DDRIG: Illiamna Yup'ik Geographic Knowledge and Sense of Place in Southwest Alaska

该项目将记录阿拉斯加西南部伊利亚姆纳地区Yup'ik地名的传统知识。最近对阿拉斯加土著地名的关注对我们理解人类与环境之间的关系有着深远的影响。正如阿萨巴斯坎的地名德纳里反映了阿拉斯加原住民对这片土地的看法一样，成千上万的伊利亚姆纳耶普伊克地名提供了对关键地理区域的土地使用、移民和保护的见解。伊利亚姆纳地区位于库斯科维姆河流域Yup'ik语核心地区与更外围的布里斯托尔湾和阿拉斯加半岛地区之间的十字路口。正是在这里，说耶普伊克语的人与说截然不同的德纳纳阿萨巴斯坎语的人接触。伊利亚姆纳地区还拥有丰富的自然资源，包括渔业和矿产。因此，记录有关环境的传统知识不仅有助于了解该地区Yup'ik人的历史，还将为阿拉斯加未来的资源政策提供信息。这个项目非常紧迫，因为Yup'ik的伊利亚姆纳方言已经濒临灭绝。本项目所记录的口述和地名地图，将成为伊利亚姆纳湖区当地居民和其他学者后代的永久记录。合作项目与伊利亚姆纳湖社区建立了良好的工作关系，合作方式确保了计划研究的成功。本研究的目的是通过分析伊亚姆纳Yup'ik人口头叙述中的地名，探索Yup'ik人利用景观和与土地互动的方式，因为它们与地方感有关。地名反映了人类与景观的互动，既有神话般的创造故事，也有平淡无奇的个人和集体对土地的体验和观察。人们在旅行、收获资源、与邻近群体交易商品时，会与其他人分享地名和有用的环境信息。采用基于社区的参与式研究方法，该项目将开发一种类型学，从文化和物理意义上对Yup'ik地名和口头叙述进行分类。研究方法将包括参与者观察、关键受访者访谈以及在纽惠伦、伊利亚姆纳、科克哈诺克和伊吉乌格等伊利亚姆纳社区的制图练习。野外工作将在所有季节进行，以便更好地捕捉Yup'ik土地使用的季节性。在实地考察期间，当地部落/村庄委员会成员和讲Yup'ik语的长老将参与研究，并从当地的角度制定额外的研究问题。这项研究的结果将作为共同负责人在阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学的博士论文的基础。更广泛地说，该项目将成为记录伊利亚姆纳族地名和口头叙述，以及记录伊利亚姆纳族地理知识和环境变化的典范。当地地理知识的记录将对语言学家、人类学家、雅普族教育者、地理学家、其他不同学科的学者以及州和联邦土地使用管理者都很有用。

This project will document traditional knowledge of Yup'ik place names in the Iliamna region of Southwest Alaska. Recent attention to indigenous place names in Alaska has profound implications for our understanding of the relationships between humans and their environment. Just as the Athabaskan place name Denali reflects an Alaska Native perspective on the land, the thousands of Iliamna Yup'ik place names provide insight into land use, migration, and conservation in a critical geographic area. The Iliamna region lies at a crossroads between the core Yup'ik speaking area in the Kuskokwim River drainage and the more peripheral Bristol Bay and Alaska Peninsula regions. It is here that Yup'ik speakers are in contact with speakers of the very different Dena'ina Athabaskan language. The Iliamna region is also rich in natural resources, including fisheries and minerals. Documentation of traditional knowledge of the environment will thus not only help to understand the history of Yup'ik peoples in this region, it will also inform future resource policy in Alaska. This project is extremely urgent, as the Iliamna dialect of Yup'ik is critically endangered. The oral narratives and place name maps recorded by this project will serve as an enduring record for future generations of local residents of the Iliamna Lake area and other scholars. The co-PI has a well-developed working relationship with the Iliamna Lake communities, and the collaborative approach ensures the success of the planned research. The goal of this research is to explore Yup'ik peoples' ways of using landscape and interactions with the land by analyzing Iliamna Yup'ik place names within oral narratives as they relate to sense of place. Place names reflect human interaction with the landscape, both mythically through creation stories and prosaically through individual and collective experiences of and observations on the land. People share place names and useful information about the environment with others when traveling, harvesting resources, and trading goods with neighboring groups. Using a community-based participatory research method, this project will develop a typology categorizing Yup'ik place names and oral narratives in cultural and physical meanings. Methodology will include participant observation, key respondent interviews, and mapping exercises in the Iliamna communities Newhalen, Iliamna, Kokhanok, and Igiugig. Fieldwork will be conducted during all seasons in order to better capture the seasonal nature of Yup'ik land use. During the fieldwork local Tribal/Village Council members and Yup'ik speaking Elders will participate in the research and formulate additional research questions from a local perspective. The results of the research will serve as the basis for the co-PI's University of Alaska Fairbanks Ph.D. dissertation. More broadly, this project will serve as a model both for documentation of Iliamna Yup'ik place names and oral narratives, and documentation of Iliamna Yup'ik geographic knowledge and environmental changes. The documentation of local geographic knowledge will be useful to linguists, anthropologists, Yup'ik educators, geographers, other scholars in a variety of disciplines and state and federal land use managers.