November is Native American and Alaska Native Month, and there’s no shortage of local events commemorating it.
Sealaska Heritage Institute, libraries, museums and more are all organizing and hosting events in November.
Here’s a run down of the monthlong observations of Alaska Native culture and history.
Thursday, Nov. 1
Food Sovereignty Featuring Deer, 2-3 p.m., University of Alaska Southeast Mourant Building. The Native and Rural Student Center will host this free tasting.
Lecture on origin, migration of Tlingit Kaagwaantaan, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. David Kanosh will share oral accounts of the origin and migration of the Tlingit Kaagwaantaan. The event, sponsored by Sealaska Heritage Institute, is free and open to the public.
Friday, Nov. 2
“Dugout” documentary screening, 5:30-7 p.m., UAS Soboleff Building Room 102, 11066 Auke Lake Way. Tlingit Northwest Coast artist Wayne Price’s canoe “Dugout” documentary will be screened. This is an opportunity to visit with Price, see his students in action and sample some snacks.
Evening at Egan: Tribal Governance, 7 p.m., Egan Library, 11120 Glacier Highway. Richard Peterson, President of Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Tribes of Alaska, will discuss Tribes and Tribal Governance and the primary issues surrounding Tribes and Tribal leadership in Southeast Alaska today.
Opening reception for McNeil, Real Indians (and Curtis), 4:30-7 p.m., Alaska State Museum, 395 Whittier St. Larry Xhe Dhé Tee Harbor Jackson McNeil and Edward Curtis made their careers out of photographing the Indigenous people of North America. This exhibition examines the ongoing visual dialogue about the question of what the concept of “Real Indians” is all about. The reception will be followed by an artist lecture and discussion.
Ten Tlingit Words to Know and Use, 4:30-7 p.m., Juneau-Douglas City Museum, 114 W. Fourth St. This event invites the viewer to use words in Tlingit, a language that has been in use for at least 10,000 years. In addition, museum visitors will be provided a Tlingit language scavenger hunt.
Friday, Nov. 2, 9, 16 and 30
Formline Fridays, 1-2 p.m., UAS campus,11066 Auke Lake Way, The NRSC will host weekly event. Participants can bring in an item, like T-shirt, hoodie, jeans or jacket, to decorate with formline stencils and paint.
Tuesday, Nov. 6
Third Annual Power and Privilege Symposium, 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m., UAS campus, 11066 Auke Lake Way. This event is free and open to all, including students, faculty, staff, and community members. Full schedule and other information can be found at uas.alaska.edu/privilege.
Voting Celebration, 8-10 p.m., location TBA. UAS is hosting an election-night celebration to encourage students to take part in the process.
Lecture on first cannery in Alaska, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Steve Langdon will delve into how the Ganaax.ádi clan leader Teigahéit’ asserted his ownership and control of the Klawock River and established that principle as the foundation of the relationship that allowed the emergence of commercial salmon canning. The Sealaska Heritage Institute-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
Thursday, Nov. 8
Lecture on DNA studies of Native Ancestors, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Ripan S. Mahali will talk about the population histories of indigenous communities in Northwest North America and findings from DNA studies of Shuká Káa, a Native man whose 10,000-year-old remains were found in Southeast Alaska in the 1990s. The Sealaska Heritage Institute-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
Journeys in the Jibba Canoe with Wayne Price, 5:30 p.m., Andrew P. Kashevaroff Lecture Hall, 395 Whitter St. Tlingit master carver Waybe price will talk about traveling long distances in his Jibba canoe.
Friday, Nov. 9
Evening at Egan: Juneau’s Ethnographic History, 7 p.m., Egan Library, 11120 Glacier Highway. Author, cartographer, and naturalist Richard Carstensen will join Aak’w and Taku Kwaan historians and culture bearers, in a discussion about Juneau’s cultural and ethnographic history.
Lecture on revival of ancient sea basketry, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Suquamish Elder Ed Carriere and Archaeologist Dale R. Croes will present on the revival of ancient basketry through the study of 2,000-year-old waterlogged specimens found in Washington State. The Sealaska Heritage Institute-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
Veterans Day Observed, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Sealaska Heritage Institute will highlight Tlingit code talkers Mark Jacobs Jr., Harvey Jacobs, George Leris Jr., Robert “Heff” David Sr. and Richard Bean Sr.
Saturday, Nov. 10
“Hunting in Wartime” screening and discussion, 2 p.m., Andrew P. Kashevaroff Lecture Hall, 395 Whittier St. The movie profiles Tlingit Vietnam War veterans from Hoonah.
Sunday, Nov. 11
Veterans Day ceremony and luncheon, 11:30 a.m., Southeast Alaska Native Veterans Memorial Park, Warrior Street (adjacent to 320 W. Willoughby Ave.) All are welcome to attend.
Wednesday, Nov. 14
Walter Soboleff Day, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Sealaska Heritage Institute will host a viewing of items from its collections that are related to Soboleff and his legacy.
Expressing Ecouragement and Gratitude through Personal Notes, Juneau-Douglas City Museum, 114 W. Fourth St. The museum invites participants to send someone a note of encouragement throughout the month of November and offers a free notecard, U.S. postage, and an insert remembering Dr. Soboleff, which can be included with your letter.
Friday, Nov. 16
Evening at Egan: Tlingit Storyteller Bob Sam “Respecting Our Elders,” 7 p.m., Egan Library, 11120 Clacier Highway. Bob Sam will speak about his research and work with the Native American Boarding Schools (NABS) in supporting Tribal Nations seeking the repatriation of their children buried at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the country.
Saturday, Nov. 17
Traditional Games, noon-3 p.m., UAS Rec Center, 12300 Mendenhall Loop Road. This annual demonstration and participation event is open to the community, and hosted by Wooch.Een.
Tuesday, Nov. 20
Lecture on the power of Native names, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Alaska Writer Laureate Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes will tell of how the Alaska Native practice of naming has impacted her work, her life and the work and lives of others. She’ll also discuss efforts to restore original names to significant places in Alaska and elsewhere. The Sealaska Heritage Institute-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
Tuesday, Nov. 27
Lecture on raven stories, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. X’unei Lance Twitchell will explore the character of Raven based on analysis of a series of Yéil Kutláakw (Raven Cycles) and Yéil Shkalneek (Raven Stories) that were documented from the 1950s through 2013. The Sealaska Heritage Institute-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
Wednesday, Nov. 28
“Sayéik,” 6:30 p.m., Juneau-Douglas City Museum, 114 W. Fourth St. There will be a screening of a student research film that examines colonization in Southeast Alaska.
Thursday, Nov. 29
Lecture on indigenous knowledge of Yakutat people, noon, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. Judy Ramos, assistant professor of Alaska Native Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Aron Crowell, an archaeologist and anthropologist with the Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage, will discuss the Yakutat Seal Camps Project, which ran from 2011-2014 and combined oral tradition and archaeology to explore 1,000 years of community history. The Sealaska Heritage Institute-sponsored event is free and open to the public.
Thursday, Nov. 29-Friday, Nov. 30
Any Given Child Arts Excursions, Walter Soboleff Building, 105 S. Seward St. All second-graders in the Juneau School district will visit the building as part of a national program.
Friday, Nov. 30
Evening at Egan: “Molly of Denali,” 7 p.m., Egan Library, 11120 Glacier Highway. Princess Daazhraii Johnson, creative producer of the PBS animated series “Molly of Denali” will speak about the project.
Kyle Worl demonstrates the Alaskan high kick while at the University of Alaska Southeast campus on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. The annual games will be part of Native American and Native Alaskan Heritage month. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
