Talk part of Native American Heritage Month
November 21, 2018
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) next week will sponsor a lecture on Tlingit Raven oral traditions, in recognition of Native American Heritage Month.
In his lecture, Gwál Yisikóo Yá Yéil: Maybe You Know This Raven, X’unei Lance Twitchell will explore the character of Raven based on analysis of a series of Yéil Ḵutláakw (Raven Cycles) and Yéil Shkalneek (Raven Stories) that were documented from the 1950s through 2013.
“I’ll discuss the behaviors and speech patterns of Raven and explore what this may reveal about people, places, languages, and histories,” Twitchell wrote.
The lecture is scheduled at noon on Tuesday, Nov. 27, in the Living History Room at the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau. The event is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome.
Biography
Lance Twitchell carries the Tlingit names X’unei and Du Aaní Kawdinook and the Haida name K’eijáakw. He lives in Juneau with his wife and bilingual children, and is from the Tlingit, Haida, and Yup’ik Native nations. He speaks and studies the Tlingit language and advocates for Indigenous language revitalization. He is an associate professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, a doctoral student at Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and a Northwest Coast artist, musician, and filmmaker.
Sealaska Heritage Institute is a private nonprofit founded in 1980 to perpetuate and enhance Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Its goal is to promote cultural diversity and cross-cultural understanding through public services and events. SHI also conducts social scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history and education statewide. The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees and guided by a Council of Traditional Scholars, a Native Artist Committee and a Southeast Regional Language Committee.
CONTACT: Amy Fletcher, SHI Media and Publications Director, 907.586.9116, amyfletcher@sealaska.com.
For a higher resolution image, contact kathy.dye@sealaska.com.
