Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: January 8, 2021 at 12:09:44 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Routledge on Cusack-McVeigh, 'Stories > Find You, Places Know: Yup'ik Narratives of a Sentient World' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Holly Cusack-McVeigh. Stories Find You, Places Know: Yup'ik > Narratives of a Sentient World. Salt Lake City University of Utah > Press, 2017. 328 pp. $24.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-60781-582-2. > > Reviewed by Karen Routledge (Parks Canada) > Published on H-Environment (January, 2021) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > This book is a thoughtful summary of Holly Cusack-McVeigh's > observations on place in Hooper Bay, a Yup'ik community on the Alaska > coast. Cusack-McVeigh worked on several community projects in Hooper > Bay over more than two decades and conducted her own research there. > This book is about how Yupiit interact with places; how places > respond to Yupiit actions and suffering; and how Yupiit have extended > their understandings of place to make sense of, and resist, new types > of places--specifically churches, schools, and other _kass'aq_ (White > person, outsider) buildings. > > In chapter 1, Cusack-McVeigh states that for Yupiit, places are > actors that "learn about people" and "react to human actions and > states of being" (p. 1). She situates herself within the work of > other scholars of Yup'ik folklore, cosmology, and worldview. Chapter > 2 explains how Yupiit in Hooper Bay relate to each other through > places, partly by talking about the land instead of discussing > painful social issues directly. Cusack-McVeigh introduces readers to > a local shaman's grave, a site she returns to several times > throughout the book. Her friend, who had recently lost a close family > member, took Cusack-McVeigh to this grave and told her that it was > getting lower on the land. The friend believed starvation would occur > in the community when the grave sunk to the level of the tundra. > Cusack-McVeigh interprets this as the friend letting the land talk > for her. When the friend spoke of the shaman's grave and other > changes in the land, she was indirectly talking about changes in > Hooper Bay, and how the land responded to these changes. Later in the > book, Cusack-McVeigh describes this grave as "a barometer of the > current social and physical health of the community and the world at > large" (p. 192). > > Chapters 3 through 7 consider stories about places and supernatural > beings around Hooper Bay. Chapter 3 is about sites out on the tundra > that are, or used to be, passageways to the spirit world. Many Hooper > Bay residents have told Cusack-McVeigh that the land used to be > "thinner" than it is today: the boundary between living and spirit > worlds was more porous (p. 40). In some places, visible marks on the > land remind Yupiit of these old stories and their teachings. Chapter > 4 is about water and includes stories of the shape-shifting water > creature paalraayak, and the dangers posed by humans who are > careless, ignorant, or disrespectful. In a brief discussion at the > end of the chapter, Cusack-McVeigh raises some good questions about > the potential impacts of toxic waste on Yup'ik relationships to > place. Chapter 5 is about cautionary tales and the consequences of > people not understanding or respecting the rules for living well in > Yup'ik homelands. These homelands are places where people sometimes > disappear and are never found, and where there are "no well-marked > boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead" > (p. 142). In chapter 6, Cusack-McVeigh talks about how warfare and > feuds between shamans were common in the past, and how "contacting > and appealing to the spirit world" was once a routine, everyday > occurrence (p. 167). In chapter 7, citing Julie Cruikshank's work > with the late Elder Angela Sidney, Cusack-McVeigh urges scholars > engaging with oral histories to pay attention to variants in stories, > and think about why stories are told differently for different > audiences. As an example, she recounts several different tellings of > the "teakettle ghost" story, about a White man who removes a > teakettle from a grave and becomes ill as a result. > > At the end of chapter 7, Cusack-McVeigh shifts the focus of the book > to talking about colonial buildings. She comments that many Yup'ik > ghost stories take place in schools and churches and argues that > these stories reflect the "the 'ghosts' of tensions and conflicts > that Yupiit have experienced since the time of contact" (p. 193). She > argues that sharing these ghost stories has empowered Yupiit both > individually and politically as a group. In my opinion, chapter > 8--about ghost stories in the old Catholic church in Hooper Bay--is > the strongest in the book and would likely work well as an assigned > reading for students. Cusack-McVeigh explains that while Yupiit > traditionally chose high ground for graves, early missionaries wanted > the same high ground for their churches, so Yupiit graves were often > moved during church construction. In Hooper Bay, the former Catholic > missionary John P. Fox also collected and shipped out human remains. > The