
The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics
Maria Sh A Williams
The Alaska Native Reader describes indigenous worldviews, languages, arts, and other cultural traditions as well as contemporary efforts to preserve them. Several pieces examine Alaska Natives’ experiences of and resistance to Russian and American colonialism; some of these address land claims, self-determination, and sovereignty. Some essays discuss contemporary Alaska Native literature, indigenous philosophical and spiritual tenets, and the ways that Native peoples are represented in the media. Others take up such diverse topics as the use of digital technologies to document Native cultures, planning systems that have enabled indigenous communities to survive in the Arctic for thousands of years, and a project to accurately represent Dena’ina heritage in and around Anchorage. Fourteen of the volume’s many illustrations appear in color, including work by the contemporary artists Subhankar Banerjee, Perry Eaton, Erica Lord, and Larry McNeil.
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About Maria Sh A Williams
Reviews for The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics
Gregory R. Campbell
Canadian Journal of Native Studies
“As a book that purports to address history, culture, and politics, it fulfills its mission. As an anthology, it accomplishes what it should, providing an overview of issues that interested readers can go on to explore in more depth.”
Anne Coray
Alaska History
“I learned a lot, I enjoyed the book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested not just in Native Alaskan topics, but to those who want to understand the real people of Alaska and see things through different eyes.”
Wallace M. Olson
Juneau Empire
“There are voluminous accounts of Alaska’s white sourdoughs, homesteaders, mountaineers, and trophy hunters, but one person’s frontier is another’s sacred homeland, and Native voices are often underplayed or overlooked in the popular written record. The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics is a welcome antidote. From a heartrending description of the long shadow of the Great Death—the 1900 flu outbreak—to mythological tales of magical northern pike and a project unearthing the Indian history of the Anchorage area, this reader is a breath of fresh tundra air.”
Keith Goetzman
Utne Reader