Tanaina (Dena'ina)
- James Kari & Alan Boraas (editors), A Dena'ina Legacy-K'tl'egh'i Sukdu: The Collected Writings of Peter Kalifornsky. Alaska Native Language Center, 1991. xxxviii + 485 pp. $16. --- A collection of 147 original writings in Dena'ina (Tanaina Athabaskan)---stories, poems, autobiographical essays, language lessons-with English translations on the facing pages. Peter Kalifornsky (b. 1911) is a self-taught scholar and literary artist who has been writing in his native Kenai dialect of Dena'ina for nearly 20 years. (A complete bibliography of published and unpublished "Kalifornskyana" is provided on pp. xxxii-xxxiv.) The contents are arranged in topical chapters, including: stories about Dena'ina cosmology and religious thought (ch. 1); stories about animals and basic survival (ch. 2 & 3); stories about Dena'ina lifestyle, people and geography (ch. 4 to 6); some first-person narratives and an autobiography (ch. 7); and a selection of K.'s language lessons, whimsical "experiments" and word-coinages, poems, and songs (ch. 8). In the last chapter in particular, K. shows the skills and intuitions of a true verbal artist, creatively exploring the expressive potential of his language. Also included is a biography of K. by Alan Boraas, a short Foreword by Dell Hymes, and a thought-provoking introductory essay by James Kari, "Writing at the Arctic Periphery," in which K.'s writing methods are described in some detail. The volume is illustrated by a number of photographs of K., his family, and scenes from Dena'ina country. --- Order from: Alaska Native Language Center, U of Alaska, P.O. Box 757680, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680 (tel: 907/474-7874; fax: 907/474-6586). [Jan. 1992]
- Priscilla Russell Kari, Tanaina Plantlore/Dena'ina K'et'una: An Ethnobotany of the Dena'ina Indians of Southcentral Alaska. Revised edition, 1991. 205 pp. $16. - Originally published in 1977, this is the most comprehensive ethnobotanical study of any Alaska Native group. The folklore and medicinal uses of more than 110 plants are described. The introduction and appendices contain a discussion of Dena'ina (Tanaina) territory in the Cook Inlet area. Illustrated with color photographs.-Order from ANLC at the address above. [July 1991]