Smithsonian Learning Lab

The Eyak People and Their Culture

By Joe Cook (Eyak), 2008 Sea, Land, Rivers I'm of Eyak descent out of the Cordova area. My grandmother is full-blooded Eyak. I was born in Seattle, but I've been in Cordova since I was six months old. I was raised there, raised on the boats. When I was growing up, we lived down in Old Town pretty much. We weren't too far from the old village site. We're on the edge of Copper River Delta there, which borders the Prince William Sound. On the east side of town, out on the Delta, you'd see a big flat with ponds and a river running through it, lots of ducks and geese. Out off shore you'd see the barrier islands where there's a lot of nesting going on. You'd see habitat for fish. In the inland area, you'd see mountains and glaciers. You'd see goats, bear, black and brown. And out on the Sound area, you'd see seal, sea otters and fish streams. It's a beautiful place. In the springtime it's on the flight path for all the birds coming back from the south, just hundreds of thousands of sandpipers, ducks and geese. Any kind of bird you can imagine is passing through there. Some of them stay the summer. When I was a kid, we used to gather the eggs. My grandmother used to gather eggs to eat, and we hunt them in the fall. Out on the barrier islands it was mostly seagulls that would nest out there, and that's where we'd get our fresh eggs in the springtime. We'd be out clam digging in the summertime. My parents used to dig clams, back before the clam crash, prior to the earthquake there. Cordova used to be the clam capital of the world back then, razor clams. After the earthquake, it raised up the land quite a bit so clams weren't as plentiful, and they're still not. Clams we pretty much have to get from Cook Inlet now. In early spring, we have the hooligan move in. That's the first fish to come in, and then herring after that in the Sound. In the first part of May, the reds and kings (salmon) start to show up, from May until the middle of July. Then we start switching over to silver salmon, which run until September. It's actually a pretty long season, for fisheries on the Delta. The Sound starts early July and then runs through August, along there now with the hatcheries. There's a lot of fish there. When I was growing up, my uncles would take me out hunting and fishing with them. They taught me a lot. They wouldn't take me goat hunting, but they took me on the boats and around. My grandmother used to take me with her on occasion to the different fish camps she had. Community and Family From the stories I've heard and read, we were a small tribe. We were the in-between people. We were the traders. We were the go-betweens, between the different factions outside of us. And it seemed to work for us. Being as how we were a small tribe, that was the way we had to be, otherwise we would have probably been wiped out. Everybody in my family is able to get along through negotiation and trading. I think we're still carrying on as the go-betweens. We can get people together, talk things out. My brother Dune Lankard, he started the Eyak Preservation Council. He's trying to do the same thing at the village. It's a work in progress. We lost it all before, and we're just starting to get it back now. And I think we can. I've fished ever since I was small. I think I had my first boat when I was twelve. I grew up on the water. My family has always fished, and we've always given to people haven't been able to get their own. In the village of Eyak we've got a program now where we get early fish, an early fishery so we can go out and take some early kings and reds. We pass them out to the elders and members of the village, which has really helped out a lot because we don't have that many fishermen anymore in the village. It's working out well, and that's through the Ilanka Culture Center. The village is getting stronger in all of the programs we've got going. We're growing it back. It's hard to tell what was going on back in my grandmother's time, when she was younger, or back before her. You had the railroad come in and copper mines. I don't think it did my tribe any good. And they had big flu epidemics that wiped out I can't remember how many, but it was probably half the tribe. We had villages at Alaganik and at Eyak Lake. But it was back before my time, and my grandmother didn't talk a whole lot about it. So I'm assuming by her not talking about it, it wasn't a good time. Back in the early '60s, I remember Dr. Michael Krauss (linguist, Alaska Native Language Center) coming to town and talking with my grandmother (Lena Saska Nacktan), Sophie Borodkin and Marie Smith Jones. The only time I heard the language was when my grandmother would talk with Marie or Sophie. They'd just be in a world of their own. A friend of mine and I thought about having my grandmother teach it to us, but it never happened. I'm still kicking myself for not doing that. Marie died this year. She was the last fluent speaker. So, it's a language that's technically dead now, although the Native Village of Eyak and the Eyak Preservation Council have it all on tape and the dictionary. It's there for whoever wants to learn it. Ceremony and Celebration My grandmother's family, they were brought up when they couldn't speak the language. My grandmother still spoke Eyak, but my mother never learned it. She had to go off to boarding school in Sitka. A lot of our inner culture for the Eyaks was lost, or just was pretty much banned, I think, during my mom's time, so I really wasn't brought up with it too much myself. My gram taught me a few things, but it just wasn't there for a long time. They tried to pretty much just take away the Native culture, and I think they pretty much did. There was school and government, from what my mom said. When my mom was going to school, she said they had a sign in the theater that Natives were only allowed in the balcony section. They had it a lot tougher than I did. I was brought up in both worlds: White and Native. My mom said that that there's nobody better than you, so if there's nobody than you, then you're better than nobody. So actually, I had it pretty good. I could walk both sides of the street and still do to this day. It's a lot better today. At the Native Village of Eyak, we've got the Ilanka Culture Center going. We've got classes, and we've got dance classes and a dance group. We're growing it back. It's never going to go back to the way it was, but at least we're bringing back the culture. We've got a small museum we've built, and we'll get back some of our artifacts that were taken from us years ago so we can learn about our history. Getting our programs going – the dance groups, the crafts – it can only better. I see good things happening to us. Note: This is shortened version of a longer essay from the Smithsonian book Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. <hr> Tags: Eyak, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

