Craig Mishler's guest appearances

Craig Mishler

Alaska Native Writers and Alaska Native Themes

Connecting Alaska:  Anthropology and Archaeology

Phyllis Fast

Aron Crowell

Jane Harper

John Barrymore

Ray Hudson

Jenny Miller

Jon Davis

Craig Childs

Larry Merculieff

Karen Roth

Paul Ongtooguk

Jan Harper

Diane Benson

Alice Rearden

Ann Fienup-Riordan

OwlTail

Allan Hayton

Kenneth Frank

Dinjii Vadzaih Dhidlit: The Man Who Became a Caribou is a new bilingual volume based on a series of oral interviews with Gwich'in elders living in rural northeast Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Richly illustrated, the book covers a wide range of topics based on traditional harvesting and use of caribou from ancient to contemporary times. It also reveals traditional beliefs and taboos about caribou and includes a detailed naming system for caribou anatomy, conversations about potlatches and sharing, as well as personal experience stories and traditional stories. The book was made possible by research grant from the National Science Foundation and a publication grant by the Alaska Humanities Forum.Craig Mishler is a cultural anthropologist and folklorist who has worked continuously in Alaska since the late 1960s and is the author, co-author, and editor of eight books, including Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled from Place to Place: The Gwich'in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank (2001) and The Blind Man and the Loon: The Story of a Tale (2013).Kenneth Frank is an elder, indigenous scholar, and a fluent speaker of the Gwich'in language. He was raised in Venetie, Alaska, lived for many years in Arctic Village, and now resides in Fairbanks. Kenneth is in frequent demand for drum making and singing workshops and is the leader of the Di'haii Gwich'in dancers.Allan Hayton is the  Language Revitalization Program Director at the Doyon Foundation.  A Gwich'in translator, he grew up in Arctic Village, and is the son of Lena Pauline Hayton from Fort Yukon, Alaska, and James T. Hayton from Natick, Massachusetts.Other project team members and collaborators for the project include Crystal Frank, and Caroline Tritt-Frank.

Dinjii Vadzaih Dhidlit: The Man Who Became a Caribou is a new bilingual volume based on a series of oral interviews with Gwich'in elders living in rural northeast Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Richly illustrated, the book covers a wide range of topics based on traditional harvesting and use of caribou from ancient to contemporary times. It also reveals traditional beliefs and taboos about caribou and includes a detailed naming system for caribou anatomy, conversations about potlatches and sharing, as well as personal experience stories and traditional stories. The book was made possible by research grant from the National Science Foundation and a publication grant by the Alaska Humanities Forum. Craig Mishler is a cultural anthropologist and folklorist who has worked continuously in Alaska since the late 1960s and is the author, co-author, and editor of eight books, including Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled from Place to Place: The Gwich'in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank (2001) and The Blind Man and the Loon: The Story of a Tale (2013). Kenneth Frank is an elder, indigenous scholar, and a fluent speaker of the Gwich'in language. He was raised in Venetie, Alaska, lived for many years in Arctic Village, and now resides in Fairbanks. Kenneth is in frequent demand for drum making and singing workshops and is the leader of the Di'haii Gwich'in dancers. Allan Hayton is the Language Revitalization Program Director at the Doyon Foundation. A Gwich'in translator, he grew up in Arctic Village, and is the son of Lena Pauline Hayton from Fort Yukon, Alaska, and James T. Hayton from Natick, Massachusetts. Other project team members and collaborators for the project include Crystal Frank, and Caroline Tritt-Frank.

The Man Who Became A Caribou with Craig Mishler, Elder Kenneth Frank and Allan Hayton

At this event, folklorist Craig Mishler analyzes how the tale, The Blind Man and the Loon, changed over time, and how storytellers and oral tradition function within various societies. With the use of two maps he follows the routes the story has traveled which results in a masterful assessment of how Native oral traditions and folktales are adapted and spread among widely diverse cultures. Craig Mishler is an affiliate research professor with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He is the editor of Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled from Place to Place: The Gwich’in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank and the author of The Crooked Stovepipe: Athapaskan Fiddle Music and Square Dancing in Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada.

At this event, folklorist Craig Mishler analyzes how the tale, The Blind Man and the Loon, changed over time, and how storytellers and oral tradition function within various societies. With the use of two maps he follows the routes the story has traveled which results in a masterful assessment of how Native oral traditions and folktales are adapted and spread among widely diverse cultures. Craig Mishler is an affiliate research professor with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He is the editor of Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled from Place to Place: The Gwich’in Stories of Johnny and Sarah Frank and the author of The Crooked Stovepipe: Athapaskan Fiddle Music and Square Dancing in Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada.

The Blind Man and the Loon with  Folklorist Craig Mishler