-Having Fun Making Do by Jim Dillard:Watching the Elders make do with the materials and tools at hand was a genuine learning experience for me. I have always been one to use "the proper tool for the job," and as a result, I am sometimes severely limited in what I can accomplish in arts or crafts outside my shop. As the Elders worked on different crafts, they always seemed to have everything they needed to finish the project at hand. As several of the Elders were building a skiff in camp, I noticed that there were no plans, no blueprints, no sort of device to keep everything to scale. I was to learn that these items, had they been there, would have only hindered the process. All measurement was by the length of parts of the human body, an arm span, a hand span, nose to fingertip and so on. The finished project was beautifully balanced in form and was totally symmetrical-custom made. I have always been one to use "the proper tool for the job," and as a result am sometimes severely limited in what I can accomplish in arts or crafts outside my shop. As the boat was actually being constructed, the tools used were minimal. Knowing the importance of braces and clamps in such a project, I doubted that the quality of work would be what it should be without (manufactured) clamps. I watched with some delight as the braces and clamps were made on the spot. Several boards and a small beach log were wedged between trees close to the project. To apply downward pressure, boards were wedged from other boards which were wedged between trees-a bit complicated and maybe even comical to look at, but quite effective. Clamps were made of boards around which was tied scrap line scrounged from the beach. Strong driftwood spruce limbs were used to twist the line tightly around the boards to clamp glue joints perfectly together until dry. In essence, hundreds of dollars worth of tools were replaced by locally available materials and true ingenuity. The best part of watching the entire process was listening to the Elder boat builders as they joked and laughed at the "homely contraptions" they had constructed to do their work. I discovered that an acceptable tool for a given job may be in my pocket or even on the beach right in front of me. I have begin to experience the special humor-laden pleasure of completing a job by improvisation. Several of the men at camp, including myself, decided to make darts for Uksgaaq, the whale dart game. I had brought lead wire of the proper diameter to weight the heads of the darts, but soon discovered that I did not have the proper size drill bit to install the lead wire in the dart heads. I was somewhat surprised one evening to find that several of the Elders were actually finishing their sets of darts. I put down what I was doing and examined a dart made by one of the Elders. The weights in the head were made of the shot from a shotgun shell. The holes were drilled with a pocket knife and the lead shot was held in place by pressure applied to the shot with the side of the pocket knife. When I questioned that particular Elder as to where he learned the lead shot trick, he kindly explained that he had never really learned the method, as a matter of fact, he had never used that particular method before, but said, "That's just what I happened to have." Throughout the rest of the week I frequently saw similar incidences of on-the-spot ingenuity. From my experiences I learned not to limit myself so much to using only the "proper tool." I have learned that common items found in any camp or boat can be used as effective tools. I discovered that an acceptable tool for a given job may be in my pocket or even on the beach right in front of me. I have begin to experience the special humor-laden pleasure of completing a job by improvisation. | |
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Alutiiq Region: Lu'macihpe: Dance and Language Camp at Dig Afognak 2000 by Olga Pestrikoff:Fifteen students from around the island attended and diligently studied as Dr. Jeff Leer of the University of Alaska Fairbanks worked with them. Dr. Leer taught the alphabet and then proceeded to write down the songs using his newest version of the orthography that proved to be quite exciting to learn. Elders in attendance assisted in dictating the appropriate letters for the sounds in the words. We then were able to sing the songs correctly understanding the words completely. What a sense of ownership those students exhibit in singing those songs! Our Elders in attendance are most appreciated! Thank you to Kathryn Chichenoff, Julie Knagin, Dennis Knagin, Marie Skonberg, Irene Coyle and Sven and Mary Haakanson. Besides singing and dancing we experienced many other activities such as swimming, hiking, storytelling and playing games including outside traditional Alutiiq games as well as indoor activities like cards. Visiting and banya were the most enjoyed regular events. Students especially loved the swings as well as song practice while lounging on the hammock during the evenings. Special activities also occurred. Several people really enjoyed rowing around in the wooded dory, the 1 CIHA HAK, made by Dennis Knagin and Ole Mahle at the Qatani Boat Yard. R. Carlos Nakai's flute music entertained us at various times during the week. Several other people assisted with the students' camp experience. Teacon Simeonoff helped with safety. Phyllis Clough helped with organization. The week wrapped up with the students performing for the opening of the Native Village of Afognak Board work session. The dancers of Lu'macihpet presented the members present with a piece of driftwood with "The Board" written on it, because they wondered what a "board" is and came up with their own creative interpretation. The fifteen students left the camp with a new understanding of some of the older songs, two new Sugtestun songs, a Russian folk song, a certificate of completion and a piece of regalia. The necklace that was designed by R. Carlos Nakai is made of tree bark with a printed image of a petroglyph on wound string with shell and bead adornments. Planning for next year's camp is already underway. If you have any ideas that you would like considered please call the Native Village of Afognak at 907-486-6357. | |
