Yup'ik Materials and Subsistence
Located in the subarctic tundra of the Bering Sea coast, the Yukon-Kuskokwim region supports a diverse and plentiful annual cycle of plants and animals. Fish, birds, and land and ocean mammals make migrations through the region at different times of year. The Yupiit follow these migrations, visiting different parts of the region during different seasons to reap the harvest and sustain village life even during long Winters. This annual cycle dictates not only the hunting and fishing activities for the Yupiit, but also has shaped communal and spiritual practices that date back longer than any can remember.
Many of the Yup'ik communal spaces, such as the qasgi (communal men's house) and enet (house for women and children), were designed with specific subsistence activities in mind, and the relationships between youth and elders are shaped in these spaces as the younger generation learns how to hunt and treat the animal cohabitants of their environment. Yup'ik spirituality centers on the idea that what one gives to the natural world will decide what the natural world gives back, Therefore, respectful hunting, fishing, harvesting, and crafting practices are of the utmost importance in preserving a balance with the environment.
Today, economic challenges are hitting Southwestern Alaska the hardest of any Alaskan region, and changes to the climate distort the rhythm of migration and subsistence. Yup'ik elders are intent on teaching the younger generation the traditional subsistences practices and the ways of life that accompany them, in order to preserve pride in their culture and history and improve the well-being. Paul John, a Yup'ik elder, uses the drum as a metaphor for the continuation of traditional Yup'ik ways of life:
I have said many times that God gave us our traditions to keep until the end of the world. That's how it is. Our ancestors were in that drum. When Christian religions came around, all of our ancestors came out of that drum. But nowadays... Yup'ik people are working toward putting us back inside that drum. We shouldn't think that our traditional ways are nothing. They are valuable things. The reverberation of the drum kept everyone together.
(Fienup-Riordan, 2007)
Click on any of the pages tagged on this page to learn more about individual materials and how they are harvested, and to view the Yup'ik objects in the collection.