Alutiiq

Alutiiq dancer

For the language, see Alutiiq language.

The Alutiiq (plural: Alutiit), also called Pacific Yupik or Sugpiaq, are a southern coastal people of the Native peoples of Alaska. Their language is called Sugstun, and it is one of Eskimo languages, belonging to the Yup’ik branch of these languages. They are not to be confused with the Aleuts, who live further to the southwest, including along the Aleutian Islands. They traditionally lived a coastal lifestyle, subsisting primarily on ocean resources such as salmon, halibut, and whale, as well as rich land resources such as berries and land mammals. Before European contact with Russian fur traders, the Alutiiq lived in semi-subterranean homes called barabaras. The Alutiiq today live in coastal fishing communities, where they work in all aspects of the modern economy, while also maintaining the cultural value of subsistence. In 2010 the high school in Kodiak responded to requests from students and agreed to teach the Alutiiq language. The Kodiak dialect of the language was only spoken by about 50 persons, all of them elderly, and the dialect was in danger of being lost entirely.

Notable Alutiit

• Isabella Blatchford, Supgiaq Seafoods/author
• Alvin Eli Amason, painter and sculptor
• Sven Haakanson, executive director of the Alutiiq Museum, and winner of a 2007 MacArthur Fellowship.

See also

• Chugach

Further reading

• Braund, Stephen R. & Associates. Effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill on Alutiiq Culture and People. Anchorage, Alaska: Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1993.
• Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. Looking Both Ways Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 2001. ISBN 1-889963-30-5
• Harvey, Lola. Derevnia’s Daughters, Saga of an Alaskan Village. A story about “Derevnia” …”a Russian word meaning village, or home town.” which describes the Old Village of Afognak up to and including the strongest earthquake ever recorded on the North American continent and the resulting Tsunami of March 27, 1964 which destroyed the old village. The book includes the von Scheele family who lived on Afognak Island into which Margarete (Grete) von Scheele married. 1991 ISBN 0-89745-135-X
• Lee, Molly. 2006. ""If It's Not a Tlingit Basket, Then What Is It?": Toward the Definition of an Alutiiq Twined Spruce Root Basket Type". Arctic Anthropology. 43, no. 2: 164.
• Luehrmann, Sonja. Alutiiq Villages Under Russian and U.S. Rule. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-60223-010-1
• Mishler, Craig. 1997. "Aurcaq: Interruption, Distraction, and Reversal in an Alutiiq Men's Dart Game". The Journal of American Folklore. (Vol. 110, no. 436): 189-202.
• Mishler, Craig. 2003. Black Ducks and Salmon Bellies: An Ethnography of Old Harbor and Ouzinkie, Alaska. Donning Company Publishers. Distributed by the Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, Alaska.
• Mishler, Craig, and Rachel Mason. 1996. "Alutiiq Vikings: Kinship and Fishing in Old Harbor, Alaska". Human Organization : Journal of the Society for Applied Anthropology (Vol.55, no. 3): 263-269.
• Mulcahy, Joanne B. Birth & Rebirth on an Alaskan Island The Life of an Alutiiq Healer. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8203-2253-9
• Partnow, Patricia H. Making History Alutiiq/Sugpiaq Life on the Alaska Peninsula. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 2001. ISBN 1-889963-38-0
• Simeonoff, Helen J., and A. L. Pinart. Origins of the Sun and Moon Alutiiq Legend from Kodiak Island, Alaska, Collected by Alphonse Louis Pinart, March 20, 1872. Anchorage, Alaska (3212 West 30th Ave., Anchorage 99517-1660): H.J. Simeonoff, 1996.

External links

• Alaska Native Language Center: Alaska Native Languages Map
• Alaskan Orthodox Christian texts (Alutiiq)
• Alutiiq Museum