Herring and People of the North Pacific: Sustaining a Keystone Species

Review\n"This is an exceptionally interesting, carefully written, and well-reasoned examination of the role the Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) has played in the history and culture of the peoples of the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska."―Choice\n"[A]n interesting read: a current fishing issue with a historic and anthropologic context, well documented and annotated, with references, photographs, charts, and a timeline of the Southeast herring fishery."―Alaska History\n"Does no less than take the reader through the 10,000-year history of herring ecology and use by both Indigenous and non-Native people in the North Pacific."―Ann Fienup-Riordan, author of Ellavut / Our Yup'ik World and Weather\n"A significant, extensive discussion of Indigenous knowledge surrounding Pacific herring and the issues of modern herring management that are currently very important to Indigenous peoples in Southeast Alaska and coastal British Columbia."―Chuck Smythe, director, Department of History and Culture, Sealaska Heritage Institute\nHerring are vital to the productivity and health of marine systems, and socio-ecologically Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is one of the most important fish species in the Northern Hemisphere. Human dependence on herring has evolved for millennia through interactions with key spawning areas―but humans have also significantly impacted the species' distribution and abundance.\nCombining ethnological, historical, archaeological, and political perspectives with comparative reference to other North Pacific cultures, Herring and People of the North Pacific traces fishery development in Southeast Alaska from precontact Indigenous relationships with herring to postcontact focus on herring products. Revealing new findings about current herring stocks as well as the fish's significance to the conservation of intraspecies biodiversity, the book explores the role of traditional local knowledge, in combination with archeological, historical, and biological data, in both understanding marine ecology and restoring herring to their former abundance.\nBook Description\nA unique look at Indigenous knowledge, fisheries management, and marine ecology

History

Thornton, Thomas F.

Moss, Madonna L.

Americas

University of Washington Press

Herring are vital to the productivity and health of marine systems, and socio-ecologically Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is one of the most important fish species in the Northern Hemisphere. Human dependence on herring has evolved for millennia through interactions with key spawning areas--but humans have also significantly impacted the species' distribution and abundance. Combining ethnological, historical, archaeological, and political perspectives with comparative reference to other North Pacific cultures, Herring and People of the North Pacific traces fishery development in Southeast Alaska from precontact Indigenous relationships with herring to postcontact focus on herring products. Revealing new findings about current herring stocks as well as the fish's significance to the conservation of intraspecies biodiversity, the book explores the role of traditional local knowledge, in combination with archeological, historical, and biological data, in both understanding marine ecology and restoring herring to their former abundance.

Being and Place among the Tlingit (Culture, Place, and Nature)

In Being and Place among the Tlingit, anthropologist Thomas F. Thornton examines the concept of place in the language, social structure, economy, and ritual of southeast Alaska's Tlingit Indians. Place signifies not only a specific geographical location but also reveals the ways in which individuals and social groups define themselves. The notion of place consists of three dimensions - space, time, and experience - which are culturally and environmentally structured. Thornton examines each in detail to show how individual and collective Tlingit notions of place, being, and identity are formed. As he observes, despite cultural and environmental changes over time, particularly in the post-contact era since the late eighteenth century, Tlingits continue to bind themselves and their culture to places and landscapes in distinctive ways. He offers insight into how Tlingits in particular, and humans in general, conceptualize their relationship to the lands they inhabit, arguing for a study of place that considers all aspects of human interaction with landscape. In Tlingit, it is difficult even to introduce oneself without referencing places in Lingit Aani (Tlingit Country). Geographic references are embedded in personal names, clan names, house names, and, most obviously, in k-waan names, which define regions of dwelling. To say one is Sheet'ka K-waan defines one as a member of the Tlingit community that inhabits Sheet'ka (Sitka). Being and Place among the Tlingit makes a substantive contribution to the literature on the Tlingit, the Northwest Coast cultural area, Native American and indigenous studies, and to the growing social scientific and humanistic literature on space, place, and landscape.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thornton, Thomas F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thornton, Thomas F.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thornton, Thomas F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Herring and People of the North Pacific: Sustaining a Keystone Species

Herring and People of the North Pacific: Sustaining a Keystone Species

Being and Place among the Tlingit (Culture, Place, and Nature)