What the Elders Have Taught Us: Alaska Native Ways

by Natives of Alaska, Roy Corral (Photographer), Will Mayo (Introduction)

Overview

“This wonderful book gives the reader a glimpse into the cultural soul of the Alaska Native people, revealing how culture is very much alive and traditions are thriving.” — Margaret Nelson, Tlingit, Eagle moiety, President and CEO Alaska Native Heritage Center

As Alaska’s Native peoples confront contemporary challenges, they increasingly find strength in the traditional values and practices that have sustained their cultures for millennia. In stirring words, What the Elders Have Taught Us pays tribute to the first Alaskans and the ancient values they consider paramount. 

Ten essayists, one from each of Alaska’s diverse Native cultures, were asked to write about a specific value that is common to all, lessons that have been part of their oral teachings for countless generations. The resulting essays are infused with personal reflection as well as profound truths. 

Featuring Roy Corral’s outstanding photography, What the Elders Have Taught Us offers rare insight into the lives of Alaska’s First People—at work and play, in celebration and sorrow—living out the legacy handed down by the elders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882409092
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	06/03/2013
Edition description:	New edition
Pages:	108
Sales rank:	647,598
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Corral is the photographer for My Denali and A Child's Glacier Bay.

Read an Excerpt

Live Carefully—What You Do Will Come Back to You

“It is as old as our people, the thought that your actions, good or bad, will come back to visit you. Growing up in the village, I saw early on that you got a label, a view others had of you by your response to various things, even if your intentions were something totally different from what was interpreted. A reputation can be a bonus or a hindrance, especially if you want to be taken seriously at some point. Some miscue or youthful indiscretion may stand between you and the respect you feel you’ve earned, even as you move into the role of ‘elder.’ Your choices may affect not only you, but the generations that follow.

            “I come from a unique, history-filled village—Metlakatla—as a result of decisions made by my ancestors. They chose not just to move from Old Metlakatla in 1887, but thirty years earlier, they decided to listen to William Duncan, an Englishman who said he carried the word of God in a book. The choices those Tsimshian people made to leave behind their Native ways created, changed, and directed the history of our people to where it is today.”

                                                —David Boxley, from What the Elders Have Taught Us

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This wonderful book gives the reader a glimpse into the cultural soul of the Alaska Native people, revealing how culture is very much alive and traditions are thriving.”
—Margaret Nelson, Tlingit, Eagle moiety, President and CEO Alaska Native Heritage Center

“. . . a must-read for every Alaskan—not just Natives. It takes 10 universal values of Natives, borrowed with permission from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, and provides an essay from an Alaskan Native detailing that value.”
—The Frontiersman
 
“. . . eloquent words of wisdom from Native elders illuminate the rigors of daily life and the joys of family in this warm tribute to Alaska’s Native peoples.”
—Alaska Airlines Magazine
 

“As Alaska's natives confront the realities of modern living which are changing not only their culture but their familiar environment, they're drawing strength in renewed attention to their heritage—and Alaska Native Ways: What the Elders Have Taught Us is an important tribute to this strength. General-interest libraries as well as Native American specialty collections receive an oversized, coffee-table-type display of gorgeous full-page color photos by Roy Corral, with accompanying text by Natives and an introduction by Will Mayo. The text is ten essays, one from each of Alaska's Native cultures, which explores and teaches one special value common to their teachings over the generations: as such they provide not only a tribute to, but a celebration and re-affirmation of Alaskan Native ways in a lovely, highly recommended display piece.”

 —Diane C. Donovan, California Bookwatch

“Ten essayists, one from each of Alaska’s diverse Native cultures, were asked to write about a specific value that is common to all, lessons that have been part of their oral teachings for countless generations. The resulting essays are infused with personal reflection as well as profound truths.”
—Anchorage Daily News
 
“The writers take the reader into the villages with them through their words. You see the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living in the commercial fishing industry, you learn about how Native Alaskans have learned to live off the land through teachings from their elders, and about how the past helps shape the future, among other things.”
—The Frontiersman

Editorial Reviews

This wonderful book gives the reader a glimpse into the cultural soul of the Alaska Native people, revealing how culture is very much alive and traditions are thriving.”
—Margaret Nelson, Tlingit, Eagle moiety, President and CEO Alaska Native Heritage Center

“. . . a must-read for every Alaskan—not just Natives. It takes 10 universal values of Natives, borrowed with permission from the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, and provides an essay from an Alaskan Native detailing that value.”
—The Frontiersman
 
“. . . eloquent words of wisdom from Native elders illuminate the rigors of daily life and the joys of family in this warm tribute to Alaska’s Native peoples.”
—Alaska Airlines Magazine
 

“As Alaska's natives confront the realities of modern living which are changing not only their culture but their familiar environment, they're drawing strength in renewed attention to their heritage—and Alaska Native Ways: What the Elders Have Taught Us is an important tribute to this strength. General-interest libraries as well as Native American specialty collections receive an oversized, coffee-table-type display of gorgeous full-page color photos by Roy Corral, with accompanying text by Natives and an introduction by Will Mayo. The text is ten essays, one from each of Alaska's Native cultures, which explores and teaches one special value common to their teachings over the generations: as such they provide not only a tribute to, but a celebration and re-affirmation of Alaskan Native ways in a lovely, highly recommended display piece.”

 —Diane C. Donovan, California Bookwatch

“Ten essayists, one from each of Alaska’s diverse Native cultures, were asked to write about a specific value that is common to all, lessons that have been part of their oral teachings for countless generations. The resulting essays are infused with personal reflection as well as profound truths.”
—Anchorage Daily News
 
“The writers take the reader into the villages with them through their words. You see the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living in the commercial fishing industry, you learn about how Native Alaskans have learned to live off the land through teachings from their elders, and about how the past helps shape the future, among other things.”
—The Frontiersman

From the Publisher