Tanaina Tales from Alaska
Tanaina Tales from Alaska

Author: Bill Vaudrin

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1980-11-01

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780806114149

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A young Chippewa Indian from Minnesota collected these legends and stories told by the Tanaina Indians of southwestern Alaska. Called suk-tus ("legend-stories") and stemming from the seventeenth century, they are anecdotal narratives centered on a particular animal or animals common to the Tanaina country. Thus the tales are peopled with foxes, beavers, wolverines, porcupines, and other animals, some of which disguise themselves in human form for sinister purposes and all of which have human desires and weaknesses. According to the author, some embellishments in the stories certainly resulted from contact with Western civilization, particularly during the Russian and early fur-trading periods, but basically they are aboriginal Tanaina and are told as they have been handed down through oral tradition. Originally, suk-tus were related to entertain and instruct, and they are as apt to do so for today’s audiences as for yesterday’s, reflecting both the outlook of their originators and the nature of the environment in which they lived.

The Blind Man and the Loon
The Blind Man and the Loon

Author: Craig Mishler

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2020-02-17

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1496210107

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The story of the Blind Man and the Loon is a living Native folktale about a blind man who is betrayed by his mother or wife but whose vision is magically restored by a kind loon. Variations of this tale are told by Native storytellers all across Alaska, arctic Canada, Greenland, the Northwest Coast, and even into the Great Basin and the Great Plains. As the story has traveled through cultures and ecosystems over many centuries, individual storytellers have added cultural and local ecological details to the tale, creating countless variations. In The Blind Man and the Loon: The Story of a Tale, folklorist Craig Mishler goes back to 1827, tracing the story's emergence across Greenland and North America in manuscripts, books, and in the visual arts and other media such as film, music, and dance theater. Examining and comparing the story's variants and permutations across cultures in detail, Mishler brings the individual storyteller into his analysis of how the tale changed over time, considering how storytellers and the oral tradition function within various societies. Two maps unequivocally demonstrate the routes the story has traveled. The result is a masterful compilation and analysis of Native oral traditions that sheds light on how folktales spread and are adapted by widely diverse cultures.

Mysterious Creatures [2 volumes]
Mysterious Creatures [2 volumes]

Author: George M. Eberhart

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2002-12-17

Total Pages: 772

ISBN-13: 1576077640

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A comprehensive guide to cryptozoology—the quest to identify animals that have not been officially catalogued by science and to place these unknown animals into their proper zoological categories. In this fascinating two-volume encyclopedia, author George M. Eberhart provides a comprehensive catalog of nearly 1,000 cryptids—unknown animals usually reported through eyewitness accounts and not yet described by science. Cryptids are the stuff of folklore, hoaxes, and genuine scientific breakthroughs. There are 400 now-classified cryptids once considered either extinct or pure fantasy. The cryptozoologist's job is to strip away the myth, misidentification, and mystery—and separate fact from fiction. Mysterious Creatures covers everything from dinosaurs and the emala-ntouka, an elephant-killing dinosaur-like animal of central Africa, to searches for the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, and other cryptozoological hoaxes. Entries about specific animals include the derivation or meaning of each cryptid's name, its scientific name, variant names, a physical description, behavior, description of tracks, habitat, significant sightings, present status, and possible explanations. Illustrations and photographs accompany many entries. The book also includes resources and references for further information.

Handbook of Native American Literature
Handbook of Native American Literature

Author: Andrew Wiget

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 617

ISBN-13: 1135639108

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The Handbook of Native American Literature is a unique, comprehensive, and authoritative guide to the oral and written literatures of Native Americans. It lays the perfect foundation for understanding the works of Native American writers. Divided into three major sections, Native American Oral Literatures, The Historical Emergence of Native American Writing, and A Native American Renaissance: 1967 to the Present, it includes 22 lengthy essays, written by scholars of the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures. The book features reports on the oral traditions of various tribes and topics such as the relation of the Bible, dreams, oratory, humor, autobiography, and federal land policies to Native American literature. Eight additional essays cover teaching Native American literature, new fiction, new theater, and other important topics, and there are bio-critical essays on more than 40 writers ranging from William Apes (who in the early 19th century denounced white society's treatment of his people) to contemporary poet Ray Young Bear. Packed with information that was once scattered and scarce, the Handbook of NativeAmerican Literature -a valuable one-volume resource-is sure to appeal to everyone interested in Native American history, culture, and literature. Previously published in cloth as The Dictionary of Native American Literature

