Tlingit Elders Traditional Education Checklist

 

Originally published in "Beginning Tlingit", Sealaska Heritage Foundation, 1984

Compiled by Richard and Nora Dauenhauer

Based on the input and review of many elders

The Southeast Alaska Tribal College Elders Council formally adopted this checklist in October 2001.

SEATC Elders Council Members:

Arnold Booth, Metlakatla
Isabella Brady, Sitka
Nora Dauenhauer, Douglas
Dennis Demmert, Sitka
Lydia George, Angoon
Joe Hotch, Haines
Charles Natkong, Sr., Hydaburg
Marie Olson, Auke Bay
Gil Truitt, Sitka
Jim Walton, Juneau

(Do we have group photos of the Elders from education forums over the past few years?)

Part One

What are the most important knowledge and skills in Tlingit tradition that a person needs to know to be well educated in the tradition?

1. Self

Who am I?

Tlingit name
Moiety (Eagle or Raven)
Clan
Father's clan
Grandparent's clans
Names of my major clan crests
Names of my immediate family
House group
House groups of my ancestors

  1. Relating to Others

    Who are you?

    Protocol and diplomacy
    Clan system
    Concept of clan trust and clan ownership; at.óow
    Names of other clans
    Names of other people (Photos from Koo.éex')
    Crests of other clans
    History of all crests
    Extended family and community

    Memorials (Forty day Parties; Memorial Feasts,"Potlatch")

    ANB Protocol; Robert's Rules of Order

     

  2. Language

    How do we talk?

    Both Tlingit and English
    Careful speech
    Oratory (public speaking in traditional and contemporary settings; metaphor and simile)

     

  3. Literature and History

    What do we talk about?

    Songs (different types of songs)
    Stories ("Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature")
    Clan histories, legends, migrations, development

     

  4. Dancing (different types of dances)

     

  5. Special Art Forms

    (Both technical skills and concept of at.óow)
    Beading
    Sewing
    Skin sewing
    Weaving (Photos of weavers/weaving)
    Basketry
    Carving
    Silver Carving

     

  6. Survival: Use of the natural environment

    How do we live?

    Gathering Native food(photos from culture/science camps: Lydia at Dog Pt. in 1999)
    Putting up food (canning, jarring, freezing)
    Smoking fish and meat
    Various calendars (when the fish and game run)
    Traditional medicine; folk medicine

     

  7. Survival skills

    Boating safety
    Firearms safety
    Emergency survival on land and water
    Traditional and contemporary first aid
    Weather observation

     

  8. Fishing (technical skills)

     

  9. Hunting (technical skills)

 

11. Traditional technology

Boatmaking (photos of boats built by Tlingit boat builders: Princeton Hall, a canoe, etc.)
Taking care of a boat
Drum making
Carpentry
Cooking
Halibut and salmon hook making
Fish traps

  1. Geography

    Place names in Tlingit and English (sample from the tribal resource atlas)
    Chart and map reading
    Navigation
    Clan lands
    Traditional land use
    Migration routes

     

  2. Traditional spirituality

    Relationship to the natural world
    (land plants, animals, fish)
    Relationship to the spiritual world
    How to speak to the natural and spiritual worlds
    Concept of at.óow (excerpt definition from Haa Tuwanaagu Yís)
    Spiritual dimensions of visual art, songs, dances
    Stories, and public speaking (excerpt from Haa Tuwanaagu Yís or Because WeCherish You)
    How to keep clean in body and spirit
    What to do before h8unting or fishing
    How to treat the kill or catch
    Fasting for spiritual power
    Respect for self and others

     

  3. Traditional taboos

    Don't be arrogant
    Don't brag
    Don't talk too much
    Don't speak badly about anything
    Don't insult your fellow beings
    Don't keep all of your first catch or kill
    Don't be greedyDon't insult fish, birds and wildlife

     

  4. "Manners"

    Discuss with Elders what "good manners" were and are for Tlingit culture. It is also interesting to notice where and how Tlingit manners and European manners may be in conflict with each other. For example, is it polite to burp? When do you say "thank you" at the dinner table?

 

Part Two

Where can a person learn these things?

  1. From parents and grandparents (photos of parents and relatives and teachers at Harborview?)
  2. From relatives (uncles, aunts, family)
  3. From other community members and Elders
  4. From materials and resources gathered and prepared by others:

    Sealaska Heritage Foundation
    Alaska Native Language Center
    Alaska Native Knowledge Network
    Tlingit Readers

  5. School programs

 

Notes:

  1. This draft reflects all feed-back and input received from Tlingit Elders to date.
  2. Don't despair. It is difficult or impossible to know everything on this list. Probably no single Elder knew all of it. Also, keep in mind that this was the survival for the ancestors of the younger Native people of SE Alaska, whereas economic survival for most today relies mainly on "job" skills. Many people today "get up before the Raven" to get kids off to school and get off to jobs.

 

Bibliography

 

Resources Posted on the Alaska Native Knowledge Website

War Helmets and Clan Hats of the Tlingit Indians

Chilkat Indian Village, IRA v. Johnson, et al

Anchorage Daily News' Whale House Series

The Traditional Tlingit Country and Tribes Map.