18

The Unangax̂ (Aleut) People and Their Culture

By Alice Petrivelli (Unangax̂), 2009 Sea, Land, Rivers More than three hundred Aleutian Islands clustered in groups stretch westward across the Pacific from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. In summertime they are just gorgeous. The mountains are snow-capped, with green grass and tundra plants spreading up their sides. Even out on the water you can smell the flowers. In fall the vegetation turns shades of red and brown, and in winter there is a clear, blue, endless sky between periods of storm. The islands have no trees, but driftwood from around the whole North Pacific washes up on our beaches. People of the Aleutians call themselves Unangax̂, meaning “sea-sider.” We are also called Aleuts – a name first used by Russian fur traders in the eighteenth century. To our south is the Pacific Ocean, to our north the Bering Sea. Everything our ancestors did was connected to the marine world around us. They built beautiful kayaks with split bow tips to cut swiftly through the waves. Their clothing was made of sea mammal hides and intestines and the feathered skins of ocean birds. The sea provided nearly all of our ancestors’ food – seals, sea lions, ducks, salmon, all kinds of fish and shellfish—and that’s still true today. From the time we’re little we’re taught to respect the water and to keep it clean, because that’s where our living comes from. I was born in 1929 on the far western island of Atka and grew up speaking the Niiĝux̂ dialect of Unangam Tunuu (the Unangax̂ language). Until 1942 we used to go camping all summer. With the first warm days of spring we would travel by boat to Amlia Island, where we planted potatoes and other vegetables. Gardening was impossible on Atka, because rats had invaded from a shipwreck sometime in the past. We fished for cod and halibut, and later in the summer we’d fish for red, pink and dog salmon. We preserved fish by salting, drying, and smoking. We lived mostly on subsistence resources, because the supply ship came to Atka only twice a year, bringing in the staples we needed: butter, flour and sugar. Growing up I learned to fillet fish, hunt birds, harvest grass for weaving baskets, and gather roots, plants, and shellfish. Community and Family We have always had strong leaders in our communities. Traditionally a chief would inherit his position, but for his authority to be recognized he had to excel as a hunter and be spiritual, generous, fair and kind in his dealings with the people. The shamans, or medicine men, took care of the people’s medical needs. They possessed detailed knowledge of the human body and had names for every part of it, both inside and out. There were no elections until the U.S. government started them in the 1930s. Russian fur traders came to the islands in the mid-eighteenth century following Vitus Bering’s discovery that sea otters were abundant there. The Russians set up a colony that lasted until 1867, and they were cruel, especially in the early years. They enslaved the people, forcing the men to hunt and the women to serve the traders. The population declined as a result of this mistreatment and disease until the majority of our people and over two-thirds of the original villages were lost. The Orthodox Church urged the Russian government to treat the people more kindly, and the situation improved. The Russians built schools to educate the Aleuts, and when the United States came in they reeducated us in the American way. In December 1941, I was a twelve-year-old school girl when our teacher told us that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. In April we learned that an invasion of the Aleutian Islands was feared and that the United States wanted to get us out of the way of the war. Only a few weeks later the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor and invaded Attu and Kiska islands, at the west end of the chain. In June a U.S. Navy ship came to Atka to evacuate everyone. Before leaving, the navy burned our village to the ground, even the church. It was devastating to the whole community. No one was allowed to get anything from the houses before they were destroyed, and we left with only the clothes on our backs. No one told us our destination. All of the Unangax̂ refugees were taken to internment camps in southeast Alaska. My family was at Killisnoo until 1945. It was very poorly set up, and we had little food and no medicine or appropriate housing. In that two and a half-year period we lost almost all of our elders and newborns, a total of seventeen deaths out of eighty-five who had left Atka together. We almost lost our culture entirely because of that, and the way I grew up no longer exists. Before the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 everyone had summer camps. When we got food, we shared it, and you could use another person’s camp as long as you kept it clean and replenished what you used. Land claims introduced the word "mine," as in, “That’s mine. You can’t use it.” After that, people didn’t share as much and started expecting to be paid to do things instead of just helping, as in building a house. And the Native corporation leaders didn’t want to involve elders in the new enterprises, thinking they were too old and not ready to do things in the Western way. Those were the negative effects of land claims, but things have improved over the years, and ANCSA has brought us many benefits. I first went to work for the Aleut Corporation as a receptionist in 1972 and was eventually employed in each of the departments. I wrote up land selections, helped with the accounting, and ended up getting elected to the board in 1976. I served until 2008, including a long term as president. It was a challenging and terrifying ride, because we were a “have not” corporation with no forests, oil or minerals on our lands to generate profits. Yet we needed to do the best we could to support our communities and shareholders. Your heart really has to be in it, because it takes a lot of personal sacrifice. Ceremony and Celebration Father Yakov Netsvetov (later Saint Yakov), whose mother came from our island, was the first resident priest. He consecrated the church on Atka in 1830, and ever since then Russian Orthodoxy has been a foundation of community life. Christmas, New Year’s Day, Easter and other feast days mark our calendar of worship and celebration. Starring and masking – still practiced in some villages during the midwinter holidays – are similar to rituals carried out before the Russians came. The original Unangax̂ festivals were held in the fall and winter, when people celebrated successful hunting and food gathering and asked for the animals to return. Those ceremonies survived Russian rule but were banned after the United States took over in 1867. In the decades that followed, the Aleuts adopted new music and dances for fun and entertainment, such as polkas, two-steps and waltzes. Since 1992, groups of young people have formed to restore and perform some of the original Unangax̂ dances. Note: This is shortened version of a longer essay from the Smithsonian book Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. <hr> Tags: Unangax̂, Aleut, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

