Alaska Native Knowledge Network Resources for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.

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 Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated.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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Baidarkas, Booths, & Multi-Cultural Adventures in Learning by Fred Deussing : Cama'i! The students of Nanwalek Elementary/High School are exploring new learning ventures in their picturesque seaside village of 170 Sugpiaq Native people nestled among the southern Kenai Peninsula's magnificent snowcaps. Upon returning from their Russian Orthodox Christmas vacation the end of January, the nineteen, eighth through twelfth grade students will begin constructing three Native baidarkas of the type used by their ancestors in the past as a vital part of their everyday subsistence culture. With funding provided by the English Bay Corporation and guided by Nanwalek's social science teacher, Dan Harbison, community volunteers will join students in this "hands on" Alaska Studies curriculum project to share their expertise in keeping with Nanwalek's school and community belief, "It takes a whole village to educate a child". Upon completion, the baidarkas and other Native crafts made by Nanwalek's students and community members will be taken, along with their neighbors' in Port Graham, to the 1996 Alaska State Fair. The students will gain first-hand experience employing their entrepreneurial business skills in marketing their Native crafts to the estimated 300,000 visitors expected to visit the fair this summer. Nanwalek's students would like to extend the opportunity to any of their peers who would like to participate in this school fund raising enterprise by marketing their Native crafts at our fair booth on a consignment basis. Interested schools can contact Nanwalek's principal, Fred Deussing, for details at 281-2210. Finally, Nanwalek's students would like to begin utilizing their technology skills with other Native students across Alaska by engaging in joint, multi-cultural projects via cyberspace. Project STUDENT (Students Together Understanding Different Endemic Native Traditions) envisions a variety of cultural awareness and reinforcing educational experiences whereby students communicate via e-mail in sharing their respective Native languages, customs, history and beliefs in joint learning projects. STUDENT's goal is to promote cultural appreciation and respect among new cyberpals along the way. Although presently limited to a single e-mail account, the students are ready to launch out on such a venture, and are looking for some STPs (STUDENT Technie Pioneers) to join them. They can be contacted via e-mail at nanwalek@alaska.net, or by calling Fred at the phone number listed above. Any "brave" STPs out there? Awa ai, -Fred and the Sugpiaq students of Nanwalek Elementary/High School Fred Deussing is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and entered the teaching profession in 1970 after serving four years in the United States Marine Corps Air Wing. Except for a six-year hiatus from the teaching profession, when he was employed as a manager/stockbroker, he has been an educator in Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Colorado and Alaska for the past twenty years. Prior to his appointment as the principal/teacher at Nanwalek, he enjoyed teaching science to students in Galena. Fred, his wife Lori and their three-year-old son Grant thoroughly enjoy spectacular surroundings, and all the many new friends they have made in their "Camelot by the Sea".

Keyword(s): Volume 1, Issue 1

Bering Strait Region: Our Vision for the 21st Century by Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle : Part of my job as a Native Ways of Knowing coordinator with the Alaska RSI is to help form a Native educators' association in the Bering Strait Region. I see this as an opportunity to become a group with common interests to help better the education of our Native students. We as Native educators are the VOICE for Native students learning and for developing culturally relevant teaching materials. We also need to support each other as professional people. A group of Bering Strait School District and Nome City Schools teachers met on April 3-5 to discuss the formation of an association and to make recommendations to focus on. A large part of each day was spent on brainstorming recommendations. The recommendations focused on the imbalances in the educational system and were made to begin to address solutions to the imbalances. Some of the recommendations were: * to begin to make aware to the general public, governing bodies and employees of school districts of the imbalances that exist within the school and communities; * to design integrated cultural activities inherent to the communities into the basic curriculum and * to encourage parent involvement and to begin work on implementing a Native language immersion program. On the afternoon of April 4, Esther Ilutsik, Ciulistet Native educator from Dillingham and Henry Alakayak, Ciulistet elder consultant from Manokotak gave a great presentation on the beginnings of the Ciulistet Research Group (CRG) (see Sharing Our Pathways, Vol 1, Iss. 2). Esther demonstrated some of the educational materials that were developed by CRG that stem from traditional Yup'ik knowledge base rather than translating Western educational materials for use in the classroom. On the last day we made a list of possible names for our group and decided on "Kii" Educators Association (KEA) which means "go" in Inupiaq and the acronym shows the "KEY" to Native education. However, it is only a temporary name. I will be sending another list of names for the Native educators and participants to choose from and keep everyone updated on our progress.

