Camping on the Tanana River And the Beat Goes On Athabascan Region: Native Language at ANSES Camp Ka Lamaku Hawaiian Academy Teacher Leadership Dev. Project 2001–01 Native Education Events Elders in School Programs

Iñupiaq Region: Tough Love Yup’ik Region: Elders’ and Youth Conference Fall Course Offerings Southeast Region: Tribal College is Launched Alutiiq/Unangax Region: Celebrating Basket Weaving Asking Tomorrow Contacts

Camping on the Tanana River

by Claudette Bradley

On July 9, 2001, 15 middle-school students arrived at the Gaalee’ya Spirit Camp on the Tanana River to attend the Fairbanks ANSES Science Camp 2001. Six students came from Nulato, two from Fort Yukon, one each from Newhalen, Anchorage, Tanacross and Lime Village and three from Beijing, China. The Chinese students—one boy and two girls, 14 to 15 years of age—traveled nearly 4000 miles with two chaperones to attend our camp. They spoke English well and enjoyed full participation in the camp.

I served as the camp coordinator with support from Dixie Dayo as the staff assistant and Dawn Durtsche of the Gaalee’ya Board as the fiscal officer for the camp. Together we organized the camp held at Howard Luke’s Gaalee’ya Spirit Camp which is also his home. The camp is designed to enhance students’ Athabascan cultural knowledge and provide opportunity to do science research in a culturally-relevant setting.

The camp employed four Elders: Howard Luke, Elizabeth Fleagle, Margaret Tritt and Steven Toby. Howard Luke is well known for his many talks and the advice he gives the students. He welcomes our students every year and looks forward to helping young Native people grow into intelligent and respectful individuals. Elizabeth Fleagle is originally from Alatna and Manley Hot Springs. She taught the students how to sew beads on pouches and headbands using Athabascan designs. Margaret Tritt is from Arctic Village. She brought caribou hides and quills. The students learned to clean and tan caribou skins and make quill necklaces. Steven Toby, from Koyukuk, enjoyed taking students for walks in the wilderness. He told them about the animals, trees and survival in the forest. He had many old-time stories to share.

This summer was the first time students had Koyukon Athabascan classes. Velma Schafer is a certified teacher from Allakaket and is a fluent speaker of Koyukon Athabascan. Virginia Ned is also a certified teacher from Allakaket. Virginia acknowledges that Velma is her Athabascan language mentor. Together they taught students to introduce themselves, sing a song and play a game using the Koyukon Athabascan language.

IBM of Rochester, Minnesota, has been generous to our camp. Each year they have donated six laptops and one color printer which are operated by battery and generators since the camp has no electricity. In addition, they sent Todd Kelsey, an IBM education consultant to teach in our camp and help students with science projects. George Olanna is a certified teacher from Shishmaref and an Iñupiaq Elder-in-training. George is a veteran teacher in our camp. He teaches collaboratively with Todd in the computer classes and helps students with science projects. Both Todd and George have had a significant influence on our students.

Our students have the natural environment to research, Elders to provide the cultural knowledge for the background of their project and a computer lab to create labels, narrative, charts, graphs, diagrams and photos for their projects. The certified teaching staff has extensive experience with middle school Alaska Native students. George Olanna, Todd Kelsey, Virginia Ned, Velma Schafer and myself comprised the teaching staff, who worked with the students in small groups on the many phases of their science projects.

Jin Zhiyong is the deputy division chief of the China Science & Technology Exchange Center, Beijing, China. He presented an overview of China and its 56 minority groups. The boy, Yang Guang, developed a Powerpoint presentation of his school life in Beijing. The girls had yearbook photos of their high school and organized some Chinese games for the students to play. The three Chinese students study English in their Beijing high school. Song Huanran, their English teacher, was an enthusiastic participant in the camp. She especially enjoyed helping Howard split the salmon caught in his fish net.

Every year Howard gets an education permit from Fish and Game to use his fish wheel to catch salmon on the Tanana. This year Fish and Game banned all salmon fishing on the Tanana, though they wanted to have the fish tested for bacteria. Since Howard already had our camp operating, Fish and Game decided to send Paul Hershberger, a research biologist from the University of Washington to the camp. Paul wanted to test 60 fish, so they allowed Howard to use his fishnet to catch them. Cutting fish was a big event. The biologist took samples from the liver, heart and circulatory system. Howard, Dixie and Song were kept busy splitting and hanging fish on the fish rack, which looked very full with nearly 60 fish waving at the edge of the riverbank.