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Alutiiq Region: Our Culture: Revisiting the Past, Preparing the Future by Tianna K. Carlson:On April 28, 2003 four different villages gathered together in the community of Perryville on the south side of the Alaskan Peninsula. High school students, grades six through twelve, from four of Lake and Pen School District's Alutiiq villages were flown to Perryville to learn about their culture. They spent a week learning from Elders, teachers and guest speakers. The students were to learn about various cultural activities and, by doing so, they took their first step to bringing back their culture. There were about fifty-six students that came for the event, not including other village members. The students were divided into different groups and assigned to attend different workshops. There were four different workshops being taught: beading, basket weaving, fish spear carving and skin sewing. Different community members and Elders were teaching the classes, along with the help of others. Mark Kosbruk, Sr. from Port Heiden and raised in Perryville, taught the students how to make and carve fish spears. Evelyn Kosbruk and Ruth from Perryville taught the beading classes. Cecilia Yagie from Perryville taught the basket-weaving class, Gerda Kosbruk from Port Heiden taught skin sewing to the students. Charles O'Domin Sr. taught survival skills, and brought his groups of students to help get the camp grounds ready. All of the students actively participated in the classes and learned a skill that they'll be able to pass on to their younger brothers and sisters. On the third day, the students and other village members got ready to go camping. Everyone was notified beforehand and brought everything necessary to participate in the campout. They left the school in the morning and hiked about a mile to a spot called Three Star. Once there, they set up their tents and got the cooking area ready. There were about fifteen or more tents set up in the area and a perfect spot was found for the fire and cooking. There were eight different bear guards who took turns watching on different shifts, just in case a bear happened to come into the camping area. The bear guards were Charles O'Domin Sr., Mark Kosbruk Sr., Charles O'Domin Jr., Chris Kosbruk, Warren O'Domin, Patrick Kosbruk, Gerald Kosbruk and Sammy Stepanoff. Our campsite was right on the beach below Three Star, so the ocean was right in front of us. Throughout the day and evening, beluga whales and sea lions passed by letting everyone watch them in amazement. After lunch was served the students were split into different groups once again and assigned different workshops. One of the workshops was with Sammy Stepanoff from Chignik Lake, who taught how to split fish. Fish were caught beforehand so that he could teach the different groups. Evelyn Kosbruk from Perryville held a workshop on how to braid seal guts and cut up seal. The seal was also caught beforehand. Martha Kosbruk from Perryville taught students about the different medicinal plants. The last workshop was with chaperones of each group. They took the students on a walk to a river to look at the hooligans (a type of fish) and the beautiful scenery. A bear guard accompanied each group. Once the workshops were completed, dinner was served. Storytelling was next and different people told stories. One of the guest speakers who attended this event was Earl Polk. Not only did he tell stories at the camp, but also at the school. He was respected and very welcomed by the students. They enjoyed his way of speaking to them and always had a good time listening to his stories. Once storytelling was over, everyone relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. Some people played around with balls, others walked the beach and there were also marshmallows being roasted by the fire. Soon it was time for bed and everyone retired to their tents except for the bear guards. They worked in shifts, watching the camp all night for bears. In the morning, everyone woke to the sound of rain on their tents. During the night it had started to rain so everyone got up immediately and started to pack up their belongings. The school truck hauled different groups and soon everyone was brought back to the school. Once at the school, breakfast was served and the students got time to wash up and get the campfire smoke off of them. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, students finished projects that they had started the second day of arrival. The different villages got together and practiced their performances for later on that evening. There was a village potluck that everyone attended, bringing their favorite dish to share with others. Before the potluck took place though, there was a naming ceremony. Earl Polk had asked Elders and other village members earlier that week to help come up with an Alutiiq name for all the students there. Once all the names were chosen, there was a ceremony and everyone was given their own Alutiiq name. Later that evening, everyone sat down to witness the performances of the different villages. Perryville and Chignik Lake students did traditional Native dances together while wearing beautiful handmade traditional costumes. Port Heiden also performed some Native dances that they learned from Wassie Balluta, one of the teachers in Port Heiden. Chignik Lagoon performed a skit for the audience that brought some comedy. After the performances were over, Frank Hill spoke to us about the importance of maintaining our culture. He told us that culture is more than arts and crafts. He said that our Alutiiq values are what will really make a difference to our people. Following Mr. Hill's talk there was an award ceremony for the different teachers and people who helped throughout the culture week. Different craft items were given away, along with homemade jam. On May 2, we were flown back home. It was the end of the culture week and everyone said goodbye to their friends. All the students enjoyed their time spent at culture week in Perryville, and all agreed to having another one and wanted to participate in it. Not only was this a good time to see friends and family, but it was a time to spread cultural values and keep up traditions that have happened for many, many years. These are traditions that will stay alive throughout our culture for many more years to come. Our campsite was right on the beach below Three Star, so the ocean was right in front of us. Throughout the day and evening, beluga whales and sea lions passed by letting everyone watch them in amazement. | |