Keyword(s): Volume 2, Issue 3

Bering Straits Report by Yaayuk Alvanna-Stimpfle : Village Science Coordinator, Northwest Campus, Nome I came on board in March of 1996. For the first two and a half months, I've been getting to know what this job entails. I made presentations to the Native Parent Education Committee at the Nome Public Schools and the Sitnasuak Elders' Council at Sitnasuak Native Corporation in Nome. I traveled to Unalakleet with Claudette and Oscar Kawagley to talk about the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) with the principal and the science teachers. I also established contacts with the Nome Public Schools and the Bering Straits School District to introduce the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (Alaska RSI) project. This fall, I've been busy working with the Nome elementary schools' bilingual-bicultural instructors, writing the lesson plans since they are already integrated into the science themes. The elementary school science themes are three years, a quarter long and four themes per year. The themes change every year and are repeated every three years. I included Inupiaq vocabulary and put the themes into seasonal activities depending on what the Native population is doing. For example, the men are hunting moose and seal now, so I will be working on navigation and weather predictions with the astronomy theme for the next quarter. I also included traditional stories right into the lessons. I've been asked to present the Alaska RSI project to the Northwest Campus Advisory Council in December and to the Kawerak Inc. board members sometime in the future. Tavra. Kathy Itta (above) and Bernice Alvanna-Stimpfle (below) take diligent notes at the September Alaska RSI staff meeting in Anchorage. PHOTO BY LOLLY CARPLUK

Keyword(s): Volume 1, Issue 5

Best wishes to Bill Pfisterer : Best wishes to Bill Pfisterer on his retirement after 31 years of dedicated service to the education of our youth and teachers. Congratulations Bill!

Keyword(s): Volume 2, Issue 1

Beth Leonard Coordinates Athabascan Language Programs : Beth Leonard has been hired by the Interior Athabascan Tribal College as a language coordinator-instructor. This position is funded by a five-year Department of Education Title VII grant through the UAF Alaska Native Language Center. As coordinator, she is responsible for overall language programming for the IATC including organizing community classes for Athabascan languages represented within Tanana Chiefs Conference region. The IATC Athabascan Language Program will focus on forming collaborative partnerships to assist in integrating Athabascan language with culturally-based programs in local communities and schools. The IATC will continue to work closely with the Athabascan Language Development Institute/Denaqenage' Career Ladder Program to provide accredited Native language teacher education courses and language apprenticeship training and support. If you would like more information about the IATC Language Program, please contact Beth Leonard at 1-800-478-6822, ext. 3287 or send an e-mail to: bleonard@tananachiefs.org

Keyword(s): Volume 7, Issue 2

Bilingual Multicultural Education and Equity Conference : February 3-5, 1999 Anchorage, Alaska Contact Helen Merckens at (907) 465-8730.

