Honorable mention for the Victor Turner Award for Ethnographic Writing
from the Society for Humanistic Anthropology
Honorable mention for the 2008 William Mills Prize for Non-Fiction Polar
Books
Survival in the harsh subarctic environment requires great
resourcefulness and ingenuity. The Yup'ik people of southwest Alaska
meet the challenge by using traditional technology and by following a
philosophy that recognizes the personhood of all living things and the
environment. Their use of nature's resources is a testament to the
mutual respect and generosity that exists between humans and the
animals, plants, land, and sea that sustain them.
Wastefulness being disrespectful, Yup'ik elders made use of every last
scrap from hunts and harvests: seal guts became warm, waterproof, and
breathable parkas; the skins of fish were fashioned into waterproof
mittens, while their heads and entrails were stored in naturally
refrigerated pits as insurance against future famine. Dried grasses
became anything from insulating socks to bedding to sled rope, or even
goggles to protect against snow blindness; rancid seal oil mixed with
tundra moss became "Yup'ik epoxy" for caulking and gluing; and driving
snow was manipulated to provide a defense against its own dangers.
Although tools have changed, Yup'ik people today continue to engage in
many traditional harvesting activities, using these new means to
accomplish distinctly Yup'ik ends.
In Yuungnaqpiallerput / The Way We Genuinely Live, Yup'ik elders
examine tools and daily-use items, explaining how they were made and for
what purpose. Just as Western science relies on the testing of
hypotheses, Yup'ik science developed its technologies through systematic
trial and error, yielding ingenious and effective solutions to life's
challenges. The elders also delve beyond the practical aspects of these
artifacts to elucidate the ways in which their creation and use are part
of Yup'ik cosmology and traditional spiritual values. Every item carries
special significance, and the actions associated with each should be
undertaken with awareness and deliberation, for nothing goes unnoticed
by the consciousness of the surrounding universe. Ann Fienup-Riordan
explores these manifestations of Yup'ik technology by following the
seasonal cycle of harvests and ceremonial renewals, a journey revealing
the beauty of these artifacts that extends beyond the aesthetic surface
to connect with the living pulse of the universe.