Bradley Weyiounna, originally from Shishmaref, is a gold medal high-kick champion of the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. He is very knowledgeable about the WEIO athletic events and demonstrated the games one evening along with Josh Rutman, another WEIO athlete. They demonstrated the high kick, arm wrestling, leg wrestling, arm pulls and Eskimo dancing. The students thoroughly enjoyed trying to do these events with each other.

Adeline Peter-Raboff is a Gwich’in Athabascan from Arctic Village who is going to Washington, D.C. to lobby on oil drilling in ANWR. She came to the camp one day to have dinner and talk with the students about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the environmental issues involved in drilling for oil. Most of the students were uninformed about the issues and Adeline inspired great interest in oil drilling and ANWR.

Zelma Axford is an expert on Alaska’s indigenous plants. She had the students gather plants from the surrounding area and then draw them in their journals. She gave them the Alaska Native names of the plants and their medicinal uses, which they also wrote in their journals. Then the students were given a plant encyclopedia and they looked up the Latin name for each plant and copied the names in their journal. When the journal writing was done, she sang and drummed for the students as they danced to her music. Zelma is from Stevens Village and enjoyed teaching the students traditional Athabascan dancing.

Rita O’Brien is a certified teacher and has worked in our camp for the past four years. She joined us for the weekend to work with students. She discussed mining and rocks in Alaska. She asked students to find rocks and then, using rock encyclopedias, they found the names and other features of each rock. Rita asked students to draw and write about their rocks in their journals.

The grand finale of the camp was the potlatch which people from the community were invited to attend. Our students helped the cook and Elders prepare the meal and set up the tables. At the potlatch everyone was introduced to the audience and given a small gift to signify our appreciation for their contribution to the camp. The students demonstrated the Athabascan songs and games they learned in their language class. At the end of the event everyone entered the Elder’s Hall where the science project posters were on display. The students stood by their posters to explain their science projects to the visitors. The visitors moved from poster to poster and viewed the display table of beaded pouches and the wall display of their photos and brief autobiographies written in Koyukon Athabascan.

The following is a list of the science projects the students prepared:

These students are expected to take their display boards to their classroom teacher this fall and then search the web and their school libraries for more background information on their project. They will have an opportunity to discuss their project with Elders, teachers and other experts in their villages or over the Internet, and then upgrade their project and enter it in the Fairbanks ANSES Science Fair 2001 in December. We look forward to seeing the students at the science fair.

Athabascan Region: Emphasis on Native Language at Fairbanks ANSES Camp 2001

by Nakukluk Virginia Ned, Allakaket/Fairbanks

The Fairbanks Alaska Native Science and Engineering (ANSES) Camp created an ideal setting that sparked the students interest in learning the Central Koyukon Athabascan language. Velma Schafer and I had the opportunity to teach Central Koyukon language to the ANSES Camp participants this summer at the Gaalee’ya Spirit Camp. We worked with twelve students from Nulato, Newhalen, Ft. Yukon, Lime Village, Anchorage, Tanacross and three students from Beijing, China.

The students were enthusiastic about learning the language and as a result, their acquisition of the language was exceptional. The students from Ft. Yukon and Beijing spoke fluently in their indigenous languages. Other students had taken indigenous language classes at school and all had prior knowledge of their indigenous languages. Velma’s expertise, high expectations and the ideal camp setting made it possible for the students to become naturally immersed in the Native language.

The students were taught Central Koyukon terms that enabled them to introduce themselves in the language stating their English name, their Koyukon name, their hometown and a short description of themselves. They were given a Central Koyukon name according to their personal characteristics, if they did not already have one. Names that were given included Hek’edeeonh (sunshine), Sotseeyh (happy all the time) and Tloo’ (star). The students were also taught general terms for every day usage. They were required to create a display using a variety of media and written in the Koyukon language. We took pictures with a digital camera and the photos were printed for students to add to their poster.

They also learned a song, "This Little Heart of Mine," translated into Koyukon by Lorna Vent of Huslia. The title of the song is "He’eeteghtldzaayh." They learned a game that teaches body parts in the Koyukon language. It is a Koyukon version of the Yup’ik game, "Essuukee," introduced to me by Lolly Carpluk of Mountain Village. Velma Schafer translated the words into the Koyukon language. The title of the game in Koyukon is "Kkaakene". After the potlatch the students introduced themselves in Koyukon, sang the song "He’eeteghtldzaayh", and gave a demonstration of the game "Kkaakene" for the audience.

Learning the Native language unquestionably enhanced the science focus of the Fairbanks ANSES Camp program. The students did not just acquire a language, but they acquired a whole new perspective of themselves, their culture and traditions. Given the appropriate environment, they would do well if they were taught the language along with all of the basic requirements in order to acquire a well-rounded education.