Keyword(s): Volume 4, Issue 1

Blowing in the Wind by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley : There are messages for us, as a Native people, blowing in the wind that are older than any of our Native languages. I think one message is telling us that we can make change for the better in our lives through dedication, motivation, tenacity and traditional creativity to overcome the limitations of the current education system. This means that we educate our Native people in their Native languages and English to become articulate in both. This will enable them to think in their own worldviews for answers to their problems and exercise the means of control of the modern world to clearly and effectively articulate demands for change. A portion of the traditional map included with Howard Luke: My Own Trail. I use the tetrahedral metaphor as a way of trying to explain the synergistic process of keeping balance in ones life. The base is a triangle with the human, natural and spiritual worlds as the foundation of the worldview. I have read a book which analyzes the number three as a “breaking through to a world of infinite possibilities” (Brailsford, 1999). He further points out that three symbolizes creation and that one and two are the parents of number 3, the first born. If I think of it in this manner then the triune God of the Bible comes into mind. For the tetrahedral, it is the spiritual power that is eternal and omnipresent. Mother Earth is created and from its rocks comes all life, including the human being, thus serving as the basis of all life. This process presents infinite possibilities of solutions for overcoming a mechanical worldview that is so destructive to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It then behooves the Native people to pursue education diligently in their own thought world as well as in the disciplines of the modern world. This enables Native people to use their own problem-solving tools as well as those of the mechanical world to effect change. I have often said and heard that sense of place serves as the basis for identity and a home for the mind and heart. In some schools, students have been engaged in cultural mapping activities to identify the Native geographic names associated with the features of a particular place. This gives a cultural grid to place over the land, that provides order, meaning and stability to those who live on that land. To know place is to know oneself, which empowers us to do things with courage and determination. I have experienced a process in New Zealand whereby Maori Elders were taken to landmarks of the Waikato traditional lands. They were reviewing a booklet that had been prepared citing important places, what had transpired there and myths associated with that place. A guide was appointed who gave a running dialogue of points of interest and what was known about them, which the Elders then critiqued. The process was very constructive as it entailed correction of pronunciation of place names and added information to what was already known that sometimes led to significant revisions to the name and what actually happened there. This authentication process is needed as the Maori want to rewrite their history, not from the point of view of an outsider, but from within. Wouldn’t it be advisable for Alaska Native people to engage in a similar process? For urban areas such as Fairbanks, a group of knowledgeable Native Elders could be taken to various historical sites whereby the traditional Native name is given and the story told as to its use, occupancy, burial places of leaders, old migration trails, battle skirmishes, peacemaking, kinship, alliances, particular resources and so forth. All this information would be recorded by video and audio tape, transcribed and edited and later the Elders would again gather to piece together a story acceptable to all. Some beginning examples of this are already available, such as the Minto Mapping Project (www.ankn.uaf.edu/chei/ mapproj.html), the Angoon Cultural Atlas (www.ankn.uaf.edu) and the traditional map and book assembled by Howard Luke (Luke, 1999). The author’s tetrahedral metaphor I can foresee a caravan of snow machines transporting Elders to different areas such as camp sites, places of warrior skirmishes, hunting grounds and burial places where the correct name and what transpired there would be clarified. In the summer, boats loaded with Elders could be taken to significant sites agreed upon to tell their stories. I can envision a bus full of Elders slowly going around Bethel recounting the old sites of fish camps, the kasegiq, the original location of Mamtellrilleq south of the Kuskokwim River by the old Air Force airport, and the island that once was in front of the present site. They could explain why the original Yupiat did not settle in the present site, the history of Kepenkuk (now Brown Slough) and orutsaraq (place for gathering sphagnum moss for caulking), the location of old reindeer corrals and so forth. This would give our Yupiat a sense of kinship and belonging to a place that one could call home and mean it, because it has a well-documented story from the perspective of the Yupiat people. I would encourage teachers to take their students out into nature whenever possible, where the local language and culture can come alive in natural ways. By doing this, you are not limiting what is taught to knowledge alone, as the school typically does, but paying attention to the deeper needs of the student and the community. Within the classroom, the natural rhythms of life can be tapped into through singing, dancing and drumming, as well as other traditional activities that are acceptable to Elders and parents. The essential balance that is represented in the tetrahedral metaphor requires attention to all the realms of life, including the human, natural and spiritual. This message is blowing in the wind—a message older than our Native ways. References Brailsford, Barry. Wisdom of the Four Winds. Stoneprint Press: Christchurch, NZ, 1999. Luke, Howard. Howard Luke: My Own Trail. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Knowledge Network. 1999.

Keyword(s): Volume 9, Issue 2

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