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Alutiiq Region: Science Fair by Hilary Seeger, Willie Nelson and Erling Ursin:said and done everyone, even the judges, come out of the room smiling. On January 22-24, selected students from Chiniak, Danger Bay, Larsen Bay, Old Harbor and Ouzinkie came to Port Lions with science experiments to compete in the Fifth Annual Rural Regional Science Fair. The projects were judged on cultural knowledge by Elders and the scientific method by Kodiak scientists. The fair was started by the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative to recognize the connection between Native ways of knowing and Western science. Not only is it a great academic opportunity and a way to learn the scientific method, but as longtime coordinator Teri Schneider notes, "We are also seeing that the students are connecting their learning inside school with their learning outside school." However, students learned more than just science this year. In addition to creating their own science fair projects, high school students in Port Lions were given another assignment: to host this year's science fair. They had to create information packets, dinner menus, plan evening activities, emergency water backup plans, schedules and more. "So many times people just take for granted that (Science Fair) just happens and that there is no planning that goes into it. So that's when we turned it over to the students," said teacher and principal Louis Martinez. This is all based on a survival class taught by Martinez and Donald Heckert. "We started talking about what it meant to run a shelter and so forth and we saw the science fair coming up and thought, 'what a perfect opportunity!'" "I was happy when I heard that we would be organizing the science fair because we would get more interaction with the other kids," said Crystal Bartelson, a Port Lions student organizer. "I learned how hard it is for teachers and people arranging this (event). It is a lot of work!" Young scientists in this year's science fair ranged from third grade all the way up to juniors in high school. Projects included parabolic dishes, mixing colors and weather, to more cultural projects such as Kodiak ducks, Alutiiq men's headwear and bow and drill techniques. "The quality of this year's science fair projects were just outstanding!" said scientific judge Patrick Saltonstall. Brady Travis' project on what types of soil erode quicker when introduced to water won grand prize for being best in both science and culture. "I learned a lot from this experience and I hope it will open doors for me in the future," says Travis. He now wants to get his commercial drivers license and work for the city of Chiniak, his hometown. Brady will be competing in the statewide Alaska Science and Engineering Fair April 4-6 in Anchorage. First-place winner in the category of science, Ben Christman also of Chiniak, played different genres of music to chickens to see the effect on their egg laying production. He will be attending the statewide Alaska Science and Engineering Fair in April as well. Old Harbor students Fawn Chya and Barbara Nestic won first place in the category of culture for their project on smoked fish. They tested different types of wood for smoking. They attended the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Society Fair held February 2-3 in Anchorage. In addition to the science fair projects, there were workshops available to keep the students entertained as well as teach them more about how enjoyable science can be. School district curriculum specialist, Sally Wilker, organized numerous science activities including dissection of owl pellets, color exploration and creation of polymers. While third through eighth graders dissected the small balls of fur and bones, it was clear they were learning; "There are two skulls here!" and "I found its ribs!" are just a couple of student exclamations. She presented the polymers to the high school students. A polymer is made of many particles or molecules that form into a long flexible chain. The students made polymers out of Elmers' glue, water and Borax. Wilker also presented color explorations to the kindergarten through second grades; they used the three primary colors to make the secondary colors with Play-Doh. Don Heckert, Port Lions math and science teacher, showed the chemical reactions of acids and bases using soda and peppermints. Students dropped peppermints into the bottle of soda, and the soda made a spout out of the top of the bottle. They were amazed by the reaction and learned the properties of acids and bases in the process. Another presentation was put together by the Imaginarium. This family science center located in Anchorage provides hands-on experiments, assemblies and other scientific presentations to communities all over the state. This is the second year they have been part of the Regional Science Fair in Port Lions. This year Amy VonDiest from the Imaginarium set up interactive exhibits in the Port Lions Tribal Building. Students and community members were able to test out different science activities such as solar power demos, fiber optic cables and laser lights. "Thinking about the week," Louis Martinez said, "there were a few kinks, but that's because it was our first (student) run (science fair). I think we can look at this overall and say that it was really successful." | |
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Alutiiq Region: Strengthening Language, History and Culture Through Curriculum by Sandy Wassilie:One has to sit up and take notice when this kind of interest in the Alu'utiq language is shown in Seward, a small but diverse community just in terms of the Native cultures represented alone. Few Alu'utiqs live here these days, but the interest of others in their language and history has been sparked. The reasons vary. They are, for some, because of the similarity to their particular Inuit language and customs and, for others, simply because there are materials in a Native language in this community. Back when the Chugachmiut Curriculum Development (CCD) Project started, a number of parents I surveyed did not care which Native language would be taught as long as there would be a Native language offering. Over the past two and one-half years, I have served as the curriculum developer on the CCD Project. I share these accounts so you will know the impact curriculum can have through this work and through the work of others. This interest extends beyond the tribal community into the schools. Teachers are hungry for quality, teachable materials on the history and earlier times of this area. This means materials that are appropriate for the age they are teaching, representing accurate information that is