A Native American Encyclopedia
A Native American Encyclopedia

Author: Barry Pritzker

Publisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 630

ISBN-13: 9780195138771

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Dispelling myths, answering questions, and stimulating thoughtful avenues for further inquiry, this highly absorbing reference provides a wealth of specific information about over 200 North American Indian groups in Canada and the United States. Readers will easily access important historical and contemporary facts about everything from notable leaders and relations with non-natives to customs, dress, dwellings, weapons, government, and religion. This book is at once exhaustive and captivating, covering myriad aspects of a people spread across a continent. Divided into ten geographic areas for easy reference, this work illustrates each Native American group in careful detail. Listed alphabetically, starting with the tribal name, translation, origin, and definition, each entry includes significant facts about the group's location and population, as well as impressive accounts of the group's history and culture. Bringing entries up-to-date, Barry Pritzker also presents current information on each group's government, economy, legal status, and land holdings. Whether interpreting the term "tribe" (many traditional Native American groups were not tribes at all but more like extended families) or describing how a Shoshone woman served as a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition, Pritzker always presents the material in a clear and lively manner. In light of past and ongoing injustices and the momentum of Indian and Inuit self-determination movements, an understanding of Native American cultures as well as their contributions to contemporary society becomes increasingly important. A magnificent resource, this book liberally provides the essential information necessary to better grasp the history and cultures of North American Indians.

Native Americans [2 volumes]
Native Americans [2 volumes]

Author: Barry M. Pritzker

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1998-10-01

Total Pages: 887

ISBN-13: 1851095543

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This landmark two volume source ranks as one of the field's most comprehensive guides to Native American studies, offering historical, cultural, and modern reference, supporting a complete range of research. The history, culture, and present state of Native America is revealed, explored, and explained in this, the most comprehensive reference work on the indigenous peoples of North America ever assembled. Anyone and everyone interested in Native Americans will find Native Americans indispensable. Systematically presenting historical and modern data for all known Native American groups in Canada and the United States, the different groups are listed alphabetically within 10 culture areas. The volumes are richly illustrated and include photos and drawings, culture area and tribal location maps, a master bibliography, bibliographic citations for each tribal entry, a glossary, and a subject index.

History & Mathematics:
History & Mathematics:

Author: Leonid E. Grinin

Publisher: ООО "Издательство "Учитель"

Published:

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 5705752474

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The present Yearbook (which is the sixth in the series) is subtitled Economy, Demography, Culture, and Cosmic Civilizations. To some extent it reveals the extraordinary potential of scientific research. The common feature of all our Yearbooks, including the present volume, is the usage of formal methods and social studies methods in their synthesis to analyze different phenomena. In other words, if to borrow Alexander Pushkin's words, ‘to verify the algebra with harmony’. One should note that publishing in a single collection the articles that apply mathematical methods to the study of various epochs and scales – from deep historical reconstruction to the pressing problems of the modern world – reflects our approach to the selection of contributions for the Yearbook. History and Mathematics, Social Studies and formal methods, as previously noted, can bring nontrivial results in the studies of different spheres and epochs. This issue consists of three main sections: (I) Historical and Technological Dimensions includes two papers (the first is about the connection between genes, myths and waves of the peopling of Americas; the second one is devoted to quantitative analysis of innovative activity and competition in technological sphere in the Middle Ages and Modern Period); (II) Economic and Cultural Dimensions (the contributions are mostly focused on modern period); (III) Modeling and Theories includes two papers with interesting models (the first one concerns modeling punctuated equilibria apparent in the macropattern of urbanization over time; in the second one the author attempts to estimate the number of Communicative Civilizations). We hope that this issue will be interesting and useful both for historians and mathematicians, as well as for all those dealing with various social and natural sciences.