OLAC Record oai:ahtnaheritagefoundation.com:OTHB01-0021-01

Metadata
Title:		Side A - Stella Ewan, Gulkana, Side B - Bradley Sinyon, Gakona,
Access Rights:		ahtna_only
Date:		1988-10-05
Description:		Stella Ewan, 72, born in Gakona, parents are Jimmy and Annie. Grew up in Gakona, between Gakona and Sourdough. Daddy was nicknamed Sourdough Jim. Don't remember Grandpa but remember a little of her Grandma. Don't remember name. Indian name is Nadii' Ii/lnaa means bring in something. Word in language for subsistence? hwnakae'nesyaan means we were raised with it. What does the word subsistence mean to you? Is it important to you? Yes, every time I hear subsistence I think about salmon. Were you trained by family members how to make a living? Oh yeah, we used to go out in the woods and train us make trail and cut wood, bring them in, when dad or brothers kill moose we bring it in with dog team. We can't throw the hides of caribou and moose hide. We have to skin it really good. We make sinew and moccasin out of the hide. Sinew is nes'c'itii. Explanation about fish traps and how they caught fish. Dad taught them how to cut salmon head off and Mother taught how to cut and dry the fish. How to wash it before hanging it up. Teach by trapping squirrel. did you catch any? yeah. Dad teach her how to kill a live squirrel in the trap. Snare rabbits. After squirrel you went to rabbit snaring. Muskrat in the spring. Is subsistence important to you today? Yes, still miss what I used to do. I miss how to tan moose hide. Miss cutting fish. Important to me, without that there is no work or nothing. Nothing to do. The Indian way. Do you think that Indian people think in a different way than non natives? Some people are like Native people, you can tell they love to take care of fish. What about others who don't think the same way as Native people? some people want salmon but don't want to work on fish wheel, to put in the water. Do you think Non natives feel the same as Natives when they kill game? They just want to get trophy and leave meat there where they kill the animal. Would your people leave the meat? No, unless someone got hurt. the woman stay with the meat until someone come to help them if the husband gets hurt. They smoke the meat if it get little bit old. Why has the system changed? Because of too much activity or don't see other kids doing what they used to do. What year did things start to change? Went to school when I was 16 year old. Went to school at Copper Center. Why should kids today learn the old way? Who gonna teach them and help them learn if old people died away? why should they learn? If they learn to kill moose and caribou and fishing then they be all right. Right now they don't know how to hunt, make fish wheel or fish camp. they always can make a living with subsistence. If they build the back scatter around here, how will it make a difference on subsistence lifestyle? Don't know. Mile 15 they say used to be old village there. Old Adam's Daddy used to be there. When you made a camp, why would you pick one place? good place to camp, where there is good wood. Don't pick out place that has no wood. Used to look for place with rocks for sweat bath.they would leave the stuff they used at the camp site. Is there anything about your lifestyle that you would like to say? Always say that I wish I was back in old days. Nothing bother us. Right now we can't do nothing anymore, we can't go any place, no more land. We never been up to trap line cabin by Crosswind Lake. Big trout up there, all kinds of fish there, Crosswind Lake. Was a good life, don't mind going back to that life. Side B: Brad Sinyon worked with OTHB project. Interview on site locations and subsistence. 34 years old, worked on archaeology crew, sampling was done by computer, didn't use elevations map, coherent was way out in swamp. Do you think Ahtna was represented well? True feelings of working archaeology is that professional people like to handle the work, they have a hard time giving up the planning and organizing of things related. What does subsistence mean to you? Food, art, livelihood, something to bring to special gatherings, cache full of food then you don't have to worry about food. Security. Something to look forward to. No training on subsistence gathering. they were encouraged to go to school and get education. Trapping and stuff was almost forgotten, it wasn't a way to get fast money. Back in the '60's and '70's education became more important than subsistence lifestyle. Since jobs are scarce you need subsistence. Is subsistence important in your life today? Yes, not enough jobs to support family. Subsistence is important to every body's family. Cache full of fish and meat. Subsistence is food, trapping and hunting. Do Indian people think in a different way than non natives? yeah. When Native people kill game and non natives kill game is there a different appreciation? don't think there is a difference, As far as handling the moose, the non natives don't use all the parts. They won't be able to eat moose head. They throw it away. They waste a lot of meat. What are some of the reasons over time that Indian lifestyle changed? Lack of game, kids bring game, some don't bring their parents no game. The old people used to get game and fish easy. Now you gotta go way out to get game. If a person was to build a house and have no bills is to live a subsistence lifestyle. Do you think that the Ahtna people will return to old ways? Yes. just like what I said everything goes around. Wants son to learn both ways of lifestyle. Gotta learn about the world around us and teach him the traditional way of living. Education is necessity and traditional is the way I want him to learn. I want him to know old ways. Are the jobs worth what is going to be lost in subsistence? I can't answer that. I think both ways, it is good to have work and having a chance to have work for those that want to work. I see it also as another space in our area that will be uncovered to the world. We need to keep our area for our own subsistence. Need to cut the ATV usage out in the hunting areas. What effect will the back scatter have on the village? It depends on who gets employed and who doesn't. don't want to take the gamble, you are losing more than gaining. If we had more power in fish and game we would have more to say about subsistence. Copper River got no power in how things are going to run for subsistence. Unless someone run for seat on the board. . Language as given: aht
Format:		Digitised: 0; Media: compact cassette; Media description: Maxwell UR90
Identifier:		OTHB01-0021-01
Language:		Ahtena
		English
Language (ISO639):		aht
		eng
Subject:		Ahtena language
		English language
Subject (ISO639):		aht
		eng
OLAC Info
Archive:		C'ek'aedi Hwnax Ahtna Regional Linguistic and Ethnographic Archive
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/ahtnaheritagefoundation.com
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:ahtnaheritagefoundation.com:OTHB01-0021-01
DateStamp:		1988-10-05
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		n.a. 1988-10-05. C'ek'aedi Hwnax Ahtna Regional Linguistic and Ethnographic Archive.
Terms:		area_Americas area_Europe country_GB country_US iso639_aht iso639_eng
Inferred Metadata
Country:		United KingdomUnited States
Area:		AmericasEurope