Life Woven with Song
The Tlingit Indians of southeastern Alaska are known for their totem poles, Chilkat blankets, and ocean-going canoes. Nora Marks Dauenhauer is a cultural emissary of her people and now tells the story of her own life within the context of her community's. Life Woven with Song re-creates in written language the oral tradition of the Tlingit people as it records memories of Dauenhauer's heritage--of older relatives and Tlingit elders, of trolling for salmon and preparing food in the dryfish camps, of making a living by working in canneries. She explores these recurring themes of food and land, salmon and rainforest, from changing perspectives--as a child, a mother, and a grandmother--and through a variety of literary forms.

In prose, Dauenhauer presents stories such as "Egg Boat"--the tale of a twelve-year-old girl fishing the North Pacific for the first time alone--and an autobiographical piece that reveals much about Tlingit lifeways. Then in a section of short lyrical poems she offers crystalline tributes to her land and people. In a concluding selection of plays, Dauenhauer presents three Raven stories that were adapted as stage plays from oral versions told in Tlingit by three storytellers of her community. These plays were commissioned by the Naa Kahidi Theater and have been performed throughout America and Europe. They take the form of a storyteller delivering a narrative while other members of the cast act and dance in masks and costumes.

Collectively, Dauenhauer's writings form an "autoethnography," offering new insight into how the Tlingit have been affected by modernization and how Native American culture perseveres in the face of change. Despite the hardships her people have seen, this woman affirms the goodness of life as found in family and community, in daily work and play, and in tribal traditions.
"1122992234"
Life Woven with Song
The Tlingit Indians of southeastern Alaska are known for their totem poles, Chilkat blankets, and ocean-going canoes. Nora Marks Dauenhauer is a cultural emissary of her people and now tells the story of her own life within the context of her community's. Life Woven with Song re-creates in written language the oral tradition of the Tlingit people as it records memories of Dauenhauer's heritage--of older relatives and Tlingit elders, of trolling for salmon and preparing food in the dryfish camps, of making a living by working in canneries. She explores these recurring themes of food and land, salmon and rainforest, from changing perspectives--as a child, a mother, and a grandmother--and through a variety of literary forms.

In prose, Dauenhauer presents stories such as "Egg Boat"--the tale of a twelve-year-old girl fishing the North Pacific for the first time alone--and an autobiographical piece that reveals much about Tlingit lifeways. Then in a section of short lyrical poems she offers crystalline tributes to her land and people. In a concluding selection of plays, Dauenhauer presents three Raven stories that were adapted as stage plays from oral versions told in Tlingit by three storytellers of her community. These plays were commissioned by the Naa Kahidi Theater and have been performed throughout America and Europe. They take the form of a storyteller delivering a narrative while other members of the cast act and dance in masks and costumes.

Collectively, Dauenhauer's writings form an "autoethnography," offering new insight into how the Tlingit have been affected by modernization and how Native American culture perseveres in the face of change. Despite the hardships her people have seen, this woman affirms the goodness of life as found in family and community, in daily work and play, and in tribal traditions.
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Life Woven with Song

Life Woven with Song

by Nora Marks Dauenhauer
Life Woven with Song

Life Woven with Song

by Nora Marks Dauenhauer

eBook

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Overview

The Tlingit Indians of southeastern Alaska are known for their totem poles, Chilkat blankets, and ocean-going canoes. Nora Marks Dauenhauer is a cultural emissary of her people and now tells the story of her own life within the context of her community's. Life Woven with Song re-creates in written language the oral tradition of the Tlingit people as it records memories of Dauenhauer's heritage--of older relatives and Tlingit elders, of trolling for salmon and preparing food in the dryfish camps, of making a living by working in canneries. She explores these recurring themes of food and land, salmon and rainforest, from changing perspectives--as a child, a mother, and a grandmother--and through a variety of literary forms.

In prose, Dauenhauer presents stories such as "Egg Boat"--the tale of a twelve-year-old girl fishing the North Pacific for the first time alone--and an autobiographical piece that reveals much about Tlingit lifeways. Then in a section of short lyrical poems she offers crystalline tributes to her land and people. In a concluding selection of plays, Dauenhauer presents three Raven stories that were adapted as stage plays from oral versions told in Tlingit by three storytellers of her community. These plays were commissioned by the Naa Kahidi Theater and have been performed throughout America and Europe. They take the form of a storyteller delivering a narrative while other members of the cast act and dance in masks and costumes.

Collectively, Dauenhauer's writings form an "autoethnography," offering new insight into how the Tlingit have been affected by modernization and how Native American culture perseveres in the face of change. Despite the hardships her people have seen, this woman affirms the goodness of life as found in family and community, in daily work and play, and in tribal traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780816547944
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Publication date: 03/15/2022
Series: Sun Tracks , #41
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 139
File size: 4 MB

About the Author

Nora Marks Dauenhauer is internationally recognized for her work in preserving Tlingit oral literature and for fourteen years was Principal Researcher in Language and Cultural Studies at Sealaska Heritage Foundation. Her writings have been widely anthologized, and she has received both the Alaska Governor's Award for the Arts and the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award. She lives in Juneau.

Table of Contents

Contents List of Figures Preface Part One: Prose Some Slices of Salmon Egg Boat Magic Gloves Chemawa Cemetery: Buried in Alien Land Life Woven with Song: An Autobiographical Essay Part Two: Poetry A Poem for Kim Nagatáak'w (Jakwteen) Grandpa Jakwteen in Eclipse Auntie Frances, My Father's Sister My Auntie Jennie's Bed Grandmother Eliza Salmon Egg Puller - $2.15 an Hour In Memory of Jeff David Willie Memorial Day in Kiev Tlingit Elders Migration Catalog Spring Buds Blossoms From Camp Heaven Constellation Course: Hanging Loose Totemic Display For My Granddaughters Genny and Lenny Letter to Nanao Sakaki Angoon at Low Tide Berries Crossing the Bridge Raven at Grand Canyon Coming Down from the Mogollon Rim Zuni Ring: Glacial Turquoise Fieldwork Ernestine's House, Hoonah, Alaska, 6 A.M. Variations of Two The Storm Storms from an Enemy Sky Steel Gray Trees in North Wind Amerlia's First Ski Run Tonio Saves Christmas For My Granddaughter Amelia Part Three: Plays Introduction to the Raven Plays White Raven and Water Raven, King Salmon, and the Birds Raven Loses His Nose Glossary Acknowledgments
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