First Full Day in Anchorage

Today, our first real, awake day in Anchorage, we all got up very early and went out to breakfast at the Snow City Cafe.  After that, we headed over to the Alaska Native Heritage Center to learn about the traditional and contemporary ways of Alaska Native cultures. 

Website: alaskanative.net. Check it out!  We learned about the Athbascan, Yup'ik and Cup'ik, Inupiaq (the culture most present in Barrow), Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and more. I chatted for a long time with an artist named Doug who engraves clan crests.  (see below) He explained to me that one is born into the clan of their mother's heritage (matrilineal) and a clan is a large extended family which connects communities.  Doug is Tsimshain and Haida and is of the Killer Whale Clan. You can see a print of his Killer Whale Clan 2-D Totem below.  Or check out his website for more info on his art at www.douglasyates.org

Next, I met and talked to a high school student who was part of the high school program at the center. High school students can spend a certain amount of hours at the center learning dance, legends, crafts, etc about their and other native cultures. They can receive credits for this.  The idea is that the younger natives, who don't have as much opportunity to learn the culture from the highly respected elders, will be able to learn their culture and pass it down. The student I spoke with was very excited about this and felt he had a really important role in his community and the world. 

Here is a picture of a group of 15-23 year olds performing a native dance:

Here is a video of one of the dances (don't know if this will work!): 

<---- Spirit Mask from the Museum

Me, warm in the sun in downtown Anchorage:

Below: The crew: Molly, me, Janet, Hal, Diane Hirshburg who had dinner with us to share her research about education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (the BIA), Matt, and Alanna. Poor Judy was sleeping in the hotel with a migraine!! 

That's it for now, but stay tuned in and write us your comments, questions, feedback, etc! That means you, div 1 students- hopefully you will be learning these dances and art next year!  Now I am off to bike on the coastal trail until 10 pm, when the sun will be getting lower in the sky. 

~Amanda : )