And the Beat Goes On . . .

by Frank Hill

Some time ago I listened to a drumming ceremony that lasted for most of a day and night. The first drummers set the beat, rhythm and volume. As they tired or completed their turn on the drums, other drummers moved into position and took up the drumsticks, carrying on the same beat, rhythm and volume as the beginning drummers, never missing a beat. Unless you saw the change in the drummers take place, you would not have known that the drumbeats and the message of the drums was being made by different drummers.

As we move into the second five years of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI), it is great to see our new partners take up the initiatives we have been developing and promoting the past six years, without missing a beat. The regional non-profits (Kawerak, AVCP, Tanana Chiefs and Central Council of Tlingit and Haida tribes) are well on their way toward becoming educational agents for positive change in their respective cultural regions. We are pleased, too, to see the initiatives continue to develop and broaden in the Alutiiq and Unangax regions. It was great to be a spectator in Kodiak during the "Awakening Bear" celebration this past spring, where nearly all of the regional agencies were participating in planning and demonstrating how their activities worked together. Some activities have become self-sustaining in their own right as well, like the Old Minto Camp.

These are but a few of the examples available that demonstrate the continuing veracity of the AKRSI initiatives.

We are thankful that the new AKRSI partners have stepped in and helped keep up the drumbeat for systemic change in rural Alaska’s schools.

Now Available!

Iñuksuk: Northern Koyukon, Gwich’in and Lower Tanana 1800–1901

by Adeline Peter Raboff

The history of the Northern Koyukon, Western Gwich’in and Lower Tanana people. 196 pages, $10.00

 

Guidelines for Strengthening Indigenous Languages

This booklet offers suggestions for Elders, parents, children and educators to use in strengthing their heritage language with support from the Native community, schools, linguists and education agencies. 28 pages, free.

For more information on obtaining copies of these publications, call Dixie Dayo at 907-474-1902 or e-mail dixie.dayo@uaf.edu.

Ka Lamaku Hawaiian Academy

by Kamaileula Halualani-Hee

Ka Lamaku Hawaiian Academy is a voluntary, culturally based educational opportunity that was founded by Kamaileula Halualani-Hee and Makaio Hee as an effort to help their school-disabled son and daughter. It opened services to other children in September of 1999. Ka Lamaku currently rents a one-bedroom apartment as our temporary school house.

Ka Lamaku means "upright torch, standing beacon,"—a name chosen to signify a strong guiding light that pierces the darkness, bringing wanderers to safety. Ka Lamaku is also an ancient Hawaiian symbol of knowledge. Ka Lamaku Hawaiian Academy is an action research pilot program aimed at meeting Hawaii’s educational needs of school-disabled children grades 7–12 on the island of Oahu in the Ko’olau poko and Ko’olau Loa communities.

A school-disabled child is one whose maturational and learning differences have been misunderstood and underserved and, consequently, whose personal, social and familial functioning have been so impaired as to render that child unable to perform successfully in a school environment. The students we serve are, because of a myriad of circumstances beyond their control, disadvantaged in many ways. Their academic achievements as well as other skills that create social competencies had, as a result, been seriously and negatively affected. Most of these student’s were exhibiting signs of social distress such as flat affect, anti-social attitudes and behaviors, disrespect for authority, irresponsible actions, truancy, school failure and substance abuse. Some were school disabled while others had developed pre-delinquent behaviors and were known to local policemen. They had been described as "throw away kids". Ka Lamaku Hawaiian Academy does not accept such evaluations for these youth.

We believe in a new kind of "three Rs": Rescue, Restore and Re-educate. Through deep and constant use of Hawaiian cultural values, Ka Lamaku has impacted the lives of twenty youngsters of mixed Hawaiian ancestry. The program has been open to whomever applied, but those it attracted were all children of part-Hawaiian ancestry who had been struggling unsuccessfully in the state D.O.E. programs. Ka Lamaku is a community-based effort, creating pedagogy that proves effective for children with learning differences.

The staff has been involving the children, their parents, kupuna (elder) and other talented members in designing and implementing curriculum modules. Thus the students are in many ways teaching us how to teach them, showing us what works by their enthusiastic response to learning opportunities. They also show us what doesn’t work and participate in discussions about how to improve those areas and teaching methods. Several volunteer teachers have come and gone. They proved to be steeped in the Western, textbook pedagogy and when they were unsuccessful and became discouraged, they tended to blame the children for failing to learn when it was they who failed to teach.