pulled together in one unit with meaningful activities. It takes an incredible amount of time just to find and pull together good materials, if available. I am also finding it is not only teachers but also community residents and visitors who are genuinely interested in knowing about the peoples who were first here. I have worked part-time over the past four years at Bardarson Studio in the boat harbor. A fair number of visitors want to have an art object that represents the area and often they want Native art. It is helpful when I can tell them about the cultures of our state and the particular expressions found locally. Last summer, a man who was looking for a totem pole (a small representation!) was so grateful when I told him it was not something traditionally carved and used in this region. No one had taken the time to tell him before. Now we also have the Cultural Heritage Center that helps us learn and appreciate the culture unique to our area-a taproot of the region's history too long missing. Besides interest, the curriculum has begun to capitalize on another development: cross-cultural cooperation, a characteristic that has become common in places where many Native (and other) cultures live together such as Seward and probably Valdez and Cordova as well. One of our Elders, Liz Randall, recently commented, "People here are like nowhere else," meaning helping each other out in spite of different backgrounds. I have seen a couple of notable examples of this cooperation in the region where one Native culture helps another to remember and continue its practices. Teri Rofkar, a Tlinget weaver from Sitka, has researched and worked with Alu'utiq people on spruce root collection, preparation and weaving. Leo Kunnuk, an Iñupiaq dancer and carver from King Island, now of Seward, has taught mask carving to Alu'utiq children at the Nuchek Spirit Camp, encouraging them to use their own traditions. And now here in Seward the Alu'utiq language materials are helping some people remember their own languages. These dynamics have been strengthened and supported by the Chugachmiut Curriculum Development Project. It is my heartfelt wish the project will continue. Of all the cultures, it seems the least is known about the Alu'utiq of the Chugach region. Yet, we have found there is such a wealth of information in the memories of the people and in the repositories of many museums around the world. The land itself still holds clues to the past. There are links to Alu'utiq cousins on Kodiak and the Alaska Peninsula. There is encouragement from other cultures. We have just begun our search and networking. Let's continue the research and materials development. Let's teach our children what we know and how to discover what we do not know. | |
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Alutiiq Region: The Academy of Elders/Science Camp 2002:Students, teachers and other community members in our region have an opportunity to engage in learning activities that are culturally and environmentally relevant with Elders and other culture bearers in a remote camp setting. This is a fantastic, academically challenging and culturally enriching experience for students, teachers, community members and Elders. The Kodiak Island Borough School District, the Kodiak Island Housing Authority, Kodiak Tribal Council and the Native Village of Afognak are pleased to announce that, once again, this opportunity is available this summer during two, week-long camps at the "Dig Afognak" site on Qattenai, Afognak Island. When? Camp #1: July 15-July 21 Camp #2: July 24-July 30 Where? "Dig Afognak" site on Qattenai, Afognak Island Who? This opportunity is open to all Elders, educators, community members and students, grades 2-12 (young students may only be considered if they are successful applicants and are accompanied by a participating adult family member.) Applicants should have an interest in Alutiiq Native culture, language and ways of knowing as well as science, math or technology. Priority is given to those currently residing in the region, but all are invited to apply. Student applicants must be committed to completing a culturally- or environmentally-relevant project for the rural science fair this fall. All are invited! Apply early, as space is limited. Application deadline is May 31! Cost? Those who apply are asked to pay a minimal $30 registration fee. If you have any questions or want more information call Teri Schneider at 486-9276 (work) or email: tschneider@kodiak.k12.ak.us. | |
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Alutiiq Update by Teri Schneider:During the first Alaska Native Educators Conference held at Anchorage in February, the Alutiiq people were represented by seven Native educators, four Elders, and various district, tribal and corporate administration. All members successfully worked with other representatives from the Unangan subregion, contributing to and supporting the Cultural Standards document. This served as an awesome document to connect our region with others throughout the state who are developing the same kinds of culturally and environmentally aligned materials, policies and programs. Our unit-building workshop successfully produced the beginnings of three teaching units grounded in the Alutiiq culture, past and present. Three topics were undertaken with guidance from Kit Peixotto and Elders: * Edible Plants of Kodiak Island, * Driftwood, and * Astronomy. This opportunity allowed for a team from the Chugach school district to visit Kodiak and collaborate with another community, sharing a common culture and environment. Completion of these units is scheduled for this fall after the gathering of Alutiiq Elders in September. This summer's camp will take place, once again, at the "Dig Afognak" archaeological site at Katenai Beach on Afognak Island. The Afognak Native Corporation will contract with the Kodiak School District to provide the facilities needed to have an AISES camp, gathering Elders, teachers, and students, to focus on traditional knowledge and Western science. Students will work on projects that can then be completed for Kodiak Island's 1st Annual Rural Science Fair to be held next fall. Overall our school district, Native corporations, Tribal Councils and members of our Native communities, including Elders, educators and parents, have been very responsive to the support given by the AKRSI and the efforts being made statewide to ensure that our children's experiences in school connect with their lives beyond the walls of the buildings. This program, and all of the individuals behind it working collaboratively, are giving us the ability to see and believe in the possibilities of education for our children and their future! | |