20

The Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) People and Their Culture

The Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) People and Their Culture By Gordon L. Pullar (Sugpiaq), 2009 Sea, Land, Rivers The Sugpiaq homeland is large, spanning Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and the Alaska Peninsula. Our climate is wet and stormy but mild. Massive glaciers flow from the high coastal mountains, but the sea remains unfrozen. Spruce forests cover the eastern areas but dwindle in the west, so that much of Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula are treeless, windswept tundra. Along our coasts you can fish for salmon, halibut and crabs, hunt seals or sea lions, and walk the shore at low tide to collect shellfish and seaweed. Depending on the season you might search out an octopus under beach rocks, gather eggs on a seabird island, pick berries or go hunting in the hills for bears, caribou or deer. Traditional Sugpiaq hunting depended on the qayaq (kayak) and angyaq (large open boat), both covered with seal or sea lion skins. Ancestral equipment included throwing boards, harpoons and arrows. Many communities today depend on commercial fishing for cash income, but in recent years that industry has faltered. Part of the problem today is the high cost of fuel for boats and home heating. An increasing number of people can no longer afford to stay in the villages and are migrating to cities such as Kodiak and Anchorage. When the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in 1989 people were deeply shocked and depressed. Eleven million gallons of oil poured into Prince William Sound and then drifted west on the wind and currents, polluting fifteen hundred miles of shoreline. The huge spill coincided roughly with the geographic boundaries of the Sugpiaq culture area. Most sea life eventually recovered, but the communities that relied most heavily on fishing and coastal subsistence were disrupted for years and suffered deep economic losses. Today oil can still be found on the beaches, lying just below the rocks and sand. Its pollution still leaches slowly into the sea. Community and Family History has proven the Sugpiaq people to be highly resilient, despite the traumatic events of conquest and oppression. Russian traders in search of sea otter furs first conquered and then enslaved the Native population of southern Alaska. In 1784 a force led by Grigorii Shelikhov used guns and cannons to slaughter hundreds of Sugpiaq men, women and children on Kodiak Island. Men were forced to hunt otters in fleets of kayaks, sometimes paddling hundreds of miles and being gone from their homes for months at a time. Others had to provision the Russians with whales, fish and game. Women prepared plant foods, dried fish and clothing for the traders. During these years people suffered from disease and malnutrition. It was a dark, traumatic period when many thousands died. After 1818 reform in the management of the Russian-American Company brought some relief. Alaska Natives officially became employees instead of slaves. Atrocities ended, and health care and education systems were put in place. Missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church were influential in seeking better conditions. The U.S. government took over Alaska in 1867. In the new government and mission schools, children were beaten for speaking either Sugcestun or Russian. Educational policies were aimed at bringing about the assimilation of all to American speech, values and beliefs. This history created complex feelings about identity. During two hundred years of Western contact and cultural change, Indigenous identity had been devalued and even shamed. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971 put a new twist on the situation. Anyone who had a one-quarter of Native blood was eligible to enroll, meaning that he or she would receive shares in the village and regional Native corporations. This was the first time for many that being Native had any positive benefits. The new opportunity generated tension when people redefined themselves and heard comments such as “He was never a Native before land claims!” There was much turmoil, infighting, and litigation during the early days of ANCSA. The Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA), a nonprofit established to pursue land claims and later ran Native health and education programs, came under fire. When I became president of KANA in 1983, I was asked to rebuild the organization. Elders advised that the biggest reason for our problems was that people had lost touch with who they were. They didn’t know their history, and the traditional values of sharing and cooperation had been lost. We turned our efforts to cultural rebuilding through dance, traditional arts, kayak building, language renewal, archaeology, oral history, youth-elder programs and more. The idea was to build knowledge, pride, visibility and self-esteem as a pathway for healing. From the beginning we wanted to have a museum and cultural center that people would feel belonged to them and where they could celebrate their culture. The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository opened its doors in 1995 and has realized the vision we held. Ceremony and Celebration Most Sugpiat have a firm belief that if not for the Russian Orthodox Church, the people would have been lost entirely. The population was in serious decline when Orthodox monks traveled to Kodiak in the 1790s. They were shocked at the conditions they saw, and the Church exerted its influence with the czar to ameliorate illegal practices of the Russian-American Company. That is why the Orthodox faith was embraced and why it has persisted so strongly to the present day. Sugpiaq people recognized connections and similarities between their own spiritual concepts and those of the new religion. They believed in Lam Sua, the “person of the universe,” who as a supreme and all-knowing deity became equated with God. Their kassat (wise men) consulted with deities subordinate to Lam Sua and directed the performance of religious ceremonies. In these functions they were similar to priests who conducted Orthodox worship. Traditional hunting ceremonies, held in October through March, were a means of communicating with sky gods and the spirits of animals. Performances and rituals wove together the arts of song, narrative, masking and dance. Visitors were invited from neighboring villages to share in rich feasts, gift giving and trade. These rituals continued in some communities until the late 1800s, coexisting with widespread Orthodox conversion. Over time, the Native practice of Russian Orthodoxy has absorbed certain aspects of the older winter ceremonies. Cultural revitalization has taken hold in the Sugpiaq region since the 1980s, bringing new confidence and visibility to our people and culture. We have come a long way since the days when many suffered embarrassment and even shame to see the dance, regalia and cultural vibrancy of other Alaska Native peoples while not having our own to share publicly. We’ve listened to elders, encouraged Native language and arts, and reconsidered the meaning of events, some terrible and traumatic, that shaped who we are today. Sugpiaq young people have gained an appreciation for their rightful place in the world. Note: This is shortened version of a longer essay from the Smithsonian book Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. <hr> Tags: Sugpiaq, Alutiiq, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