old church became an "anchor" for collective memories and ghosts, > especially stories of Brother Oscar, a missionary who died in the > community. In chapter 9, Cusack-McVeigh points out that when they > were first built, churches and schools would have dominated the > village skyline, whereas old Yupiit homes blended in. She argues that > these new structures "mark[ed] the tundra" (p. 255) and were ascribed > meanings in similar ways as other landmarks. Chapter 10 recounts some > mission history of Hooper Bay, and reiterates that government or > mission buildings are common sites of ghost stories because of their > painful past. In the words of a Hooper Bay community member: "The > Catholic Church is haunted. The place that is haunted with all these > bad memories and bad experiences of the past" (p. 256). > Cusack-McVeigh also wonders if Yup'ik storytellers have chosen to > adopt aspects of _kass'aq_ ghost stories and tell these stories to > outsiders as acts of resistance. > > _Stories Find You, Places Know _is innovative in bringing together > stories of the land, abandoned traditional dwellings, and > colonial-era buildings. Indeed, Cusack-McVeigh's work blurs the > distinction between landmarks and buildings by showing that a > landmark can be "built" in part by human actions, and that a building > can be understood as a landmark. Cusack-McVeigh asks what these > various sites can tell us, when considered together, about Yup'ik > ideas of place. > > I appreciated how Cusack-McVeigh weaves ideas about colonialism and > resistance throughout the book. These themes are present throughout, > not just in the later chapters that are specifically about colonial > buildings. She asks how Yupiit are reinterpreting and understanding > old sites in light of present-day realities and discusses how they > have used stories and places to resist outsiders and warn others. > Yupiit also see the land responding to their pain, and Cusack-McVeigh > argues that while "outsiders may see a community suffering," they > often fail to appreciate how much strength Yupiit draw from the land > (p. 260). > > This is a rich book, and one that is hard to summarize. Readers > interested in any aspect of Yup'ik culture would do well to check the > index, as many topics and stories are mentioned that I did not have > space to cover here. This richness is also at times a weakness: so > many topics are covered that I found it hard to follow the main > thread in a few of the chapters. The number of cross-references to > material in previous and subsequent chapters was also distracting. > That being said, Cusack-McVeigh learned a lot during her time in > Hooper Bay and I find myself thinking back on her observations. For > example--of particular relevance in 2020--she returns several times > to the history of epidemics and how close to the surface memories of > sickness and dying are here, as they are in many Indigenous > communities.[1] > > This book is well rooted in Hooper Bay. As a reader who is not > familiar with Yup'ik history and culture, I would have welcomed a > deeper discussion of how Cusack-McVeigh's work fits into a broader > context, for example with other northern histories or Indigenous > responses to colonialism and place, or with the explosion of > scholarship on ghost stories and spectrality. As for shamanism, > Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten have come to similar > conclusions as Cusack-McVeigh about shamanism and its enduring > importance in the Eastern Arctic, and I would have liked to see her > engage with their work.[2] I realize, though, that there are always > more bodies of literature authors could engage with, and at some > point we just need to publish our books. > > I recommend _Stories Find You, Places Know _to historians interested > in Yup'ik history, in ideas of place, and in Indigenous responses to > colonialism. This book is a respectful and thought-provoking > reflection on what Cusack-McVeigh learned from Yup'ik friends, > acquaintances, and co-workers in Hooper Bay over more than twenty > years. > > Notes > > [1]. For one recent public reflection on epidemics, see the Facebook > post by the Da Kų Cultural Centre (Champagne and Aishihik First > Nations) from May 7, 2020: "Epidemics in Dákeyi," > https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3064587130274856&id=637608892972704. > > > [2]. Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten, _Inuit Shamanism and > Christianity: Transitions and Transformations in the Twentieth > Century _(Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2010). See also > Jarich Oosten, Frédéric Laugrand, and Cornelius Remie, "Perceptions > of Decline: Inuit Shamanism in the Canadian Arctic," _Ethnohistory > _53, no. 3 (June 2006): 445-77. > > Citation: Karen Routledge. Review of Cusack-McVeigh, Holly, _Stories > Find You, Places Know: Yup'ik Narratives of a Sentient World_. > H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. January, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54714 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#5283): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/5283 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/79529218/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