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Alutiiq/Unangax Region by Moses Dirks:Mayumúlax madángis maangan waaga tíng aˆgusix, ayúxsix angalíqingáan, haladálix iqyaˆgihlikuqingaan, algaˆx qáwaˆx iniˆxsínaˆx qasadaasalix aygaxtaˆxtàkuˆx ukuˆxtàlix, angádan ting hanikàsix an'gilakalinàqing: Mayaˆgùlax aˆxtagálim manáaˆgnatxin maasahliikalka anuxtalka, manáaˆgnaning mahliidáqing anuxtáasalix íqyang ukangan hangadagáan uˆgáluˆx idgísix, qigaslílix achidálix, ngáan tíng iqyaˆgisxa, ilagáan aˆgálka uˆgalùˆxtagalikung, uˆgáluˆx ílan changatlakánka ákung, txín hatangnil amángus aˆgákuˆx, agalagáan iqyaˆgílix, uˆgaludaaˆgdagalikung, anáˆgis máasalakanka, inimáan uˆgaluningíin kadalíisalka, ukúuˆging alagàaˆxta táaman ting aˆgúsix ayúglaasaˆx akúqingáan, Kíin ukúungan halazaaˆgdagalílix áaˆgalix, ásix qidáaˆging agúu-kúma, qidahlíidaˆx líidaˆx tutálix, háangus hanikaqadáaming, tanaanuungan tíng iqyaˆgísix tanáanulix chalakuqingáan, Hamakux agatíkix qaˆgaˆxtálkix, qugáasanang anuxtadáking, cháayax íkin tutúsik agitálix áaˆgalix, tununákix tutalákan, hingáya malgáhlilix anuxtáangan aˆxtakúning málix, háangus aˆxtakuˆxtxíchix waya. Álix chaayachix súlix agíiˆxtxichix a wáy. -author unknown This is a song about a hunter who goes out hunting for sea mammals. He sees a sea lion surface in front of him, he feels confident that he can harvest this sea lion so he waits until it dives. He hurriedly goes in front of it and sees it surfacing. He pulls out his spear and spears the sea lion. But it does not penetrate the skin of the sea lion. Instead the sea lion gets startled and dives under. He continues to pursue the sea lion but he just gets his spear point dull. He gets discouraged and dispirited and feels like crying. He sits in his iqyax2 for a while and he continues on homeward. What saves him is the wonderful sound of the drums on the beach. He then goes up to the group and joins in the singing and dancing. The elusive sea lion!-this particular song I can relate to. Since then high-powered rifles replaced the harpoons and the skin boats have been replaced by aluminum skiffs with outboards. I have gone hunting for sea lions since I was eleven years old. I got my first sea lion when I was eleven. That feeling has always stayed with me. The reason why I wanted to write this piece is because a lot of the Unangan people have the opportunity to harvest sea lion for subsistence purposes but they don't. It is our birthright and a source of nourishment for the Unangan people. Going hunting is like a ritual for me because I am at peace with the natural surrounding and a power surge of spiritual feeling fills the air. It is hard to describe exactly what it is, but I am sure that a lot of the hunters experience that and know what I am talking about. I encourage more Unangan people to go out and experience that power surge. 1. From Unangam Ungiikangin Kayux Tunusangin o Unangam Uniikangis Ama Tunuzangis * Aleut Tales and Narratives, Collected 1909-1910 by Waldemar Jochelson, edited by Knut Bergsland and Moses L. Dirks. 2. The iqyax is a skinboat (English), quyaq (Iñupiaq) or baidarka (Russian). | |
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Alutiiq/Unangax Region: A New Elementary School in Unalaska: "Saaqudikingan" by O. Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory:As we waited patiently to see our new elementary school being built, the buzz around town was what would the name of the new building be? After a year of construction we now see the building we were anxiously waiting for. This new state-of-the-art facility has 13 classrooms, an excellent multipurpose gymnasium that is also used for serving lunch. In the background is a stage so we can watch performances. There is also a rock-climbing wall hidden behind the mats to keep temptation down. There is an elaborate library with windows from the floor to a twelve-foot ceiling and a computer room with 24 brightly colored Apple® iMacs™. The wide hallways provide space for beautiful art displays. There are over 240 lockers-just the right size for the elementary students. In fact, one of the doors to the preschool room is only three feet tall so the little tykes feel comfortable; the windows are just their height as well. The floor has radiant heating so the students' feet don't get cold and they are comfy when they lay on the floor reading their books. This new elementary school is run by a distinguished gentleman, our principal or tukux, which in the Aleut/Unangan language means boss. He greets the students every morning as they arrive and he walks the halls checking how the classes are going. During his lunch period he is out on the playground. The new playground has three different equipment structures, bright in color and inviting to the students, along with a soft mat underneath the equipment. There is a covered play area, basketball court, baseball/soccer field and two tetherball poles. Principal Craig Probst came to Unalaska City School District from the Iditarod School District and before that the Pribilof School District so he is able to relate to the needs and the necessity of the Aleut "Unangan" Culture Program. He wants to see and hear the students saying Aleut phrases: qilam Ixˆamnaa, good morning; qagÿaasakung, thank you; aang, hello/yes; iislilix, come again; and identifying the local birds: tixˆlaxˆ, eagle; uxchuxˆ, puffin; qamgaang, emperor goose; and animals: qawaxˆ, sea lion; isux, seal; aykaagÿux, fox; to name a few. Mr. Moses Dirks and his assistant (that's me) teach these classes. The new elementary school is well suited for doing the crafts of the first comers, the Unangan (Aleuts) of the Aleutian Islands. In the Heritage/Cultural room there is a tile floor so we can do all sorts of arts and crafts: butchering a seal, cleaning fish, weaving grass baskets, carving Aleut Bentwood hats (chagudaxˆ) and someday soon maybe building a kayak (iqyaxˆ). This is only the beginning of all the arts and crafts we hope to share with our students. And finally, the name for the new elementary school is Eagle's View Elementary School, "Achigaaluxˆ" (the learning place)! We are proud to see that the community and school are getting involved in using the indigenous names for buildings, roads, bridges and so on. Qagaasakung! Thank You! | |