20

The St. Lawrence Island Yupik People and Their Culture

By Paapi Merlin Koonooka (St. Lawrence Island Yupik), 2009 Sea, Land, Rivers Sivuqaq, the Yupik name for St. Lawrence Island, rises out of the Bering Sea in the heart of a vast and bountiful marine ecosystem. All around us, depending on the time of year, we have walrus, whales and seals. Standing on the point at Gambell, you can watch ducks and seabirds flying by in endless motion over the sea. Our island lies just below the Arctic Circle, so the winters are long and often extreme. The wind gusts at fifty miles per hour, and the wind chill can get to minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit or lower. When spring and summer bring longer daylight and new life, people travel out from the villages of Gambell and Savoonga to their hunting and fishing camps around the island. Many of those places are ancient settlements where our ancestors lived up to two thousand years ago. I was born and raised in Gambell and have been a subsistence hunter there for my entire life, going back to when we traveled with dog teams instead of on snow machines and all-terrain vehicles. Marine mammals, fish, birds, eggs, reindeer and wild plants are important in the island diet throughout the year, far more so than store-bought foods. On the tundra and mountainsides people gather ququngaq (willow leaf), nunivak (roseroot), angukaq (dwarf fireweed) and various edible roots. In late summer the aqavzik (cloudberry) and pagunghaq (crowberry) ripen. Walrus have always been essential to our way of life. We hunt them in open water and later on the frozen ocean, making use of nearly everything as either food or material. The meat and fat are bundled into large tuugtuq (meatballs) to store in underground food cellars, and in the past that meat sustained our dog teams as well. Good-quality hides of female walrus are stretched, split, cured and stitched to cover the angyapik (hunting boat). Walrus stomachs become heads for drums, and their intestines, ivory and whiskers are transformed into adornment and art. Our predecessors used the skins to make tough rope and covers for the nenglu (traditional house) and interior aargha (sleeping room). They spun walrus sinew into thread and carved the tusks into tools and sled runners. I am a whaling captain like my grandfather, granduncles and father before me, and I serve on the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. Traditionally, the captain prepared for whaling in a religious way, using charms, special songs and rituals that showed the great respect we feel for this animal. While these rituals are no longer practiced, strict hunting protocols and the responsibility of the captain remain unchanged. A bowhead whale is so immense and powerful that hunters, even though armed with modern weapons, are really at its mercy. We use skin-covered boats and sails rather than motors during the approach, keeping absolute silence, because whales have a very sharp sense of hearing. But they know we are there even if there is no sound. That is why we say that a whale decides to let itself be taken, not the other way around. One whale provides an abundance of food that is shared with families on the island and across Alaska. Our hunting lifestyle has never been harmful to the animal species. Nature has her own way of opening up the ice and sea for us or withholding access. During storms we have to stay at home and wait for a change. When the weather is nice, the conditions may still not be right for going out, even if walrus are floating by on top of the ice floes. Sometimes we will be punished this way if we’ve failed in our respect. But as long as the creatures make themselves available to us, we will gather them for food and traditional needs. Community and Family The people of the island have close ties to the Yupik communities of Ungaziq and Sireniki on the Siberian coast, and we speak dialects of the same language. Before the cold war began in the late 1940s, our families traveled back and forth to visit, trade and seek marriage partners. The forty-mile trip took a full day in a skin boat using sail and paddles. Visits resumed in the 1980s after glasnost took hold in Russia, and now with a fast powerboat and calm seas, the crossing takes only two or three hours. Some of my best memories from childhood are of traveling with my dad. He had a wonderful dog team, and in the wintertime we would go on the sled to trap white fox. Even in the summer we’d take it across the gravel and tundra. When I started raising a family I did the same thing. We would hitch up a team of twelve dogs to pull our heavy sled, which was nine feet long with steel runners. As a child you really look forward to going out with your parents and elders for food gathering and hunting, because you want to learn. I sometimes think of early days when everyone was living in nenglut (traditional houses). They would go seal hunting on the ice, pulling whale baleen toboggans behind them to bring back the meat. You had a backpack and a rifle slung over your shoulders and an ice tester to see where it was safe to walk. You had to observe the ice and the direction it was moving, making sure not to get caught on an outgoing current. Boys were doing all that by the age of ten or twelve, and by fifteen you had to know everything. Your parents and elders made sure you were ready, or you weren’t allowed to go alone. Our culture is changing rapidly in some ways, more slowly in others. Fluency in the Yupik language is declining in the younger generations, although among the older people our daily conversation continues to be in Yupik. There is less respect among some young people now for their parents and elders, too much television and video gaming, problems with drugs and alcohol. We need to find a balance between traditional and modern ways, and I believe the best way to do that is through education. If you can be successful in your formal education, you will be in a strong position to help preserve your Yupik heritage. I’m glad to see so many young people still going out with their families to the places where we have always hunted and fished, even if now they travel on machines instead of on foot or by dog sled. They are still eating the same foods that we have always gathered and staying connected to our land and way of life. Ceremony and Celebration The remoteness of the island has helped to sustain some of the ways of our forebears. The practices of atuq and aghula (Yupik drumming, singing and dancing) were never interrupted, despite the introduction of Christianity, and people continue to compose new songs and motions. Both communities on the island hold dance celebrations where we welcome visitors and performers from mainland Alaska, Russia and beyond. Other ceremonies are more family-oriented, marking life events such as marriage and the birth and naming of a child. When a young person catches his first seal, a special small celebration is held to share the catch with relatives, making sure that everyone gets a taste. The same thing happens with your first bird. Many of the former ceremonial practices pertained to hunting, especially whaling. To prepare for the season, a captain would use certain songs that were specific to each clan. The purpose was to please the whale spirits. When the hunters captured a whale, the boats would come back in a line with the successful captain and crew in front. Everyone was deeply thankful, and they celebrated by feasting, singing and dancing. That feeling of appreciation and gratitude for the food that has been provided is just as strong today, even though our beliefs and customs have been modified. The Yupik culture has a very long, rich history, and at the Smithsonian you will see artifacts that our ancestors created hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Today many of the island’s residents are world-renowned Native artists whose work is shown in national and international museums and art galleries. Some of the ivory they use comes from archaeological sites, and this material, crucial to sustaining life generations ago, is equally important today because of the income generated by art sales. But much more than that, their work is a celebration of our culture, heritage and continuing way of life. Note: This is shortened version of a longer essay from the Smithsonian book Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. <hr> Tags: St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Yupik, Alaska Native, Indigenous, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