At present we are applying for federal New Century Public Charter status, however our goal is to one day be Hawaii’s first sovereign school. Request for admission is made on a daily basis but, because of severe financial and space restraints, we are unable to accommodate more students at this time.

If you or your organization would like to assist Ka Lamaku Hawaiian Academy or would like more information please contact Kamaileula Halualani Hee at (808) 293-1121 or e-mail kamaileula@aol.com. Our mailing address is PO BOX 693, Hauula, Hawaii 96717.

Teacher Leadership Development Project

The underlying purpose of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative is to implement a set of initiatives to systematically document the indigenous knowledge systems of Alaska Native people and develop pedagogical practices and school curricula that appropriately incorporate indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing into the formal education systems. Having successfully demonstrated the efficacy of this strategy in strengthening rural schools and teachers and improving student achievement, the challenge for AKRSI now is to help infuse the initiatives into the curricular and instructional practices on a sustainable basis.

The high turnover rate of teaching staff (80% of whom are recruited from out-of-state) necessitates a targeted approach to leadership development that focuses on those teachers most likely to put these resources to effective use and bring their cumulative insights to bear over time, i.e., teachers for whom the community/region/state is their home. To that end, the AKRSI has requested supplemental funds from the National Science Foundation to implement a Teacher Leadership Development Project (TLDP). The structures through which the TLDP will be implemented are those associated with regional and statewide Native educator associations. Following is a current list of the associations that have emerged in response to AKRSI initiatives over the past six years:

Implementation of the AKRSI TLDP

The main function of the AKRSI Teacher Leadership Development Project will be to strengthen and make sustainable the role of the Native Educator Associations and their members in implementing the math/science educational reform initiatives promoted by the AKRSI. This will require the development of leadership capacity in each region and the establishment of formal mechanisms to sustain the implementation of these initiatives independent of the AKRSI resources by 2005. Following are the steps that will be taken to implement this strategy:

These initiatives are intended to begin with the 2001–02 school year, with the process for selection of the project director and lead/master teachers to occur by the end of September. Funding for the TLDP will be administered through the Alaska Federation of Natives with support for the activities of the lead/master teachers provided through memoranda of agreement with the employing school districts. The project director and the lead/master teachers will be included as core staff and will participate in all planning activities associated with the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative. Upon completion of the three-year cycle of initiatives associated with the Teacher Leadership Development Project, all teachers in the AKRSI partner schools will have received support to incorporate the math/science curricular and instructional strategies in their educational practice, with on-going support provided through an established statewide network of Native educator associations.

2001–01 Native Education Events

Here are some Alaska Native education events for the 2001–2002 school year that you should mark on your calendar.

The Alaska Federation of Natives Elders and Youth Conference and Convention will take place in Anchorage the week of October 21, 2001, including the Alaska Native Education Council meeting on October 21–23 at the Westcoast International.

The National Indian Education Association annual meeting will be held in Billings, Montana on October 27–31, 2001. Details can be obtained from the NIEA web site at http://www.niea.org.

The annual Native Educators’ Conference and Bilingual-Multicultural Education/Equity Conference is scheduled for the week of February 3, 2002 in Anchorage. Details for participation in these conferences will be posted on the ANKN web site in October.

The First Alaskans Foundation is sponsoring a statewide Alaska Native Education Summit in Anchorage on November 30– December 1, 2001. Further information will be available on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network web site as it becomes available.

The sixth tri-annual World Indigenous People’s Conference on Education is scheduled for August 4–10, 2002 to be hosted by the First Nations Adult and Higher Education Consortium of Calgary, Alberta. Details about WIPCE 2002 can be obtained by sending an email to wipce@fnahec.org or by going to their web site at http://www. fnahec.org/wipce2002. The deadline for submission of proposals for presentations has been extended to October 31, 2001. Let’s make sure there is a strong Alaskan presence at WIPCE 2002!

Integrating Elders in Northern School Programs

by Cathy McGregor

In 1994, as director (superintendent) of the Baffin Divisional Board of Education in Iqaluit, Northwest Territories, Canada, I was asked the question every educational leader dreams of hearing: "If you could have money for one thing in your schools, what would it be?" I didn’t know if the question was hypothetical or real. Should I take it seriously? If it was real, I thought I knew the answer right away, but I paused to turn over all the possibilities in my mind. What would have the most effect on students? It seemed like schools could never get enough computers. Should we hire extra special needs assistants? We always needed more resources to support Inuktitut book publication. What about northern books for school libraries? Did schools need new gym equipment? High schools probably wanted more science equipment. I quickly reviewed these and other possibilities, but I knew my initial thought was the right one. I said what the chairman of the board talked about in every public speech and meeting he attended: "Money to hire more Elders."