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Alutiiq/Unangax Region: Celebrating Basket Weaving by Teri Schneider:Feodosia, the mother of George Inga, Sr., carried on the tradition of the "Kodiak-style" Aleut* basket, which tended to have a bit larger weave and was typically more heavily decorated, even when her eyesight failed. Grass basket weaving has been done by numerous indigenous cultures throughout the world as one adaptation to their environment. Aleut basket weaving is world renowned for its fine weave and tiny objects. The following is an edited version of an Elwani article (Volume 1, No. 2, May 1976) originally written by Sandy Parnell, Lisa Mellon and Cindy Wheeler. They interviewed Kodiak's Eunice Neseth at a time when Aleut basket weaving was seen as an art form that was, perhaps, dying. From the many efforts of Eunice, her teacher Anfesia Shapsnikoff and many others who took the time to learn and then teach to others, the beautiful art of Aleut basket weaving is alive and well. Recently, the Alutiiq Museum sponsored a traveling grass basket exhibit featuring the work of Arlene Skinner. Arlene traveled with the exhibit and taught Aleut basket weaving to children and adults. Today, basket weaving is not a dying art, but rather another form of art that has regenerated interest in the indigenous culture of the Kodiak archipelago. Many baskets are featured at the Baranov Museum, as well as at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak. In the words of Eunice Neseth: "I guess I've been basket weaving about 20 years. This is an Attu basket weaving which is also called twinning. You have to have the right kind of grass, which is beach rye. The weavers prefer Attu grass, which grows right on the island of Attu or Atka. They say it's a somewhat softer grass than the grass that grows anywhere else. It's the same kind of grass here but you just have to be careful when you pick it. If it's too close to the ocean it's kind of coarse. When the grass is picked at the wrong time of the year it has to be beaten. When it's just ready to flower, that is when it's ready to head, to make the top. "We use a paring knife to cut the straws. We take the straws single, those that have to be protected, we are very careful with them so as not to bruise them. You take them singly to the ground as close as you can. Then you move the pile with care from one cutting to the next. When you have your necessary amount, you wrap it in burlap. An amount for one basket is about the size of your waist, it's more than you can hold in your hands. It takes a lot of work to make one basket, you simply can't forget it, you must look after it or else it will spoil. It's not too much of a chore to get the grass and take care of it. You can go ahead and use it in the winter, no need for curing it, because it's already cured naturally. Although in the winter it's a lot coarser and it gets bruised by the weather. When it's bruised it breaks off easily. "We gather it then and cure it in a dark place for ten days. Taking it out of its wrappings of burlap or any loose weave material every day to aerate it and then rewrap it. After ten days is up, it's ready to be separated. The straws are to be separated from each other. The outer straws are to be discarded and only the inner two straws are to be used. They are taken out of the shaft and made into separate piles. The inner most piece of straw is what is used as the outer work. What you see in the baskets is the finest part . . . "There are very few people who carry on with basket weaving. They teach it in the schools along the Aleutian Chain. It's something we're trying to save. It's sadly disappearing and we're trying to keep it from being lost altogether. It takes a lot of concentration and effort, it's not one of those things you pick up now and again. It needs practice and improvement. "We are very anxious to get young children started. They can get used to it easily when they are young and keep on with it. We should try to get some of the women who took a basket-weaving class and liked it enough, to continue it. Then soon enough maybe they can teach it." *Aleut: The indigenous people of the Aleutian Chain, Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak archipelago. The name was introduced by the Russians and may still be used by many today. Though they have different indigenous languages, the Unangax of the Aleutian Chain and the Sugpiaq (or Alutiiq) of the Kodiak archipelago share a common history of the last 250 years and have adapted to similar environments. | |
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Alutiiq/Unangax Region: Lu'macihpet, "Our Culture" Camp at Dig Afognak: Growing Elders by Alisha Drabek:The Native Village of Afognak held a six-day cultural immersion camp called Lu'machipet, "Our Culture," at their Dig Afognak site on Afognak Island this past June 17-22, 2002. The camp brought 40 youth and adults together to explore Alutiiq language through dance, song and performance. The program was supported through a grant from the Administration for Native Americans, Afognak Native Corporation, Kodiak Island Housing Authority and Native Educators of the Alutiiq Region. Sperry Ash, Alutiiq dancer from Nanwalek, and Tanya Lukin, an indigenous performance artist originally from Port Lions, served as facilitators for the program, along with Native Village of Afognak Educator Olga Pestrikoff. Applicants to the program were asked to submit an essay, a narrative or poetry answering, "why I want to learn more about Alutiiq dance and language and how I can share our cultural traditions with others." The following two statements were selected as the best youth and adult submission: I want to learn more about Alutiiq dance and language so our dance group can learn more songs. We learn the language through songs, this way we know what we are singing. The dance movements teach us how to interpret the song. The drumbeat helps us to keep time and rhythm. We share our dance and songs with our village people, at special occasions and sometimes we sing and dance in Kodiak and Anchorage. People like to see us and we like to dance and sing for them. It gives us pride and we feel good when we perform. -Devin Skonberg, age 14, Ouzinkie Lately there has been a need to do something to validate who I am as an Alutiiq living this fast-paced life. I need to understand our traditions, our stories and our culture so I can better understand myself as the portion that constitutes the "our." I will come to the camp as a newborn struggling to learn and glean all that I can: devouring the