20

Conversations: Learning Across Generations and Back

Join Moderator Nadia Jackinsky-Sethi and speakers Miqqusaaq Bernadette Dean, Keneggnarkayaaggaq Emily Edenshaw, Kunaq Marjorie Tahbone and Krista Ulujuk Zawadski for a conversation about intergenerational learning within Canadian and Alaska Inuit communities and programs. Heather Campbell from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. Our Inuit advisors for the project are: <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

6

Conversations: Activating Inuit Art Sovereignty

Join Moderator Emily Henderson and speakers Theresie Tungilik and Dalee Sambo Dorough for a conversation about activating to Inuit art sovereignty. Alyson Hardwick from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. Our Inuit advisors for the project are: <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

4

Conversations: Music within Inuit Cultures and Languages

Join Moderator Tiffany Ayalik and speakers James Dommek Jr., Byron Nicholai and Julia Ogina for a conversation about the past, present and future of Inuit music with four practicing artists. Alyson Hardwick from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event. Topics discussed include: Historic music, songs and storytelling; Inuit language in songs; intergenerational learning and teaching; impacts from colonization; respectfully learning from Elders; and new Inuit music. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. Our Inuit advisors for the project are: <ul> <li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li> <li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li> <li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li> <li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li> </ul> This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

5

Conversations: Inuit Identities and Vitalization

Join Moderator Heather Igloliorte and speakers Christine Tootoo and Allison Akootchook Warden for a conversation about the question “How do we establish our identities as Inuit artists today in a time of cultural vitalization and healing?" Heather Campbell from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. Our Inuit advisors for the project are: <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation, supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska and the Recovering Voices Program at the National Museum of Natural History. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

4

Conversations: Queer Inuit Art

Join Moderator Alice Qannik Glenn and speakers Jenny Irene Miller and Ossie Michelin for a conversation on the subject of Queer Inuit Art, providing perspectives from Inuit artists working in a variety of media. Alyson Hardwick from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. Our Inuit advisors for the project are: <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

4

Land Acknowledgement: A Conversation with Melissa Shaginoff (#arcticstudies)

Join featured speaker Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna Athabascan and Paiute) to learn about a public action called land acknowledgement, which helps you recognize the Indigenous peoples whose traditional lands we stand upon. Speaking the words of a land acknowledgement creates a space of honoring, respecting and making visible the generations of Indigenous peoples that came before you. It is an expression of respect appropriate for gatherings at schools, organizations, institutions, businesses, conferences and communities, both where you live and where you travel to. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

6

Cultural Appreciation vs. Cultural Appropriation: A Conversation with Alaska Native Artists

Join moderator Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna Athabascan, Paiute) and speakers Dimi Macheras (Dena’ina Athabascan), Vera Starbard (Tlingit, Dena’ina Athabascan) and Ilgavak (Peter) Williams (Yup’ik) for a conversation on the subject of cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation, as it relates to Alaska Natives and other Indigenous peoples. Dawn Biddison from the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska introduces the event. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. This event was made possible through generous support by the Open Society University Network, Recovering Voices at Home program of Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

