Akulmiut Neqait / Fish and Food of the Akulmiut
350 pages, 7 x 10
60 color plates
Paperback
Release Date:15 Aug 2019
ISBN:9781602233867
Akulmiut Neqait / Fish and Food of the Akulmiut
University of Alaska Press
For centuries, the Akulmiut people—a Yup’ik group—have been sustained by the annual movements of whitefish. It is a food that sustains and defines them. To this day, many Akulmiut view not only their actions in the world, but their interactions with each other, as having a direct and profound effect on these fish. Not only are fish viewed as responding to human action and intention in many contexts, but the lakes and rivers fish inhabit are likewise viewed as sentient beings, with the ability to respond both positively and negatively to those who travel there.
This bilingual book details the lives of the Akulmiut living in the lake country west of Bethel, Alaska, in the villages of Kasigluk, Nunapitchuk, and Atmautluak. Akulmiut Neqait is based in conversations recorded with the people of these villages as they talk about their uniquely Yup'ik view of the world and how it has weathered periods of immense change in southwest Alaska. While many predicted that globalization would sound the death knoll for many distinctive traditions, these conversations show that Indigenous people all over the planet have sought to appropriate the world in their own terms. For all their new connectedness, the continued relevance of traditional admonitions cannot be denied.
This bilingual book details the lives of the Akulmiut living in the lake country west of Bethel, Alaska, in the villages of Kasigluk, Nunapitchuk, and Atmautluak. Akulmiut Neqait is based in conversations recorded with the people of these villages as they talk about their uniquely Yup'ik view of the world and how it has weathered periods of immense change in southwest Alaska. While many predicted that globalization would sound the death knoll for many distinctive traditions, these conversations show that Indigenous people all over the planet have sought to appropriate the world in their own terms. For all their new connectedness, the continued relevance of traditional admonitions cannot be denied.
The authors also incorporate qalarutkelput (things we talked about), where community members share in both English and Yup’ik the stories that informed the initial book sections. Qalarutkelput (things we talked about) pulls this work together, providing the reader with a 'real' experience resembling in-person conversations with community members. This is an important part of Akulmiut Neqait as it leaves Akulmiut and her peoples at the center of the work, highlighting the continuity of Akulmiut traditions in a world marked by appropriation. Akulmiut Neqait, therefore, is an excellent source of knowledge and re-fl ection for all, community members, academics, and general readers alike.
Ann Fienup-Riordan has lived and worked in Alaska since 1973. She has written and edited more than twenty books on Yup’ik history and oral traditions. Her most recent book with the University of Alaska Press is Qanemcit Amllertut/Many Stories to Tell: Tales of Humans and Animals from Southwest Alaska.
Marie Meade is a fluent Yup'ik speaker and an expert translator. She teaches Yup'ik at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Alice Rearden is a fluent Yup'ik speaker, and the primary translator and oral historian for the Alaska Council for Exceptional Children.
Marie Meade is a fluent Yup'ik speaker and an expert translator. She teaches Yup'ik at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Alice Rearden is a fluent Yup'ik speaker, and the primary translator and oral historian for the Alaska Council for Exceptional Children.
Related Titles
Ciulirnerunak Yuuyaqunak/Do Not Live Without an Elder
The Subsistence Way of Life in Southwest Alaska
Edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan; Translated by Alice Rearden
Yupiit Yuraryarait
Yup'ik Ways of Dancing
By Ann Fienup-Riordan, James H. Barker, and Theresa Arevgaq John
Words of the Real People
Alaska Native Literature in Translation
Edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan and Lawrence D. Kaplan