It turned out that the question was very real. Thanks to the efforts of a territorial administrator and a federal official who wanted to make a difference and had program funds to support their ideas, this conversation began a five-year partnership with the Canadian federal government to support the hiring of Elders in Baffin schools. For the first several years the funding came directly from the federal government. When the federal and territorial governments, in partnership with the Inuit land claim organization, Nunavut Tunngavik, established the Nunavut Human Resource Development Strategy, funding came through their auspices (Working Group on Human Resources and Training, 1996) . The Baffin Divisional Board supported the project as well, so that for the five-year period of the federal funding, $200,000 was made available to schools each year.

Elders as Cultural Inclusion or Cultural Integration?

When Elders first started coming into schools in northern Canada in the 1970s, their work with students was often considered an add-on to the regular program. Lessons frequently took place on Friday afternoon when the teacher and students were tired of the weekly routine. Activities often involved a whole class of students in their regular classroom. Teachers did little preparation of the students or the Elders for their time together. Teachers sometimes viewed the lessons by Elders as "spares" for themselves and left the room. Viewed from the advantage of today, these "cultural inclusion" programs appear as token gestures by the school system to the teaching of traditional knowledge and skills. It is difficult to imagine that either the students or the Elders got much satisfaction from these encounters.

Today, the work of Elders is seen as integral to the success of school programs. In most communities in the Baffin region, schools have a dual mandate from the Local Education Authority, as well as the territorial government, to teach both traditional Inuit knowledge and skills and contemporary Western knowledge and skills. A survey of all Baffin communities in 1986 and direction-setting work with individual communities from 1993–96 confirmed this dual agenda. Thus the work that Elders do is part of the regular school program today. In the late 80s and early 90s, the Baffin Piniaqtavut Program of Studies provided topics for teachers to use to connect the work of Elders with the rest of the school program. The Inuuqatigiit curriculum from K–12, mandated by the government in 1996, outlines traditional Inuit knowledge and skills students should learn within various school divisions (K–3, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12). This provides the basis for integrating culture and the work of Elders into the regular curriculum. It is within this context that the work of Elders with students should be viewed.

Ways to Fund Elders

For many years, the Baffin Board had requested that the government fund positions for Elders in schools similar to the way in which they funded positions for teachers and language specialists (para-professionals). At that time, this had not happened (nor has it yet). There were a number of ways in which schools obtained funds to hire Elders to teach traditional knowledge:

While these options provided funding for Elder involvement in schools, the additional funding enabled schools to increase the numbers of Elders present, extend the length of time they were involved with students and/or add new activities.

Ways to Involve Elders

The Baffin Board made funds available to schools through a grant system. The total money available was divided into school allocations, which each school could apply to access. Individual school allocations were determined by setting a base amount for all schools and then adding a per-pupil amount to achieve the total allocation available. Schools had to submit a brief proposal outlining how the Elders would be involved with students. The Local Education Authority chairperson, the principal and the staff member coordinating the project had to sign the proposal. For the first several years, the grants focused just on Elder involvement with students.

In 1996, with the implementation of the government-mandated Inuuqatigiit curriculum, which outlined the traditional knowledge, skills and attitudes from an Inuit perspective that students should learn in school, the focus of the grants shifted somewhat to involving Elders in implementing the new curriculum (see appendix). In fact, this shift did not really change the nature of Elder involvement—they still taught traditional knowledge and skills. It did provide school staff with a guide of topics, an outline of what students should learn and a description of key experiences they might ask Elders to organize. In other words, it provided an organizational framework for traditional knowledge instruction.

Using a combination of funds available, schools hired Elders in a number of different ways, to do a variety of things:

Ensuring Success with Elders

There are many reasons to involve Elders in schools:

To achieve these goals, both Elders and students need to enjoy their experiences together. To enable this to happen, careful thought needs to be given to how and where the Elders work with students. We have found the following suggestions to be helpful in ensuring positive experiences:

Paying attention to these details will ensure that both students and Elders have a meaningful experience working together. This will encourage Elders to continue to want to work with students and will help students give Elders the respect they deserve. This is essential if teaching traditional knowledge and skills is to be an integral part of the northern school program.

Fall Course Offerings for Educators in Rural Alaska

by Ray Barnhardt

Just as the new school year brings learning opportunities to students, so too does it bring new learning opportunities for teachers and those seeking to become teachers.

