Values and traditions of an Aleut/Yup'ik girl

Morwen Edhelwen

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I need some help on this aspect of a story in its very rough stages I'm working on which has a premise loosely based on the Billy Joel song "The Downeaster "Alexa".
I have very little knowledge of the traditional values an Unangan/Yup'ik thirteen year-old girl(Alexa, the protagonist, who keeps a journal and lives on Unalaska Island with her parents- her mother, who is Yup'ik, and her father, who's Unangan, and her siblings) and whose parents want to preserve traditional values due to the grandparents being in boarding school and forced to assimilate, would have. Even though right now I'm an amateur, I'd like to get the cultural aspects as accurate as possible (I asked this question on livejournal little_details, but didn't get anything on the Aleut side of things). So can any Unangan posters, especially those raised in or with family in the Aleutians who know the Unalaska area well, or even anyone who lives there and is familiar with contemporary Unangan culture, help me?
 
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Bushrat

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If I were you, I would google the Aleuts and try emailing whatever cultural Yupik institutions you can find, or if that doesn't work, the University of Alaska.
 

Morwen Edhelwen

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I did Google the Aleuts and Yup'ik. Apparently, (according to Wikipedia) pre-contact with Europeans, girls were secluded during menarche(this practice was used in several other cultures). A poster on little_details told me that as Russian Orthodoxy is common among Alaskan Natives, if her parents are religious, she would probably be in church from Christmas Eve through the Holy Week, with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday Compline (night service), and Bridegroom Matins (service on repentance) on Palm Sunday, mostly hear the Liturgy of St John Christosom, and have vespers on the night before taking Communion and Confession. This would be done in either Church Slavonic or English.
 
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Drachen Jager

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http://www.nfb.ca/subjects/inuit/

Not specific to the Aleuts, but might be worth your time to check out a few of the films there for general Inuit feel.

I don't think you're likely to have much luck. AW has a very broad spectrum of people, but not quite that broad. Simply looking for an Inuit who has experienced traditional life in the north would probably be a task.
 

Morwen Edhelwen

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Pretty sure that there are some Alaskans

on this board though (from lurking). Although whether any of them would be Aleut/Unangan, or intimately familiar with the culture I don't know. FWIW, from visiting my friend's house (her family is Greek Orthodox), I know that's it's not unheard of for Orthodox Christians (or Christians of any denomination) to wear crosses. So she has a cross necklace.
 
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Drachen Jager

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Whoa there. Not even an hour passed, at least wait until it's been a few days to bump.

Yes, there are Alaskans here. I would wager that fewer than 5% of Alaskans are familiar enough with the Aleuts to help you out in the way you want. The vast majority of the Alaskan population is over 1,000 kilometers away, and very few people travel to the Aleutian Islands.
 
Flicka

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I can't help feeling that there should be at least a few anthropological studies on the Aleut. While first-hand witnesses are a great source, anthroplogy books usually discuss belief systems and traditions in detail and contain quotes and pieces of interviews so they might be a good place to start. Have you checked a research library for anything of the kind?
 

Morwen Edhelwen

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I might try the NSW State Library; but this is more contemporary. Don't know if contemporary Aleut culture would be studied by anthropologists, but I know that Yup'ik has been (Ann Fienup-Riordan) The State Library's stuff is mostly Australian, but they might have stuff from America there.
 

Morwen Edhelwen

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Anyone have any concrete knowledge of traditions in the 21st century?

I already know some things about traditions; like the making of needles from wingbones of birds. I need to know if any of those traditions are still passed on.
 
Bushrat

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Morwen Edhelwen said:
I might try the NSW State Library; but this is more contemporary. Don't know if contemporary Aleut culture would be studied by anthropologists, but I know that Yup'ik has been (Ann Fienup-Riordan) The State Library's stuff is mostly Australian, but they might have stuff from America there.
Click to expand...

That is why, as I said, you need to be emailing actual people who live in the Aleuts. Why look for anthropologists studying Aleut cultures when you can get in touch with the people you want to write about?
They most likely won't frequent AW, but cultural institutions in Alaska should be able to direct your questions to some Aleut people. You will need to start emailing, even if it is to Alaska tourism as a starting point.
 
Drachen Jager

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Morwen Edhelwen said:
Drachen Jager, where are you referring to when you say "1000 miles away?" Australia, or the Aleutian Islands?
Click to expand...

The nearest population center in Alaska of ANY size is Kenai with 7,500 people. It is over 1,000 kilometers from the nearest Aleutian Islands.

You're talking about a very, very isolated area. That is why most Alaskans really can't help you much.
 

Morwen Edhelwen

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BTW, I do know one thing. A lot of Aleut people, including a lot of those in Unalaska, were forcibly interned in camps during WWII, like Japanese-Americans and Australians and German-Americans and Australians. They were placed in the internment camps because the US government wanted their land. I'm pretty sure the historical trauma and consequences from that would be huge.
 
Komnena

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I'm not Aleut but I am Greek Orthodox. You might want to check that detail about the services being done in Church Slavonic or English with a Russian Orthodox church in Alaska.
dioceseofalaska.org/
 
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Morwen Edhelwen

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Checked it. They seem to be mostly in English, but there are versions of the services in Alaska Native languages and there are probably also churches that use Church Slavonic. So maybe it depends on the priest/deacon and what language translation they use?
 
Komnena

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I don't know. It could also depend on the congregation. I believe there were actually translations into Aleut before there were translations into English. If you could find an Aleut church you might find more answers than I can give you.
 
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