Shandaa: In my Lifetime - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555001084 ISBN 13: 9781555001087

Publisher: Alaska Native Language Center, 1988

Synopsis

Belle Herbert lived all of her very long life -- perhaps 128 years -- in and around the village of Chalkyitsik on the Black River. Belle’s lively memories of life in this region of the upper Yukon River before she met any white person are captured here as she told them to her grandchild. She tells of the hard nomadic life as her people moved camp and set up heavy moosehide tents while the men hunted. She talks about marriage, religion, traditional cooking, the first airplanes, and the conveniences of modern ways. Belle’s stories are presented in Gwich’in with English translations and are illustrated with many photographs by Rob Stapleton and drawings by Sandy Jamieson. Includes illustrations, photos, maps.
 



 



 

 

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from the Introduction

Belle Herbert is a Gwich'in Athabaskan woman who lives in the village of Chalkyitsik, Alaska, on the Black River. According to conflicting birth records, she is between 105 and 127 years old. Her son died in 1964 at the age of 68; so Belle may well have seen more than 120 springtimes. People in the Yukon Flats refer to her as Belle, so that is how we will refer to her [here]. 

I [Bill Pfisterer] lived in Fort Yukon for some years and often heard people mention Belle and her stories. In the fall of 1979, the Alaska Humanities Forum provided us with money to do a series of recordings with Belle telling her life story. I made several trips to Chalkyitsik to talk with her; the accounts in this book have been transcribed from the recordings of those meetings.

Edition details

• Publisher: Alaska Native Language Center
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1555001084
• ISBN 13: 9781555001087
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 207
• Editor: Herber Belle, Pfisterer Bill