7

Voices from Cedar

In 2021, the Alaska office of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center partnered with Tsimshian master artist John Hudson on the “Voices from Cedar: Digital Learning” project to help Alaska Native artists learn about Tsimshian, Tlingit and Haida whistles, an important art form that had been dormant. John worked with Museum Specialist Dawn Biddison (project manager and editor) to produce in-depth instructional videos on making whistles, teach virtual workshops and give a public webinar. The videos presented in this collection introduce the Southeast Alaska tradition of making wind instruments with a focus on whistles. John shares his in-depth knowledge, and he teaches about the materials, tools and techniques for making cedar whistles. The 12-part instructional set comes from footage shot in 2015 at two events organized by the Center: a week-long artists’ residency at the Anchorage Museum and a weekend workshop at the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan. Also included is an edited version of the webinar, a trouble-shooting video completed after the virtual workshops, and short videos with John discussing whistles he studied from the Natural Museum of Natural History collections. This project was made possible through the generous support of The CIRI Foundation, Smithsonian Institution’s Recovering Voices program, Alaska State Council on the Arts & National Endowment for the Arts, First National Bank of Alaska, Sealaska Heritage Institute, and the generous supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Alaska, Native art, Tsimshian, Haida, Tlingit, Alaska Native, Southeast Alaska, Northwest Coast, Native art, Indigenous art, whistle, wind instrument, carving, red cedar, curved knife, crooked knife, museum, education, anthropology, museum studies, John Hudson, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

27

Twining Cedar

Red cedar bark twined basketry is a distinctive Tsimshian art form. With the passing on of elder master artists and the demands of contemporary lifestyles, it became at risk. A handful of weavers today are working to master and revitalize twined cedarbark basketry, reconnecting with a proud heritage. In 2016, the Arctic Studies Center collaborated with The Haayk Foundation of Metlakatla to document the materials and techniques of cedarbark basketry. The project included a harvesting and processing workshop and a weaving workshop in Metlakatla, and a residency at the Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage where artists studied baskets from museum and private collections, practiced and refined weaving techniques, and taught museum visitors and school children about basketry. Teaching was led by Haida master weaver Delores Churchill, who learned from master Tsimshian weaver Flora Mather, with assistance from her daughter Holly Churchill, an accomplished weaver. In addition to Metlakatla students, three advanced Tsimshian weavers participated in the project, sharing techniques learned in their families and communities and learning new ones: Kandi McGilton (co-founder of The Haayk Foundation), Karla Booth (granddaughter of Tsimshian master weaver Violet Booth) and Annette Topham (niece of master Tsimshian weaver Lillian Buchert). Metlakatla elder Sarah Booth, a fluent speaker of Sm’algyax (Ts’msyen), assisted Kandi McGilton in documenting indigenous basketry terminology for use in language classes. The bilingual guide below was written and compiled by Kandi McGilton, in collaboration with Sarah Booth and with assistance from David R. Boxley and Theresa Lowther. The guide pairs with a bilingual guide included here. The videos provide an introduction to the artists and to Tsimshian twined cedarbark baskets, and they provide instruction on how to harvest and process materials and on how to weave a basket from start to finish. A twined cedarbark basket from the Smithsonian collections is also included below. This project was made possible through the generous support of The CIRI Foundation, First National Bank of Alaska, Anchorage Museum, Alaska State Council on the Arts & National Endowment for the Arts, Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Sealaska Heritage Institute, and the generous supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Alaska, Native art, museum, education, Indigenous, Tsimshian, cedar, bark, Metlakatla, weaving, basket, David Boxley, Kandi McGilton, Delores Churchill, Karla Booth, Annette Topham, Holly Churchill, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

18

Sewing Gut

The art of sewing sea mammal intestine – also called gut – is an ancient and practical one used to create water-repellant clothing and bags, as well as ceremonial garments. During a week-long residency organized by the Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum in 2014, Alaska Native artists Mary Tunuchuk (Yup’ik), Elaine Kingeekuk (St. Lawrence Island Yupik) and Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Iñupiaq-Athabascan) studied historic gutskin objects and demonstrated how to process and sew gut to students, museum conservators and visitors. A two-day community workshop in Bethel followed, taught by Mary Tunuchuk and hosted by the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center with assistance from Director Eva Malvich. The video set presented here introduces the artists, examine historic objects made with gut from the Smithsonian collections, and offers detailed explanations and demonstrations. Learn how to process and sew sea mammal intestine (and hog gut as an alternative material for non-Alaska Natives); prepare grass and tapered thread for sewing; and complete a gut basket or gut window project. Links to a selection of Iñupiaq, St. Lawrence Island Yupik and Yup’ik objects from the Smithsonian collections made from gut are included below. This project was made possible through the generous support of The CIRI Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Anchorage Museum, Alaska State Council on the Arts & National Endowment for the Arts, and the generous supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Alaska, Native art, museum, education, Indigenous, sew, gut, intestine, sea mammal, walrus, seal, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Inupiaq, Iñupiaq, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

