The Story of a Tlingit Community
Author: Frederica De Laguna
Publisher:
Published: 1960
Total Pages: 284
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAngoon area, southeast Alaska.
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Blonde Indian
Author: Ernestine Hayes
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Published: 2015-05-15
Total Pages: 196
ISBN-13: 0816532362
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the spring, the bear returns to the forest, the glacier returns to its source, and the salmon returns to the fresh water where it was spawned. Drawing on the special relationship that the Native people of southeastern Alaska have always had with nature, Blonde Indian is a story about returning. Told in eloquent layers that blend Native stories and metaphor with social and spiritual journeys, this enchanting memoir traces the author’s life from her difficult childhood growing up in the Tlingit community, through her adulthood, during which she lived for some time in Seattle and San Francisco, and eventually to her return home. Neither fully Native American nor Euro-American, Hayes encounters a unique sense of alienation from both her Native community and the dominant culture. We witness her struggles alongside other Tlingit men and women—many of whom never left their Native community but wrestle with their own challenges, including unemployment, prejudice, alcoholism, and poverty. The author’s personal journey, the symbolic stories of contemporary Natives, and the tales and legends that have circulated among the Tlingit people for centuries are all woven together, making Blonde Indian much more than the story of one woman’s life. Filled with anecdotes, descriptions, and histories that are unique to the Tlingit community, this book is a document of cultural heritage, a tribute to the Alaskan landscape, and a moving testament to how going back—in nature and in life—allows movement forward.
Shanyaak'utlaax̲
Author: Johnny Marks
Publisher:
Published: 2017
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781946019028
DOWNLOAD EBOOKShanyaak'utlaax: Salmon Boy comes from an ancient Tlingit story that teaches about respect for nature, animals and culture. The title character, a Tlingit boy, violates these core cultural values when he flings away a dried piece of salmon with mold on the end given to him by his mother. His disrespect offends the Salmon People, who sweep him into the water and into their world. This book is part of Baby Raven Reads, an award-winning Sealaska Heritage program for Alaska Native families with children up to age 5 that promotes language development and school readiness. Baby Raven Reads was awarded the Library of Congress's 2017 Literacy Awards Program Best Practice Honoree award.
Touching Spirit Bear
Author: Ben Mikaelsen
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 2010-04-20
Total Pages: 324
ISBN-13: 0062009680
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn his Nautilus Award-winning classic Touching Spirit Bear, author Ben Mikaelson delivers a powerful coming-of-age story of a boy who must overcome the effects that violence has had on his life. After severely injuring Peter Driscal in an empty parking lot, mischief-maker Cole Matthews is in major trouble. But instead of jail time, Cole is given another option: attend Circle Justice, an alternative program that sends juvenile offenders to a remote Alaskan Island to focus on changing their ways. Desperate to avoid prison, Cole fakes humility and agrees to go. While there, Cole is mauled by a mysterious white bear and left for dead. Thoughts of his abusive parents, helpless Peter, and his own anger cause him to examine his actions and seek redemption—from the spirit bear that attacked him, from his victims, and, most importantly, from himself. Ben Mikaelsen paints a vivid picture of a juvenile offender, examining the roots of his anger without absolving him of responsibility for his actions, and questioning a society in which angry people make victims of their peers and communities. Touching Spirit Bear is a poignant testimonial to the power of a pain that can destroy, or lead to healing. A strong choice for independent reading, sharing in the classroom, homeschooling, and book groups.
Being and Place Among the Tlingit
Author: Thomas F. Thornton
Publisher: Culture, Place, and Nature
Published: 2015-07-23
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780295997179
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn Being and Place among the Tlingit, anthropologist Thomas F. Thornton examines the concept of place in the language, social structure, economy, and ritual of southeast Alaska's Tlingit Indians. Place signifies not only a specific geographical location but also reveals the ways in which individuals and social groups define themselves. The notion of place consists of three dimensions - space, time, and experience - which are culturally and environmentally structured. Thornton examines each in detail to show how individual and collective Tlingit notions of place, being, and identity are formed. As he observes, despite cultural and environmental changes over time, particularly in the post-contact era since the late eighteenth century, Tlingits continue to bind themselves and their culture to places and landscapes in distinctive ways. He offers insight into how Tlingits in particular, and humans in general, conceptualize their relationship to the lands they inhabit, arguing for a study of place that considers all aspects of human interaction with landscape. In Tlingit, it is difficult even to introduce oneself without referencing places in Lingit Aani (Tlingit Country). Geographic references are embedded in personal names, clan names, house names, and, most obviously, in k-waan names, which define regions of dwelling. To say one is Sheet'ka K-waan defines one as a member of the Tlingit community that inhabits Sheet'ka (Sitka). Being and Place among the Tlingit makes a substantive contribution to the literature on the Tlingit, the Northwest Coast cultural area, Native American and indigenous studies, and to the growing social scientific and humanistic literature on space, place, and landscape.
