Yup'ik Historical Narratives and Traditional Tales: Stories for Future Generations

FAIN: RQ-50617-12

Calista Education and Culture, Inc. (Anchorage, AK 99518-3000)
Ann Fienup-Riordan (Project Director: December 2011 to present)

The preparation for publication of a collection of oral histories and traditional tales from the Yup'ik people of southwestern Alaska, and creation of a web site featuring audio recordings and transcriptions of the tales. (36 months)

Working together, expert Yup'ik translators Alice Rearden and Marie Meade and long-time collaborator anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan will: 1) transcribe, translate, and archive a unique collection of 120 audio tapes recorded between 1977-1991 with the last generation of Yup'ik speakers to tell these stories; 2) publish two bilingual volumes--Vol 1 historical narratives and Vol 2 traditional tales--including the most valuable and, until now, inaccessible narratives in this collection; 3) create a website with 100 audio recordings and time-aligned texts. In keeping with NEH's "Bridging Cultures" initiative, sharing these narratives in a number of formats aimed at a variety of audiences will promote a fuller understanding of the Yup'ik view of the world, fostering mutual respect and enlarging our understanding of the human condition. By joining traditional scholarship with online access, our project will stand as a model for how to make Native American oral literature accessible to all.

Associated Products

Erinaput Unguvaniartut So Our Voices Will Live: Quinhagak History and Oral Traditions (Book)
Title: Erinaput Unguvaniartut So Our Voices Will Live: Quinhagak History and Oral Traditions
Editor: Alice Rearden, Transcriber
Editor: Ann Fienup-Riordan, Editor
Abstract: This book is a collaboration between the community of Quinhagak and the Calista Elders Council, the major heritage organization for southwest Alaska. It was initiated by the people of Quinhagak to both preserve and share the history and oral traditions unique to their homeland at the mouth of the Qanirtuuq River on Kuskokwim Bay. Quinhagak elders gathered in the village and well as traveled to Anchorage to work with oral historian Alice Rearden and anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan where they worked together, for the sake of their young people, "so that their voices will stay alive."
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/erinaput-unguvaniartut-so-our-voices-will-live-quinhagak-history-and-oral-traditions/oclc/856861388&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/publications/detail/index.xml?id=225
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Calista Elders Council and the Alaska Native L:anguage Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Type: Translation
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780615866338
Translator: Alice Rearden
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Nunamta Ellamta-Llu Ayuqucia, What our Land and World are Like: Lower Yukon History and Oral Traditions (Book)
Title: Nunamta Ellamta-Llu Ayuqucia, What our Land and World are Like: Lower Yukon History and Oral Traditions
Editor: Ann Fienup-Riordan
Abstract: This book is a collaboration between community members in Kotlik, Emmonak, Alakanuk, and Nunam Iqua who have worked together with the Calista Elders Council to record the history of their land and lives. The book, translated and transcribed by Alice Rearden and edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan, has 656 pages and is illustrated with maps and photos.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/nunamta-ellamta-llu-ayuqucia-what-our-land-and-world-are-like-lower-yukon-history-and-oral-traditions/oclc/890792889&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: http://uaf.edu/anlc/publications/detail/index.xml?id=231
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Calista Elders Council and Alaska Native Language Center
Type: Translation
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780615866338
Translator: Alice Rearden, Transaltor and Transcriber
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Anguyiim Nallini, Time of Warring: The History of Bow-and-Arrow Warfare in Southwest Alaska (Book)
Title: Anguyiim Nallini, Time of Warring: The History of Bow-and-Arrow Warfare in Southwest Alaska
Author: Alice Rearden
Author: Ann Fienup-Riordan
Editor: Ann Fienup Riordan