19

Sculpting Walrus Ivory

Walrus ivory is a precious sculptural material that for millennia has been carved into a nearly endless variety of forms essential to Arctic life, from harpoon heads to needle cases, handles, ornaments, buckles and many more. Naturalistic and stylized figures of animals and humans were made as charms, amulets and ancestral representations. Carvers today bring this conceptual heritage to new types of work. During a week-long residency organized by the Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum in 2015, Alaska Native carvers Jerome Saclamana (Iñupiaq), Clifford Apatiki (St. Lawrence Island Yupik) and Levi Tetpon (Iñupiaq) studied historic walrus ivory pieces from the Smithsonian’s Living Our Cultures exhibition -- some are included in this collection -- and demonstrated how to process, design and shape walrus ivory into artwork. Art students, museum conservators, school groups, local artists and museum visitors participated throughout the week. Also, a two-day community workshop in Nome was taught by Jerome Saclamana and hosted by the Nome-Beltz High School. The video set presented here introduces the artists and document the materials, tools and techniques they use to make walrus-ivory artwork. This project was made possible through the generous support of The CIRI Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Anchorage Museum, Alaska State Council on the Arts & National Endowment for the Arts, and the generous supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Iñupiaq, Inupiaq, Eskimo, ivory, walrus, carving, carver, carve, Native art, museum, education, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Yupik, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

28

Unangax̂ Bentwood Hat-Making

Unangax̂ men of the Aleutian Islands wore hunting hats and visors that were shaped from carved, boiled and bent planks of driftwood, intricately ornamented with paint, beads, walrus ivory and sea lion whiskers. The hats were practical headgear for kayak hunters and at the same time works of art expressing the spiritual connection between human beings and animals of the land, sea and air. In 2012, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska hosted a bentwood hat making residency at the Anchorage Museum where Unangax̂ hat makers Patricia Lekanoff-Gregory and Michael Livingston worked with advanced apprentices Delores Gregory and Tim Shangin. They examined bentwood hats and visors from museum collections, and they carved, bent, and decorated their own, sharing their expertise with visiting students and museum guests. The video set presented here provides step-by-step instructions on how to make a bentwood hat and information on the use and significance of these hats in the past and today, along with artist interviews that provide first-hand information about the Aleutian Islands region and this important art form. Links to a selection of Unangax̂ bentwood hats and visors from the Smithsonian collections are included below. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Alaska Native art, Indigenous, Unangax̂, Unangax, Unangan, Sugpiaq, Aleut, bentwood hat, bentwood visor, chief's hat, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

14

Living Our Cultures: Research, Talks and Events at the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska

In 1994, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center opened an Alaska office at the Anchorage Museum, and in opened the long-term exhibition Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska. The exhibition – created by in-depth collaboration with Alaska Natives throughout the project – presents Indigenous voices, perspectives and knowledge through over 600 masterworks of Alaska Native art and design from the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian collections. Living Our Cultures serves as both a public exhibition and as an active resource for community-based research, talks and educational events, some of which are shown in the videos provided below. A major focus of ongoing work is collaborations with Alaska Native Elders, artists and culture-bearers on heritage documentation and revitalization projects, which are presented in the <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/org/sasc-ak" target="_blank">Community Videos section</a> of this site. For more information, contact Aron Crowell (crowella@si.edu) or Dawn Biddison (biddisond@si.edu). NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Alaska Native, Indigenous, heritage, art, collaboration, museum, objects, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

14

Conversations: Challenges to Inuit Art Sovereignty

Join Moderator Tanya Lukin Linklater and speakers Taqralik Partridge and Sven Haakanson for a conversation about challenges to Inuit sovereignty in the art world, at museums and beyond. Alyson Hardwick from the Inuit Art Foundation introduces the event. The video series "Conversations" brings you into discussions with Indigenous peoples, providing information and insights on important subjects and issues, along with ideas and examples that can help prepare you for making choices about how to act with regard to Indigenous peoples and their heritage. Our Inuit advisors for the project are: <ul><li>Kacey Purruq Qunmiġu Hopson, Indigenous Knowledge Advocate, First Alaskans Institute</li><li>Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Artist</li><li>Taqralik Partridge, Director, Nordic Lab at SAW</li><li>Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, PhD Candidate, Carleton University</li></ul> This event was made possible through generous support of the Inuit Art Foundation and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Source: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?f%5B%5D%5Btypes%5D=resource&st=Smithsonian%20Arctic%20Studies%20Center%20Alaska">Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska</a>

Dawn Biddison

4

Sharing the Dena'ina Language

The Alaska Office of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center hosted a seminar with the Dena’ina Language Institute in 2010 at the Anchorage Museum. Elders Helen Dick and Gladys Evanoff shared their knowledge about Dena'ina heritage objects in the Smithsonian collections, using the objects as tools to teach the Dena'ina Athabascan language. They worked with language learners Karen Evanoff, Aaron Leggett and Michelle Ravenmoon and with linguists James Kari and D. Roy Mitchell to script and record new language learning videos, including the three videos presented here. Links to the museum objects discussed are included below. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Dena'ina, Athabascan, Indigenous, language, Alaska Native, dog pack, fire bag, snowshoes, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

7

Chickaloonies: Intergenerational Creativity and Learning through Indigenous Comic Art

