Ellavut, our Yup'ik world & weather : continuity and change on the Bering Sea coast / Ann Fienup-Riordan and Alice Rearden.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-334) and index.

Introduction : [traditional teachings, traditional ecological knowledge) elders teaching young people about good life behavior, reviving a rich oral tradition, the environment, the land, sharing food, hunting, fishing, surviving in the cold harsh conditions, seals, traditional foods, plants and animals, community village life, modern economics -- wages, snowmobiles and modern technology in Alaska] -- Qanruyutet Anirturyugngaatgen = Qanruyutet can save your life [survival, hunting on the ocean, ice floes ; moral education, worldview, philosophy, compassion and restraint, abstinence practices, sharing, social relations, reciprocity, relationship with animals, environmental changes [global warming, climate change] -- Nuna-gguq Mamkitellruuq = They say the land was thin [legends, raven, stone lady, stone figures].

Ella Alerquutengqertug = The world and its weather have teachings [sun, northern lights, moon, seasons, clouds and sky, forecasting the weather, wind, water, rain, fog, changing the weather, definitions of the language of weather] -- Nunavut = Our land [offerings of food and water, respecting property in the wilderness, harvesting, tundra and marshland, hills and mountains] -- Kuiget Nanvat-Ilu = Rivers and lakes [wind and current, dangerous waves, power of water, river and lake ice, walking stick, spring, choked with ice, new channels, fresh water] -- Yuilqumun Atalriit Qanruyutet = Instructions concerning wilderness [observing landmarks, travelling, help when lost, dangerous places, tools, ways of saving oneself with grass, dogs are wise, dog teams, dogsledding].

Qanikcaq = Snow [sings of, frost and hoarfrost, wet snow, ice fog, snow shelter, traveling in snow -- clothing] -- Imarpik Elitaituq = The ocean cannot be learned [ocean is pitiless, rules for hunting on the ocean, sandbars and channels, waves and wind, current and tide, traveling in dangerous conditions, kayaking] -- Ciku = Ice [fall formation of sea ice, newly frozen, rough and smooth ice, snow in water, crevices and cracks, reflection of open water, ocean swells, large drifting ice floes, packed ice on current lines, traveling through ice, safety] -- Yuni'i Maliggluki Ella Ayuqucimitun Ayuqenrirtuq = The world is changing following its people [becoming unpredictable, fish and fishing is changing, sinking land].

"Ellavut, Our Yup'ik World and Weather is a result of nearly ten years of gatherings among Yup'ik elders to document the qanruyutet (words of wisdom) that guide their interactions with the environment. In an effort to educate their own young people as well as people outside the community, the elders discussed the practical skills necessary to live in a harsh environment, stressing the ethical and philosophical aspects of the Yup'ik relationship with the land, ocean, snow, weather, and environmental change, among many other elements of the natural world.

At every gathering, at least one elder repeated the Yup'ik adage, "The world is changing following its people." The Yup'ik see environmental change as directly related not just to human actions, such as overfishing or burning fossil fuels, but also to human interactions. The elders encourage young people to learn traditional rules and proper behavior - to act with compassion and restraint - in order to reverse negative impacts on their world. They speak not only to educate young people on the practical skills they need to survive but also on the knowing and responsive nature of the world in which they live.

"Ellavut builds on a decade of careful, collaborative ethnographic research with elders on the west coast of Alaska. It sets a high bar for studies of local environmental knowledge by positioning local knowledge in the context provided by the narrators and letting local people drive the narrative."--Julie Cruikshank, author of Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination.

"Few works on Native knowledge drill down this deep or are done with this breadth and depth of collaboration. Ellavut will be a touchstone and standard of excellence for how to carry out research in aboriginal communities. It is a remarkable testament to a remarkable group of elders and their knowledge and ways of being in the world."--Thomas Thornton, University of Oxford-- from publishing website.