Concerns about delivering quality education to rural Alaska extend back beyond statehood. I encountered this first hand more than a decade ago when I was organizing listening sessions in Yup’ik villages. Elders bemoaned the diminishment of Native culture and despaired at ever having Yup’ik teachers for their grandchildren. My first guest this episode is working on correcting that situation. Amy Vinlove is with the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Education. She’s part of a team funded by a grant from the Minnesota-based Margaret A. Cargill Foundation. In a collaboration with the Bering Strait School District and the Native non-profit corporation Kawerak the team is working on a project called SiLKAT, which stands for Sustaining Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Arts and Teaching. I began our discussion by asking Vinlove about the project.
Also on the show: Recently on Northern Soundings I spoke with the curator and artist Asia Freeman about the exhibit currently showing at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, “Decolonizing Alaska.” While I was up at the museum I ran into a long-time friend Roger Topp who is Director of Exhibits at the museum. Roger is an avid fencer. In fact, he’s been awarded state champion six time and national champion once. Maybe it comes from watching all those Errol Flynn movies as a boy, but I’ve always been interested in fencing. I invited Roger in to talk about his work at the museum and any links he’s found between writing and the sport.
And Chris Lott is in with another episode of Katexic Clippings.
Music from Jukedeck – create your own at http://jukedeck.com
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