The Chickaloonies project provides engaging and creative educational resources to help empower Indigenous youth in Alaska and beyond. Our work focuses on the comic art form as a creative way to learn about, express and perpetuate Indigenous heritage and Indigenous ways of learning: honoring Elders and knowledge-keepers and seeking to learn from them; experiencing the impact of storytelling and traditional values; learning multi-faceted information from heritage pieces in museum collections; and creating contemporary arts inspired by historic arts. Resources include an edited webinar video about the artists and project, an instructional comic art workbook and video introduction, a classroom poster, and photos with information – including knowledge shared by Elders – about Athabascan heritage in the Smithsonian collections. Project team: Artist Dimi Macheras (Ahtna Athabascan), 80% Studios; artist Casey Silver (non-Native), 80% Studios; cultural heritage collaborator Melissa Shaginoff (Ahtna Athabascan, Paiute); and project manager Dawn Biddison (non-Native), Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Alaska office To contact the project manager, please send an email to Dawn at biddisond@si.edu. Contact 80% Studios at 80percentstudios@gmail.com and visit their website at <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/KesTCVOyNlT42N0iGt4bL">www.eightypercentstudios.com</a>. This project was made possible through generous support by The CIRI Foundation's Education Heritage Grant program, the Recovering Voices program of Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and supporters of the Arctic Studies Center in Alaska. (#arcticstudies) NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a>

Dawn Biddison

27

St. Lawrence Island Yupik Language and Culture

The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center hosted a language and culture seminar at the Anchorage Museum in 2011, bringing together seven fluent St. Lawrence Island Yupik speakers for five days to discuss cultural belongings (often called objects by museums) from their region in the Smithsonian exhibition Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska at the Anchorage Museum. This video set presents a range of information about life on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska for the Yupik people: hunting tools used for living from the land and sea to ceremonial items used at celebrations and gatherings to everyday clothing to cultural traditions and values. The videos are in St. Lawrence Island Yupik with subtitles in English and Yupik, for following along in both languages. An educational guide with twelve lessons is included below, along with entries for objects discussed from the Smithsonian collections. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Alaska, Native art, Native culture, Indigenous, museum, education, language, St. Lawrence Island, Yupik, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

27

St. Lawrence Island Yupik Lessons: Language and Culture

The Alaska Office of the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center hosted a St. Lawrence Island Yupik language and culture seminar in January 2012, bringing together seven fluent speakers: John Apassingok, Lydia Apatiki, Ralph Apatiki, Sr., Elaine Kingeekuk, Christopher Koonooka, Merlin Koonooka and Angela Larson. They met for five days to discuss Yupik cultural belongings (often called objects by museums) in the Smithsonian exhibition Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska at the Anchorage Museum. During the seminar, the St. Lawrence Island Yupik language was documented and language and culture teaching materials were written for use in schools and homes throughout Alaska and beyond. Twelve objects from the Smithsonian collections – with detailed entries below – are featured in the guide and lessons presented here. These resources pair with twelve video lessons that offer teachers, students, parents and lifelong learners access to the St. Lawrence Island Yupik language and lifeways. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> <hr> Tags: Alaska, Native art, museum, education, language, Indigenous, St. Lawrence Island, Yupik, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska, distance learning, culturally responsive, culturally-responsive (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

27

Iñupiaq Language and Culture

The Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center hosted a language and culture seminar at the Anchorage Museum in 2011, bringing together eight fluent Iñupiaq speakers for four days to discuss cultural belongings (often called objects by museums) from their region in the Smithsonian exhibition Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska at the Anchorage Museum. This video set presents a range of information about life in Northwest Alaska for the Iñupiaq people: hunting tools used for living from the land and sea to ceremonial items used at celebrations and gatherings to everyday clothing to cultural traditions and values. The videos are in Iñupiaq with subtitles in English and Iñupiaq, for following along in both languages. A teacher's guide and an educational guide with six lessons are included. NOTE: The knowledge that Alaska Natives (Indigenous peoples of Alaska) have shared on this site is their cultural heritage, and they have cultural property rights for this knowledge. Please utilize what you learn from Alaska Natives with respect to their rights, which includes not using what you learn for personal gain such as selling artwork derived from this knowledge. To learn more about how to appreciate Alaska Native cultures respectfully, please go to the collection <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789">https://learninglab.si.edu/q/ll-c/Ha7AjCcnSBrgNbJt#r/44789</a> on this site where you will find a video and additional resources to learn more. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> Tags: Alaska, Native art, museum, education, language, Indigenous, Iñupiaq, Inupiaq, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

15

Iñupiaq Lessons: Language and Culture

The Alaska Office of the Smithsonian’s Arctic Studies Center hosted an Iñupiaq language and culture seminar in January 2011, bringing together eight fluent speakers: Sylvester Ayek, Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle, Alvira Downey, Herbert Foster Sr., Willie Goodwin Jr., Jana Harcharek, Faye Ongtowasruk and Rachel Riley. They met for four days to discuss Iñupiaq cultural belongings (usually called objects by museums) in the Smithsonian exhibition Living Our Cultures, Sharing Our Heritage: The First Peoples of Alaska at the Anchorage Museum. During the seminar, the Iñupiaq language was documented, including three different dialects, and language and culture teaching materials were written for use in schools and homes throughout Alaska and beyond. Six objects from the Smithsonian collections – with detailed entries below – are featured in the guide and lessons presented here. These resources pair with <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/iupiaq-language-and-culture-videos/6DMoTfdLBJBWmfDT" target="_blank">six video lessons</a> that offer teachers, students, parents and lifelong learners access to Iñupiaq language and lifeways. Contributor: <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/78098">Dawn Biddison</a> <hr> Tags: Alaska, Native art, museum, education, language, Indigenous, Iñupiaq, Inupiaq, Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in Alaska, distance learning, culturally responsive, culturally-responsive (#arcticstudies)

Dawn Biddison

15

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Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site

Share Learning Lab Collection

Add this collection to your site