This fall rural teachers and aspiring teachers will have a variety of distance education courses to choose from as they seek ways to upgrade their skills, renew their teaching license, pursue graduate studies or meet the state’s Alaska Studies and Multicultural Education requirements. All Alaskan teachers holding a provisional teaching license are required to complete a three-credit course in Alaska Studies and a three-credit course in Multicultural Education within the first two years of teaching to qualify for a standard Type A certificate. Following is a list of some of the courses available through the Center for Distance Education that may be of interest to rural educators:

Alaska Studies

Cross-Cultural Studies

Enrollment in the above courses may be arranged through the nearest UAF rural campus or by contacting the Center for Distance Education at 907-474-5353 or distance@uaf.edu, or by going to the CDE web site at http://www.dist-ed.uaf.edu. Those rural residents who are interested in pursuing a program to earn a teaching credential or a B.A. should contact the rural education faculty member at the nearest rural campus or the Rural Educator Preparation Partnership office at 907-474-5589. Teacher education programs and courses are available for students with or without a baccalaureate degree. Anyone interested in pursuing a graduate degree by distance education should contact the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies at 907-474-1902 or ffrjb@uaf.edu. Welcome to the 2001–02 school year!

Iñupiaq Region: Tough Love

by Dolly Caffin

The wilderness can be tough love—love so tough that it sometimes keeps us from the ones we care about, from the place we call home and where we find warmth and comfort. Finding ourselves lost in the wilderness usually doesn’t fit into our plans, but you never know when life is going to slow you down so that your soul can get all the attention it needs.

For Martha Foster and Louise Clark of Selawik, they experienced this kind of love first hand. Traveling by snowmachine to a basketball game in Noorvik, the two became lost in a snowstorm. They spent hours trying to see through the blinding snow and make their way along the trail. Eventually they made a wrong turn and found themselves with a machine that was out of gas and in snow that was knee deep. They were lost in the vast wilderness of the NANA region of Northwest Arctic.

Throughout the time that they were trying to make their way back to Selawik, they experienced every possible emotion. Every emotion except one—the willingness to give up. Somehow these two kept their focus on being found by Search and Rescue. They sang church songs, they prayed, they pulled together and kept each other going. They worked together and they never gave up. Martha and Louise were lost for seven days before they were located.

Their experience was life changing. To spend seven days in the wilderness is certainly tough love. Through their ordeal they found that they had the courage and strength to survive. They developed a bond of friendship that will never be broken. Individually they each found a will to live—an inner yearning that kept them going day after day. It seems they were sent into the wilderness for more than one reason: to "find" not only themselves, but each other.

They used basic survival skills they had learned from Elders, during Iñupiaq activities held at their school. Their story was the inspiration for this year’s Iñupiaq Days theme, "Arctic Survival."

Elders, community members and villagers from around the NANA region came to the Selawik Davis-Ramoth School for the week-long event. They presented the students with a series of discussions and demonstrations about snowmachine safety, orienteering, cold weather clothing and snow shelters. Many other survival skills were also taught.

A community feast was held one evening, in honor of the two girls and all of the people who helped with the search and rescue, both locally and regionally. Special awards were also given to the people who volunteered their time to come and share information with the students during the week.

Many lives were touched because of the tough love these girls experienced while being lost in the wilderness. Their ordeal brought together the school, the community and various Native organizations for an event that celebrated life in the Northwest Arctic. For more information and to view photos of the Iñupiaq activities, visit the following website: http://community.webtv.net/nd_caffin/ARCTICWINTERSURVIVAL.

Yup’ik Region: Elders’ and Youth Conference Explores Yup’ik Culture

by Esther Ilutsik

To my delight I discovered that within the Yup’ik kinship system those relatives I know as my brothers and sisters have expanded to include my anaanaq my mother’s sisters, and ataatak, my father’s brother’s children (parallel cousins).

I have to treat them as I would my own brothers and sisters (meaning respecting them and helping them out when they are in need; I have to call them my brothers and sisters using the proper terms for older brother, an’ngaq, or oldest sister, alqaq, or younger brothers and sisters, kinguqliq. As the parallel aunt, I would call my sister’s and brother’s children nurr’aq (and this is only from the female point of view.)

Logically, within the Western worldview (that many of us were raised in), we assumed that we would also call our parallel nieces and nephews our children but that is not so. Those are just some of the complexities of the Yup’ik kinship system which was the focal point of the Elders’ and Youth Conference that was held in Dillingham, May 4–6, 2001.

Representatives included Elders, teachers and students from New Stuyahok, Ekwok, Portage Creek, Aleknagik, Manokotak, Twin Hills and Togiak. We also had representatives from here in Dillingham. About 60 people participated at the Dillingham Elementary School gym.