Abstract: This book draws on little-known oral histories from the Yup’ik people of southwest Alaska to detail a period of bow-and-arrow warfare that took place in the region between 1300 and 1800. The result of more than thirty years of research, discussion, and field recordings involving more than one hundred Yup’ik men and women, Anguyiim Nalliini tells a story not just of war and violence, but also of its cultural context—the origins of place names, the growth of indigenous architectural practices, the personalities of prominent war- riors and leaders, and the eventual establishment of peaceful coexistence. The book is presented in bilingual format, with facing-page translations, and it will be hailed as a landmark work in the study of Alaska Native history and anthropology.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/anguyiim-nalliini-time-of-warring-the-history-of-bow-and-arrow-warfare-in-southwest-alaska/oclc/912507696&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: https://www.alaska.edu/uapress/browse/detail/index.xml?id=535
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press for the Alaska Native Language Center and Calista Edication and Culture, Inc.
ISBN: 9781602232914
Translator: Sophie Shield
Translator: Alice Rearden
Translator: Marie Meade
Translator: Muriel Amos
Translator: Howard Amos
Translator: David Chanar
Translator: Alice Fredson
Translator: Veronica Kaganak
Translator: Monica Shelden
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Ciulirnerunak Yuuyaqunak = Do Not live Without an Elder: The Subsistence Way of Life in Southwest Alaska (Book)
Title: Ciulirnerunak Yuuyaqunak = Do Not live Without an Elder: The Subsistence Way of Life in Southwest Alaska
Editor: Alice Rearden, Transcriber
Editor: Ann Fienup-Riordan
Abstract: In October of 2010, six men who were serving on the board of the Calista Elders Council (CEC) gathered in Anchorage with CEC staff to spend three days speaking about the subsistence way of life. The men shared stories of their early years growing up on the land and harvesting through the seasons, and the dangers they encountered there. The gathering had wide regional breadth, as elders came from the Bering Sea coast as well as the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. And while their accounts had some commonalities, they also served to demonstrate the wide range of different approaches to subsistence in different regions. This book gathers the men’s stories for the current generation and those to come. Taken together, they become more than simply oral histories—rather, they testify to the importance of transmitting memories and culture and of preserving knowledge of vanishing ways of life.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/ciulinerunak-yuuyaqunak-do-not-live-without-an-elder-the-subsistence-way-of-life-in-southwest-alaska/oclc/944087119&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: https://www.alaska.edu/uapress/browse/detail/index.xml?id=542
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press
Type: Edited Volume
Type: Translation
ISBN: 9781602232976
Translator: Alice Rearden
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Yup'ik Environmental Knowledge Project Atlas (Web Resource)
Title: Yup'ik Environmental Knowledge Project Atlas
Author: Calista Elders Council
Abstract: This is an interactive atlas of Yup'ik place names, some of which now have recordings of the traditional stories told by elders from these places.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://eloka-arctic.org/communities/yupik/atlas/index.html?module=yupikatlas.module.warfare
Primary URL Description: These are traditional tales of the Yup'ik people.

Qanemcit Amllertut: Many Stories to Tell (Book)
Title: Qanemcit Amllertut: Many Stories to Tell
Editor: Ann Fienup-Riordan
Abstract: This bilingual collection shares new translations of old stories recorded over the past four decades through interviews with Yup’ik elders from throughout southwest Alaska. Some are true qulirat (traditional tales), while others are recent. Some are well known, like the adventures of the wily raven, while others are rarely told. All are part of a great narrative tradition, shared and treasured by Yup’ik people into the present day. This is the first region-wide collection of traditional Yup’ik tales and stories from southwest Alaska. The elders and translators who contributed to this collection embrace the great irony of oral traditions: that the best way to keep these stories is to give them away. By retelling these stories, they hope to create a future in which the Yup’ik view of the world will be both recognized and valued.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/qanemcit-amllertut-many-stories-to-tell-tales-of-humans-and-animals-in-southwest-alaska/oclc/983796118&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: https://www.alaska.edu/uapress/browse/detail/index.xml?id=560
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press and Alaska Native Language Center
Type: Translation
ISBN: 9781602233362
Translator: Marie Meade
Translator: Alice Rearden
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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