In this NEA Big Read keynote event, playwright Vera Starbard, poet Joan Naviyuk Kane, and novelist Don Rearden discuss the power of art in a colonized, indigenous Alaska. Through an examination of their own work and the Big Read selection, Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, the panel will discuss the notion that “survival is insufficient” in the wake of widespread cultural and social upheaval.
This live, onstage conversation preceded a Q and A session and book signing.
On September 1, 2017 Jackson Polys (aka Stephen Paul Jackson and Stron Softi) gave an artist talk about his work on the Seward shame pole that was raised in Saxman Totem Park in April, 2017.
Jackson’s Seward pole is the third iteration. The original pole was erected after Secretary of State William Seward’s 1869 visit to southeast Alaska. The Tlingit honored Seward with a potlatchand gifts that he did not reciprocate, which led to the creation of the ridicule pole. In 1941, theoriginal pole was replaced by a Civilian Conservation Corps replica. In 2014, the second pole had deteriorated beyond repair and Jackson was selected to create a replacement. Jackson’s version features a more detailed carving of Seward’s face than its predecessor, a tribute to the original pole.
Jackson is a carver and visual artist based in Ketchikan and New York.He began carving with his father, Tlingit master carver Nathan Jackson, and obtained a BA in Art History and Visual Arts in 2013 and an MFA in visual arts in 2015 from Columbia University.
Alaska State Writer Laureate Ernestine Hayes for a discussion of her writing that examines our society’s histories and heroes from a deeper perspective. Hayes is the author of The Tao of Raven and Blonde Indian and a professor at the University of Alaska Southeast. It was recorded on Friday August 4th at 7pm At the APK Lecture Hall.
As the 150th anniversary of the Alaska territory’s purchase from Russia approaches and the capital city prepares for a new statue commemorates the deal’s chief U.S. negotiator, historians reflect on William Henry Seward’s impact on Alaska and its indigenous people. For some, he’s a symbol of American imperialism and colonialism.
The Alaska Native Sisterhood celebrated its 100th anniversary in October 2015. The Sisterhood began as an auxillary of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, which had been founded three years earlier in 1912. However, women’s organizations did exist in Southeast previous to the founding of the ANS, but many of them eventually organized under the Sisterhood, establishing their own camps.
It was an ANS member, Elizabeth Peratrovich, who famously admonished a territorial senator who spoke disparagingly of Alaska Natives. Peratrovich worked tirelessly to see Alaska’s Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945 passed, nearly 20 years before the United States passed its own civil rights legislation.
Members of the ANS are also responsible for organizing and fundraising to establish Juneau’s Filipino Community Hall, which also celebrates its 100th anniversary in October.
The women of the Alaska Native Sisterhood have worked to advance conversations and action on issues such as racism, subsistence, land rights and education. In this forum, members Selina Everson, Freda Westman and Marie Olson discuss what the Sisterhood has achieved and plans for the future.
Moderator:
Jennifer Canfield
Panelists:
On this Forum@360: Living the Language, Tlingit speakers and educators discuss how to live the language, what does it mean, how can we incorporate language into our homes, into our community, and what are the tools to get us there.
Featured speakers are:
Related article: Preventing language loss: A three-step process