The conference began with a potluck dinner and a warm welcome from Dewayne Johnson, Curyung, Tribal Council Chief and from Dillingham City Council member and mayor, Chris Napoli. Mr. Johnson introduced himself and identifed his parents, siblings and other relatives—what a great way to begin the conference!

This presentation was followed with Yup’ik oral stories presented by Ina Bouker, a certified teacher currently on leave from the Dillingham City Schools and a member of the Ciulistet Research Association. These stories weaved in dances; Bouker’s five-year-old son, Nicky, was the drummer and her daughters, Nia (nine) and Atkiq (four) were dancers. The audience was enthralled as Ina used both the Yup’ik and English language. This was followed with the local Aruvak dancers, the New Stuyahok dancers and Manokotak student dancers sharing and exciting the audience with dances of the past.

The evening concluded with Elder Slim Yako, formerly of Aleknagik and currently residing at the Maarulut Eniit Assisted Living Center, drumming and singing songs of his youth.

The following day began with linguist Marie Meade helping to facilitate the discussion and investigation of traditional Yup’ik kinship and proper protocol used in interacting. After an exhausting day, we wrapped up with a special evening youth dance that was planned especially for all the student representatives coming in from the villages.

On the final day we had the Elders each present an oral genealogy that was fascinating to listen to. The students followed, presenting their own genealogies. The teachers then shared how they were going to implement this information within their own communities and classrooms. It was such a wonderful way to end a conference—the Elders knowing that as educators we are attempting to bring back some of our own values that have fallen by the wayside.

Southeast Region: Southeast Alaska Tribal College is Launched

by Andy Hope

The Southeast Alaska Tribal College (SEATC) has been in the planning process since late 1997. SEATC has been an active partner in a statewide tribal college planning project that has been supported by the Kellogg Foundation and the National Science Foundation through the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative. SEATC is a founding member of the Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education.

In early 1999, interim trustees were appointed by the Southeast Alaska Native Rural Education Consortium; the interim trustees formally incorporated SEATC in late 1999. In the last two years a number of organizations have endorsed the tribal college planning project. It is now time for the SEATC to establish itself as a formal, independent education institution.

An overview of the Kellogg project, "Kellogg Cluster Evaluation: Alaska Native Effort to Develop Tribal Colleges" by Dr. Michael Pavel, is available on the ANKN/CANHE web site to those interested in more background. Another information resource on tribal colleges is the recent report "Building Strong Communities: Tribal Colleges as Engaged Institutions" published by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Copies of this report can be ordered from the IHEP website at www.ihep.com. The report can also be downloaded from the same website, though it is a rather large document.

Additional background information on the Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education can be found on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network website at www.ankn.uaf.edu. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium website at www.aihec.org is also a valuable information resource.

The following individuals have served as volunteer, unpaid interim trustees for SEATC since the spring of 1999: Andy Hope, Marie Olson, Nora Dauenhauer, Roxanne Houston, Joe Hotch, Ed Warren, Ron Dick, Isabella Brady, Jim Walton, Bernice Tetpon, Joyce Shales, Arnold Booth, Charles Natkong, Dennis Demmert and Sue Stevens. The late John Hope served as an interim trustee from May 1999 until his death in October 1999. The SEATC interim trustees are asking that a group of federally-recognized tribes in southeast Alaska ratify the SEATC charter and bylaws at the September meeting.

The following organizations, groups and individuals have adopted resolutions endorsing the planning efforts of the SEATC: Chilkat Indian Village, Douglas Indian Association, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Wrangell Cooperative Association, Wrangell ANB/ANS Camps, Sitka ANB/ANS Camps, Alaska Intertribal Council, Grand Camp ANB/ANS, National Congress of American Indians and approximately 200 clan and clan house leaders that attended the Kiks.ádi Pole Raising Ceremonies in Sitka in September 1999.

The SEATC interim trustees have appointed a nominations committee to solicit nominations for the 11 member board of trustees. Committee members are Nora Dauenhauer, Dr. Ronald Dick, Andy Hope, Roxanne Houston and Dr. Ted Wright. The first annual SEATC meeting will take place on September 13, 2001 in Juneau at which time the Board of Trustees will be officially appointed. Please contact Andy Hope for information on the nomination process or to submit a nomination.

There are two other, related meetings scheduled for the week of September 10 in Juneau. A Tribal Watershed/GIS/Cultural Atlas workshop will take place in Juneau from September 10–12. The workshop will include presentations on Arc/View GIS, the Aboriginal Mapping Network, the Angoon, Kake, Sitka and Klukwan-Haines cultural atlases, the ANKN website resources, the I Am Salmon curriculum, the SE Alaska Native Place Names project and the Herman Kitka traditional ecological knowledge CD-ROMs. The Southeast Alaska Native Rural Education Consortium will meet on September 14 to plan the next round of regional activities for the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative.