The Traditional Tlingit Country Map/Poster was the culmination of more than 25 years of research. It was initially published in draft form in 1997. There have been four printings of 1,000 since 1998. I began compiling a list of Tlingit tribes, clans and clan houses in 1972. Initially, this list was part of a manuscript on Tlingit clan and clan house at.óow, or crests. At.óow translates "our belongings or possessions".
http://ankn.uaf.edu/TlingitMap/index.html

 

Reading Poles: An article on Tlingit crests by Andy Hope
http://ankn.uaf.edu/SOP/SOPv3i5.html#se

 

An Interview with Tlingit Elder Lydia George
http://ankn.uaf.edu/SOP/sopv4i5.html#interview

 

The Herman Kitka Traditional Ecological Knowledge Series.

This is a collection of 13 CD ROM's originally recorded in winter 1996 at UAS Juneau as part of Anthropology 354, Culture and Ecology, co taught by Professor Thomas F. Thornton and Herman Kitka, Sr. The CD ROM's were produced and edited by Arlo Midgett, UAS Media Services and Thomas F. Thornton under a grant from the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, with additional support from the Sitka Borough School District and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. The series is cross-indexed by category, topic, format, disc number and by clip.
http://ankn.uaf.edu/Resources/course/view.php?id=11

 

Place-Based Education -Resources for Southeast Alaska Educators web site.

Contents

1. Axe Handle Academy

2. Place Names, Maps, and Atlases

3. Tlingit History and Tradition

4. The Compleat Salmon

5. Place-Based Curriculum Examples

6. Ecological Resources

7. Kudatan Kahídí - The Salmon Box

 

The goal of this project is to provide Alaskan Educators with access to online and print resources to assist them in creating place-based curriculum for Alaskan schools. This site includes the I Am Salmon Curriculum project materials. Of particular interest are the "Aakwtaatseen/Alive in the Eddy" materials. These materials will be added to the Place-Based Education Resources web site in January 2004. This material is based on a story told by Deikeenáak'w of the Kookhittaan in Sitka in 1904 and transcribed by John R. Swanton, in 1904 and published in Swanton, Tlingit Myths and Texts" (1909) as Story #99. The story was transliterated into modern orthography by Roby Littlefield and Ethel Makinen. The material was edited by Roby Littlefield, Ethel Makinen, Lydia George, Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer
http://ankn.uaf.edu/Curriculum/Tlingit/Salmon

 

 

 

Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools

Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally Healthy Youth

Guidelines for Respecting Cultural Knowledge

Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages

Guidelines for Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers

Guidelines for Culturally Responsive School Boards

Guidelines for Cross-Cultural Orientation Programs

The Standards and Guidelines cited above can be found at:http://www.ankn.uaf.edu

 

Working Together: Home ~ School ~ Community
An Education Handbook For Alaskan Native Families
http://www.jsd.k12.ak.us/district/jsd_info/par_pub/nativehandbook/handbook_index.htm

 

The Southeast Alaska Tribal Resource Atlas Directory
http://ankn.uaf.edu/NPE/TribalColleges/SEATC/

 

OtherWeb and Multi-Media Resources

Math in Indigenous Weaving Web Site (Under construction)

 

Contents

 

1. Introduction and Overview - Andy Hope

2. Tlingit Math & Baskets Project

Annotated Bibliography on Tlingit Basketry

3. Software and Units

4. BASKETRY RESOURCES ON THE WEB

5. Tlingit Weaving Glossary

 

Tlingit Noun Dictionary
http://www.alaskool.org/language/dictionaries/akn/tlingit/information/Index_TND.html

 

2004 Update of the Tlingit Noun Dictionary
http://troubledraven.com/assets/pdf/Lingit-Nouns.pdf

 

Tlingit Country and Tribes Map
http://ankn.uaf.edu/TlingitMap/

 

The 2004 Tlingit Memorial Calendar
http://ankn.uaf.edu/southeast.html

 

Transliteration of Tlingit Terms in G.T. Emmons, The Basketry of the Tlingit, 1903

Transliterated by Nora Marks Dauenhauer

Transliteration of Tlingit Terms in G.T. Emmons, The Chilkat Blanket, 1907

Transliterated by Nora Marks Dauenhauer

 

Other Resources

Dauenhauer, Nora and Richard 1984 Tlingit Spelling Book

Aan Aduspelled X'úx'

__________ 1987 Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors

__________ 1990 Haa Tuwunáagu Yís, for Healing Our Spirit Tlingit Oratory

_________ 1991 Beginning Tlingit

__________ 1994 Haa Kusteeyí Our Culture Tlingit Life Stories

_________ 2001 Lingít X'éináx Sá! Say it in Tlingit

A Tlingit Phrase Book

Dick, Dr. Ronald n.d. Culture of the Kayak

McNutt, Nann, 2002 Canoes on Puget Sound A Curriculum Model for Culture Based Academic Studies Fourth - Sixth Grades

Steinbright, Jan, Ed. 2001 Qayaqs & Canoes Native Ways of Knowing Photography by Clark James Mischler Anchorage Alaska Native Heritage Center

 

 

Video Tapes

Dauenhauer, Nora Marks and Scollon, Suzanne In Memory of Jennie Thlunaut A tribute to the life and work of Jennie Thlunaut - Tlingit Master Artist 21 minute video 1988 Sealaska Heritage Foundation

 

Goldin, Larry The Land Is Ours

 

Kaalatk' Charlie Joseph on Tlingit Heritage 1981 Sitka Native Edcuation Program