tlingit myths and texts
Author: john r. swanton
Publisher:
Published: 1909
Total Pages: 476
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHeroes and Heroines
Author: Mary Giraudo Beck
Publisher: Graphic Arts Books
Published: 2003-06-01
Total Pages: 84
ISBN-13: 0882409700
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Mary Beck’s collection of legends from Tlingit and Haida folklore provides an excellent look at not only the mythology but the value and culture of these Southeast Alaska Natives." - Jan O’Meara Homer News Over uncounted generations the Tlingits and Haidas of Southeast Alaska developed a spoken literature as robust and distinctive as their unique graphic art style, and passed it from the old to the young to ensure the continuity of their culture. Even today when the people gather, now under lamplight rather than the flickering glow from the central fire pit, the ancient myths and legends are told and retold, and they still reinforce the unity of the lineage, and clan and the culture. "Mary Beck opens this collection of legends by setting the tradition scene: ‘…It will be a time of feasting, singing, and dancing, of honoring lineages and of telling ancestral stories.’ In this small, beautifully produced volume, enhanced by the wonderful illustrations by Nancy DeWitt, Becks tells nine traditional ancient myths and legends from the oral literature that are authentic for one group or another from this region, including Fog Woman, Volcano Woman, Bear Mother and The Boy Who Fed Eagles." - Bill Hunt Anchorage Daily News
Haa K?usteey?, Our Culture
Author: Nora Dauenhauer
Publisher: Ewha Womans University Press
Published: 1994-01-01
Total Pages: 928
ISBN-13: 9780295974019
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHaa Kusteeyi, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories is an introduction to Tlingit social and political history. Each biography is compelling in its own merit, but when all are taken together, the collection shows patterns of interaction among people and communities of today, and across the generations. By combining historical documents and photographs with accounts gathered from living memory, the book also enables the present, living generations to interact with their past. The book features biographies and life histories of more than 50 men and women, most born between 1880 and 1910, including a special section on the founders of the Alaska Native Brotherhood. Additional lives are described tangentially. Each biography or life history follows a standard format that includes vital statistics, genealogical information, names in Tlingit and English, and major achievements. But each is also unique. Like the lives they describe, all vary in length, detail, and style, depending on authorship and available human and archival resources. To the fullest extent possible oral and written material from the subjects and their families has been incorporated. Some is more anecdotal, some more historical. The appendixes include previously unpublished historical documents and Tlingit texts with facing translations. The lives in this volume show how individual people both shaped and were shaped by their time and place in history.
Red Earth
Author: Philip H. Red Eagle
Publisher: Salt Pub
Published: 2007-01
Total Pages: 152
ISBN-13: 9781844712687
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNative American men and women who wound up in Vietnam were very different from traditional warriors. Many had been removed from that traditional culture as many of these warrior traditions had been removed from these new societies and the old traditions had been replaced by Christian practices of various types. The sacred preparations were no longer practiced and the warriors left vulnerable and lacking pertinent knowledge. They were also lacking the homecoming ceremonies. These ceremonies would take place after the warrior was kept from the main camp for four days. In those four days they would fast and purify themselves. Once they returned to the village the warrior was given the opportunity to tell his story in a healing ceremony. His immediate family would be near, or surrounding him. Around them would be the next level of family. Around them would be the remainder of the tribe. Everyone would listen, and remember. That was their duty to him, to listen, and to remember. Each warrior was given this opportunity.After this ceremony it was understood that this person was now different and would be treated so from then on. This “different” person was now accepted as having been permanently changed. What had happened to him would never go away. His people knew this and they would never go away either. The relationship was understood and bound.The Vietnam “warriors” were afforded none of these opportunities. They were essentially on their own. For example, when I returned, my unit landed at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Washington at midnight in the winter of 1972, and released for leave; Sprung upon The World. My sister picked me up at the base and we went to downtown Tacoma and had a pizza and a several beers before going to her home. A cousin-by-marriage, whom I had met and served with In-country, was with us. We stayed with my sister for a few days and eventually I went home to Sitka to complete my 45 days leave. My cousin left for his home in Canada at the same time.This story is repeated over and over again by most everyone that I had a chance to talk, or listen to. In many of these cases, the Vietnam Vet was released and sent home to resentment and hostility. He was not listened to and what ever was expressed was not heard. Many went home on drinking binges that started on the plane or as soon as they were off the plane. No comfort given, not a friendly ear was to be found. At most American Legion Posts beer was free for a while, but after it was determined “these new guys” were really different, the free drinks stopped. What little comfort was given was soon withdrawn.Soon, the prisons began to fill up with the “new guys”. Violence had become the major expression of this generation of warriors. So many of these new guys were dead, or in prison, not long after their arrival “home”. It was, and still is, a national tragedy.
Journey of the Freckled Indian
Author: Alyssa London
Publisher:
Published: 2020-10-12
Total Pages: 32
ISBN-13: 9781734286304
DOWNLOAD EBOOKStory summary: A multicultural girl struggles with her identity and is made fun of by her classmates for telling them of her Tlingit, Alaska Native heritage. Her parents send her on a trip to Ketchikan, Alaska to reconnect with her grandfather and learn about her heritage. There she has an adventure that helps her to make sense of her identity and develop confidence from knowing who she is. This story seeks to inspire others to learn about their culture and heritage as well and to be proud of it.