We hope that each tribe can send representatives to this important meeting. If you have any questions regarding the SEATC bylaws, annual meeting or any of the related meetings, you can contact me at fnah@uaf.edu or call me at 907-790-4406.

Alutiiq/Unangax Region: Celebrating Basket Weaving

Teri Schneider

An item of my mother’s that I have admired from the time I was a child is a grass basket that sat on a shelf in our kitchen when I was growing up. Just the other day it caught my eye once again. I grew up knowing that the basket was made by Feodosia (Kahutak) Inga of Old Harbor and was given to my mother by Feodosia as a gift when she and my dad were watching the cannery in Shearwater and visited Old Harbor for Russian Easter.

Feodosia, the mother of George Inga, Sr., carried on the tradition of the "Kodiak-style" Aleut* basket, which tended to have a bit larger weave and was typically more heavily decorated, even when her eyesight failed. Grass basket weaving has been done by numerous indigenous cultures throughout the world as one adaptation to their environment. Aleut basket weaving is world renowned for its fine weave and tiny objects.

The following is an edited version of an Elwani article (Volume 1, No. 2, May 1976) originally written by Sandy Parnell, Lisa Mellon and Cindy Wheeler. They interviewed Kodiak’s Eunice Neseth at a time when Aleut basket weaving was seen as an art form that was, perhaps, dying. From the many efforts of Eunice, her teacher Anfesia Shapsnikoff and many others who took the time to learn and then teach to others, the beautiful art of Aleut basket weaving is alive and well. Recently, the Alutiiq Museum sponsored a traveling grass basket exhibit featuring the work of Arlene Skinner. Arlene traveled with the exhibit and taught Aleut basket weaving to children and adults. Today, basket weaving is not a dying art, but rather another form of art that has regenerated interest in the indigenous culture of the Kodiak archipelago. Many baskets are featured at the Baranov Museum, as well as at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak. In the words of Eunice Neseth:

"I guess I’ve been basket weaving about 20 years. This is an Attu basket weaving which is also called twinning. You have to have the right kind of grass, which is beach rye. The weavers prefer Attu grass, which grows right on the island of Attu or Atka. They say it’s a somewhat softer grass than the grass that grows anywhere else. It’s the same kind of grass here but you just have to be careful when you pick it. If it’s too close to the ocean it’s kind of coarse. When the grass is picked at the wrong time of the year it has to be beaten. When it’s just ready to flower, that is when it’s ready to head, to make the top.

"We use a paring knife to cut the straws. We take the straws single, those that have to be protected, we are very careful with them so as not to bruise them. You take them singly to the ground as close as you can. Then you move the pile with care from one cutting to the next. When you have your necessary amount, you wrap it in burlap. An amount for one basket is about the size of your waist, it’s more than you can hold in your hands. It takes a lot of work to make one basket, you simply can’t forget it, you must look after it or else it will spoil. It’s not too much of a chore to get the grass and take care of it. You can go ahead and use it in the winter, no need for curing it, because it’s already cured naturally. Although in the winter it’s a lot coarser and it gets bruised by the weather. When it’s bruised it breaks off easily.

"We gather it then and cure it in a dark place for ten days. Taking it out of its wrappings of burlap or any loose weave material every day to aerate it and then rewrap it. After ten days is up, it’s ready to be separated. The straws are to be separated from each other. The outer straws are to be discarded and only the inner two straws are to be used. They are taken out of the shaft and made into separate piles. The inner most piece of straw is what is used as the outer work. What you see in the baskets is the finest part . . .

"There are very few people who carry on with basket weaving. They teach it in the schools along the Aleutian Chain. It’s something we’re trying to save. It’s sadly disappearing and we’re trying to keep it from being lost altogether. It takes a lot of concentration and effort, it’s not one of those things you pick up now and again. It needs practice and improvement.

"We are very anxious to get young children started. They can get used to it easily when they are young and keep on with it. We should try to get some of the women who took a basket-weaving class and liked it enough, to continue it. Then soon enough maybe they can teach it."

Asking Tomorrow

by Maricia Ahmasuk  

Alaska RSI Contacts

We welcome your comments and suggestions and encourage you to submit them to:

The Alaska Native Knowledge Network
Old University Park School, Room 158
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 756730
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6730

(907) 474-1902 phone
(907) 474-1957 fax

Newsletter Editor: Dixie Dayo

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