Abstract
For me, reading this volume is like coming home. As an Alutiiq/Sugpiaq (Alaska Native) researcher who recently relocated to Brisbane, Australia, it is a joy and an honor to review, The Alaska Native reader: History, culture, politics, edited by Maria Shaa Tláa Williams. This volume stands as a celebration of Alaska Native scholarship in its historical, linguistic, political, artistic, spiritual, scientific, and even culinary forms (see p. 360 for Daisy Demientieff's Best-Ever Moose Stew Recipe)! It is a treasure because it seeks to impact readers in a felt way – appealing to all of the places where knowledge lives including the mind, heart, belly, and soul. Each chapter prompted a different response ranging from pure joy to deep sadness, from rage to pride, from a sense of solidarity with other Alaska Natives to appreciation for my own particular culture, and from curiosity about what others are working toward to awe at what already has been achieved.
Highlights
For those unfamiliar with Alaska Native peoples and cultures, The Alaska Native Reader offers an introduction to the geographies we inhabit and the stories we tell; to significant historical moments and contemporarysites of struggle‘ (Mead 1996); to longstanding cosmological and epistemological traditions and diverse forms of artistic expression
Native Arts: A Weaving of Melody and Color; and. This last section invokes the image of Raven, who serves as both Creator and Trickster for many Alaska Native peoples, and includes a range of contributions that the editor explains did not seem to fit well under the other four section headings – or ―everything that Raven would approve of—humor, food, poetry, and real-life stories‖ (p. 338)
The cross-cutting themes related to remembrance and innovation highlight the idea that the truth about Alaska Native peoples lies both in where we come from and in who we are becoming
Summary
For those unfamiliar with Alaska Native peoples and cultures, The Alaska Native Reader offers an introduction to the geographies we inhabit and the stories we tell; to significant historical moments and contemporarysites of struggle‘ (Mead 1996); to longstanding cosmological and epistemological traditions and diverse forms of artistic expression. The cross-cutting themes related to remembrance and innovation highlight the idea that the truth about Alaska Native peoples lies both in where we come from and in who we are becoming.
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