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Linking local and global: Yup'ik elders working together with one mind

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1088937x.2014.881429

1939-0513

Ann Fienup‐Riordan,

Indigenous Studies and Ecology

AbstractIn this paper, I describe a decade of work with the Calista Elders Council (CEC), a non-profit organization, representing the 1900 Yup'ik tradition bearers of the Yukon–Kuskokwim delta in southwest Alaska. CEC is the major research organization for the region and is active in documenting Yup'ik traditional knowledge. CEC was established in 1991 by Calista (the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act profit corporation for the Yukon–Kuskokwim delta). Mark John (originally from the Nelson Island community of Toksook Bay) became executive director in 1997. Under John's leadership, guided by a nine-member board of elders, the CEC developed a program to address cultural issues, including rapid loss of traditional knowledge. Since 2000, these documentation efforts have been supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and have resulted in 10 major publications, a museum exhibition, two websites, as well as numerous papers and public presentations. Along with these products, CEC has developed a collaborative approach that continues to allow nonnative scientists like myself and Yup'ik community members to work together as we document and share knowledge in new ways. This paper describes both the strengths and limitations of this approach in accomplishing elders’ primary goal, i.e. ensuring that their view of the world continue a living tradition. The discussion attempts to go beyond the technical and pragmatic aspects of data management to address ethical and social issues of sharing knowledge. AcknowledgmentsFirst and foremost, I am indebted to the many men and women throughout southwest Alaska who so generously shared their knowledge. I have cited their contributions by name, place of residence, CEC gathering date, and transcript page number, and the transcripts are housed at CEC's Anchorage office. I am also grateful to the Calista Elders Council, especially Alice Rearden, Mark John, and the CEC's board of elders, who guide our work. Much of what I say is drawn from our most recent book, Ellavut/Our Yup'ik World and Weather, which Alice and I authored together. We are deeply grateful to the National Science Foundation, both to Polar Programs and the Bering Ecosystem Study Program (BEST), for funding our work. Thanks also to volume editors Peter Pulsifer and Henry Huntington for extremely helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.Notes1. These paired sets of books include: Wise Words of the Yup'ik People: We Talk to You because We Love You (Fienup-Riordan Citation2005b) and Yupiit Qanruyutait/Yup'ik Words of Wisdom (Rearden et al. Citation2005); Yup'ik Elders at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on Its Head (Fienup-Riordan Citation2005a) and Ciuliamta Akluit: Things of Our Ancestors (Meade and Fienup-Riordan Citation2005); Paitarkiutenka/My Legacy to You (Andrew Citation2008) and Yuungnaqpiallerput/The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival (Fienup-Riordan Citation2007); and Ellavut/Our Yup'ik World and Weather: Continuity and Change on the Bering Sea Coast (Fienup-Riordan and Rearden Citation2012) and Qaluyaarmiuni Nunamtenek Qanemciput/Our Nelson Island Stories: Meanings of Place on the Bering Sea Coast (Rearden and Fienup-Riordan Citation2011).2. Many have written about the relationship between human communities and the environment. Though the concept of environmental adaptation has a long history in anthropology, newer approaches are beginning to emerge that emphasize the cultural significance of weather and climate. See especially Basso (Citation1996), Ingold (Citation2000), and Strauss and Orlove (Citation2003).3. In 2010, the annual per capita income was $13,529 in Bering Sea coastal communities, compared to $30,726 in Alaska generally (Alaska Department of Labor Citation2010). Moreover, public sector income is the foundation of the local economy. A 2008 Alaska Department of Fish and Game survey found that income in the lower Yukon village of Emmonak derived from the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend (33%), local government (15%), commercial fishing (11%), services (6%), public assistance (8%), social security (7.6%), and food stamps (5.5%) (Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence Citation2012).4. Our participants jokingly pointed out that ELOKA sounds like iluka (my insides) in Yup'ik.