Böcker av Ann Fienup-Riordan

"In this book, close to one hundred men and women from all over southwest Alaska share knowledge of their homeland and the plants that grow there. They speak eloquently about time spent gathering and storing plants and plant material during snow-free months, including gathering greens during spring, picking berries each summer, harvesting tubers from the caches of tundra voles, and gathering a variety of medicinal plants. The book is intended as a guide to the identification and use of edible and medicinal plants in southwest Alaska, but also as an enduring record of what Yup'ik men and women know and value about plants and the roles plants continue to play in Yup'ik lives"--

The Yup'ik people of southwest Alaska were among the last Arctic peoples to come into contact with non-Natives, and as a result, Yup'ik language and many traditions remain vital into the twenty-first century. Wise Words of the Yup'ik People documents their qanruyutait (adages, words of wisdom, and oral instructions) regarding the proper living of life.

Details the Yup'ik elders' qanruyutet (words of wisdom) that guide their interactions with the environment

Johan Adrian Jacobsen collected Yup'ik objects during his travels in Alaska. Ann Fienup-Riordan saw the collection being unpacked in 1994, and in 1997 she and Marie Meade returned to Berlin with Yup'ik elders. This book recounts fourteen days during which the elders examined objects from the collection and described how they were made and used.

Survival in the harsh sub-arctic environment requires resourcefulness and ingenuity. This book explores the manifestations of Yup'ik technology by following the seasonal cycle of harvests and ceremonial renewals.