history, the movement, the stories like Fuzzy's smoked fish. And when I've gorged on my history, I'll gulp freely of the fresh air like water to quench the thirst for more-always more. This is what I envision as my experience and what I hope to gain at the Lu'macihpet Dance Camp: A Song For Renewal and Hope To feel the movement of my arm sensing a seal was caught and the celebration was such that my other arm went up to greet my outstretched hand like salmon straining to the top of the torrential water. strong and persevering, determined to go back to that shallow where life began to finish my time with my spawn enriching the pool for the next generation. To share my experience with my students in my classroom when I become a certified teacher is my hope and my dream. I desire to make the regalia, know a dance, utter a word deep in my throat that speaks the stories of those that walked on the beach before me. This is what I hope to gain and share with those that are willing to listen and walk the beach with my memories and me. -Marci Nelson Orth, originally from Port Lions, now living in Wasilla Each participant at the camp received a certificate of completion recognizing their efforts and honoring them with the statement: "Take care of the Elder you will become." | |
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Alutiiq/Unangax Region: Mask Carving by Sven Haakanson, Jr.:We have received wonderful comments from the students. One young lady from the remote village of Akhiok, wrote: "This will be good for the future because what we paint on the mask will tell the next generation what we did. It's like telling a story in a book but it's on a mask. We want this mask carving to go on. It should never get lost. We are the responsible ones to keep this fun tradition going." Mary L. Simeonoff, 12th grade. Her written words signify more of an effect then we ever expected to achieve. In traditional Alutiiq dancing, Dustin Berestoff wore a mask to portray the boogie man in "Unuku, unuku", "Tonight, tonight, I will bring a little tea with me, my love and don't you think I am a boogie man." As we have relearned more about our heritage we have begun a new era for our youth in promoting pride, cultural knowledge and respect for our ancestors. If you would like to learn more about our programs or have questions, please check our web site: www.alutiiqmuseum.com, or contact us at 907-486-7004. | |
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Alutiiq/Unangax Region: Re-establishing Illuani by Teri Schneider:A few years ago people began to ask me, "What ever happened to Elwani? How come we don't see those around anymore?" As background information was gathered about the first effort, it became more and more apparent that we could re-establish the project with a few minor changes. Illuani could become a wonderfully relevant learning tool while fulfilling the need to document people's knowledge and experience in our region of the world so that we could continue to communicate and celebrate the ingenuity and lives of each other. Like the magazine of the 70s and 80s, the school district is printing it, but the new one will be done primarily by rural students with some contributions by interested students in Kodiak. The night of the first interviews, held at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, was a marvelous event. The students were nervous and the invited guests that were to be interviewed were unsure of their role and of what they might contribute. When the students went to their designated areas with their tape recorders, note pads and interviewees, magic happened. The project became a reality and took on a life of its own. Nobody needed prompting and nobody needed interventions by teachers. Giggles came from every corner as each group became engaged in conversation, often times sprinkled with humor to create a level of comfort for both the students and adults. When we gather together with open ears, minds and hearts we allow ourselves to learn from one another. Perhaps we learn the value of taking care of your neighbor when we hear someone tell their story of the '64 earthquake or tidal wave. Maybe we learn to become more resourceful after hearing a story of how people used to bake bread on a beach in an oven made of rocks. Or, perhaps we learn that we never stop learning when we watch an Elder learn a new skill from a student. When we take the time to visit and listen we learn that each one of us has something to contribute to our community. Illuani is an example of students and community members contributing to each other's lives and in turn sharing that gift with all of us. If you are interested in purchasing the new Illuani magazine you may contact the staff at the KIBSD Central Office (486-9210). All proceeds will go to supporting the continuation of the project. Pronunciation key for article: Sugtestun (Soog'-ts-toon): the Sugpiaq/Alutiiq way Elwani (el-wan'-ee): inside it Illuani (il-lwhan'-ee): inside it | |
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An Alliance Between Humans and Creatures by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley:Basic philosophical questions are raised in the course of observing and questioning people with respect to notions of inquiry, explanation, technology, science and religion as they relate to particular lifeways. Accordingly, world view as discussed here will attempt to answer the questions deftly set out by Barry Lopez. Lopez refers to "metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics and logic-which pose, in order, the following questions. What is real? What can we understand? How should we behave? What is beautiful? What are the patterns we can rely upon?" (1986:202). Added to the above list will be "ontology:" Why are we? Is there something greater than the human? Lopez goes on to point out, "The risk we take is of finding our final authority in the metaphors rather than in the land. To inquire into the intricacies of a distant landscape, then, provokes thoughts about one's own interior landscape, and the familiar landscapes of memory. The land urges us to come around to an understanding of ourselves" (247). The concept of "worldview" is very closely related to the definitions of culture and cognitive map (Berger, Berger, & Kellner 1974:148). A worldview consists of the principles we acquire to make sense of the world around us. These principles, including values, traditions and customs are learned by youngsters from myths, legends, stories, family, community and