Synopsis
In this personal narrative, Tom Kizzia tells of a journey through the outback of Alaska in search of North America's last aboriginal landscapes. In the wilderness of the outer coast, Kizzia finds an indigenous people whose traditions are as pressed by the twentieth century as is the primeval land they inhabit and learns how the complexities of modern times have given rise to a Native sovereignty movement, as tribal elders and a troubled younger generation struggle to reconcile their centuries-old traditions with a new age of Native capitalism and rock and roll. Through vivid portraits of characters and places along the way, the author describes his discovery of a magical mix of worlds--a team of Indian boys journeying downriver to a softball game--a spontaneous midnight whale hunt in the Bering Sea--and begins to see Alaska from a new perspective. Just as Eskimo hunters watch the water for the wake of their unseen quarry, Kizzia keeps his eye on the visibly changing life in the bush while managing to grasp the invisible spiritual strength of a people who embrace the heart of nature--and to portray inThe Wake of the Unseen Object the efforts of those who are working to make that way of life endure.
Reviews
YA-- A fascinating yet troubling narrative. Kizzia provides sensitive insights into the conflicts and complexities that modern technology, government, and economics have brought to the indigenous people on the outer coasts of Alaska. The cultural parallels are not unlike those that have bludgeoned the natives in the lower 48, although the Alaskan distance has probably been the greatest innate agent of its preservation. Recommended reading for all, but suited for collections serving American culture and civilization curricula.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Kizzia, a journalist with the Anchorage Daily News , here seeks aboriginal culture on a beat without roads: Alaska's remote Native Aleut and Eskimo villages. As he looks for bits of wisdom that "Alaska's indigenous people remember. . . about a world that the rest of us have forgotten," he compiles 11 reports from communities like Mary's Igloo, Red Devil and Sleetmute that clearly represent a fractured culture. For instance, Yup'ik elders, who court hunting success with drums and dances, forbid young people to dance to rock 'n' roll because of beliefs holding that dance without purpose is sinful. Kizzia's quest proves at least a generation too late, but though his original purpose is unrealized, his encounters with Athabaskan softball teams, Yup'ik walrus hunters, and violent alcohol-related crime and death near Red Devil leave an interesting, if sometimes disturbing, wake of contradictions. Aficionados of John McPhee's Coming into the Country will be intrigued by another view of Alaska.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Today, Alaska's Native peoples face the challenge of retaining their traditional cultures while dealing with the panoply of resources and policies laid out by white decision-makers in the lower 48 states. In this very personal account, journalist Kizzia chronicles his visits to Native settlements in Alaska's remote bush country, including descriptions of fishing for salm on from a Black River Yup'ik Eskimo fishing camp, traveling down the Tanana River to root for the Athabaskan Indian softball team from Tetlin, and cheering on a dog sled team at the first race of the season. The author tries to understand issues from a Native point of view and invites his readers to do the same. A nice addition to the growing body of literature about life in Alaska today.
- Mary B. Davis, Huntington Free Lib., Bronx, New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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