examples set by community leaders (Deloria, 1991, Hardwick, 1991). The worldview, or cognitive map, is a summation of coping devices which have worked in the past, and may or may not be as effective in the present (Netting, 1986). Once a worldview has been formed, the people are then able to identify themselves as a unique people. Thus, the worldview enables its possessors to make sense of the world around them, make artifacts to fit their world, generate behavior and interpret their experiences. As with many other indigenous groups, the worldviews of the traditional Alaska Native peoples have worked well for their practitioners for thousands of years (Kawagley, 1995). Native ways of knowing imply action, states of knowing that entail constant flux of doing. The universe and Mother Earth are constantly changing. If we are looking at and trying to make sense of the world in which we live, we must speak of it as an active process. So our Alaska Native words describe pieces of activity (Roszak, Gomes, & Kanner, 1992 ). The Native words are sound symbols garnered from nature which then lend themselves to reality defining itself. The English words used to describe nature merely define nature and supplant reality. The scientific objectivity allows looking at "things" in nature and then as commodities to be used and exploited without regard to its habitat and niche in the ecological system. The institutions of higher learning teach us to look at "things" for in-depth detailed knowledge in a fragmentary approach. It allows us to develop technology to hasten our extraction of minerals, deforestation and agriculture. We are not mindful of the carrying capacity of the land and its ability to regenerate. Our affluence as industrial nations is merely a borrowed affluence. Borrowed from countries like Ghana, Philippines, Columbia, China, and India to name a few. Our technological prowess and its concomitant concepts of growth and development and that the "whole is the sum of its parts" (Mills, 1997) has brought us to the brink of disaster. I quote the following poem from Elisabeth Hermodsson (Mills, 1997): once upon a time we were to be pitied we were in mortal fear we believed in spirits, gnomes god and other kinds of superstition now we feel safe for we know everything control everything we have rational explanations for everything we make use of matter's minutest particle for our purposes and we are much to be pitied more than ever before never has space been closer never has responsibility been greater never have we known more fear and we do not believe in good or evil powers nor in gods and other superstitions we believe in ourselves and never has space been wider and never have we had greater power and never have we been more powerless we believe in progress and never has catastrophe been so close We certainly have a totalitarian and dehumanizing technological system. And most certainly, as a Native people, we have been unable to evaluate our satisfaction with the technological gadgets and tools that have been given or forced upon us by this all consuming giant. Its technocratic society questions the maintenance of our Native languages, subsistence, ways of knowing and Native rights to an education befitting our worldviews. But it espouses, through lip service and pronouncements, multiculturalism that many of its members deem evil. I don't remember the source of the following quote but: "Too much think about white man, no more can find dream." We have become aware of the materialistic and scientific sophistry with its inherent ability to obfuscate who we are, what we are and where we are going. After this vitriolic attack, I now get to the subject of my talk. I have enclosed a diagram which I call the tetrahedral metaphor of the Native worldview. I have drawn a circle representing the universe or circle of life. The circle represents togetherness which has no beginning and no end. On this circle are represented the human, natural and spiritual worlds. There are two-way arrows between them as well as to the worldview at the apex of the tetrahedral. These two-way arrows depict communications between all these functions to maintain balance. The Yupiat say "Yuluni pitalkertugluni," "Living a life that feels just right." One has to be in constant communication with each of the processes to know that one is in balance. If the feeling is that something is wrong then one must be able to check to see what might be the cause for unease or disease. If the feeling of being just right comes instinctively and this feeling permeates your whole being, then you have attained balance. This means that one does not question the other functions intellectually, but that one merges spiritually and emotionally with the others. The circle brings all into one mind. In the Yupiat thought world, everything of Mother Earth possesses a spirit. This spirit is consciousness, an awareness. So the wind, river, rabbit, amoeba, star, lily, and so forth possess a spirit. Thus, if all possess a spirit or soul, then all possess consciousness and the power that it gives to its physical counterpart. It allows the Native person the ability to have the aid of the spirit to do extraordinary feats of righting unbalanced individual psyche, community disease or loss of communication with the spiritual and natural world through irreverence toward beings of Nature. Harry Robinson (Robinson, 1992) calls this "'nature power,' the life-sustaining spirituality." Dr. Grof refers to "power animals" (Grof, 1993) which gives its possessor the power to "communicate with them, adopting aspects of their wisdom or power and re-establishing links with them when the connection has been lost through negligence or lack of reverence, or by offending either the animal spirits or one of the greater spirits of the natural world." These are not available through Western scientific research methods but through the ancient art of shamanism. From this you can see that when we rely on Western means of research only, it is a limiting factor, and this is what our institutions of higher learning teach. All areas of social and scientific research teach only one way of trying to learn and understand phenomena. Our technological and scientific training imprison the students' minds only to its understandings, much to the detriment of the learners who enter the mainstream Western world to become its unerring members of progress and development. (to be continued in the next issue of SOP) | |
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