Always Getting Ready: Upterrlainarluta: Yup'ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska [Paperback]

James H. Barker (Author, Photographer), Robin Barker (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1993

From rear cover notes: "In this remarkable book, James Barker follows the Yup'ik Eskimo of Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta through their year's cycle, beginning with spring seal hunting and ending with the winter dancing that celebrates life on the land. Striking duotone photographs and accompanying text capture a people alert to every opportunity. Whether they are waiting for the weather to clear for hunting or preparing testimony on the effects of oil exploration, they are, in the words of Yup'ik Agnes Kelly Bostrom, 'always getting ready.' For the Yup'ik, the realities of life on the delta have underlined the practicality of their traditional culutre. Living in a difficult climate, far from job centers and sources of supplies, the Yup'ik still rely on the land for food and materials. Their fishing, sealing, trapping, and berry picking are not sentimental reminders of a bygone way of life. They are practical necessities, bringing in as much as a thousand pounds of food per capita in some villages. A flexible and innovative people, the Yup'ik have been quick to integrate snow machines, CB radios, and other items they find useful into their lifestyle. They have revived the traditions of potlatches and dances - banned for years by missionaries - composing new songs that comment on snow machine joyrides, bingo games, and basketball. James Barker has photographed the people of the delta for eighteen years. Like his Yup'ik friends and subjects, he has been ready at a moment's notice to participate in whale hunts, trapping trips, steam baths, and the annual exodus to fishcamp, one of the highlights of the year. The photographs and conversations he presents in this book are neither elegies nor souvenirs, but something more basic and more valuable. 'When there is a moment of real connection or understanding,' he writes of his Yup'ik companions, 'then perhaps because we are different, I have a sense of catching something universal....'"

Product Details

• Paperback: 143 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295972351
• ISBN-13: 978-0295972350
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 9.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #668,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Photojournalist's Account of the Real People, January 7, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Kipnuk, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always Getting Ready: Upterrlainarluta: Yup'ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska (Paperback)

Having lived many years among the Yupik in Southwestern Alaska, James Barker does an exceptional job of accurately portraying the cyclical nature of life in rural Alaska. The changing of the seasons and how they affect the gathering and subsistence activities of the Yupik comes across clearly in the photographs. This book is important in the documentation of a way of life that is rapidly being subversed by the global economy which involves oil, stocks, and money.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars stunning, November 16, 1997

By 

"harry_vetch" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always Getting Ready: Upterrlainarluta: Yup'ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska (Paperback)

James Barker tells a story in pictures and words so richly that either of those media may have sufficed. The photos are powerful -- I was awestruct by the originals when I had the chance to see them in an Alaskan art museum --and they tell a story of an ancient culture in transition. The words are mostly the old stories and traditions that are still being passed down to the next generation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing overview of the Yup'Ik Culture, July 11, 2010

By 

Paula (Bethel, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always Getting Ready: Upterrlainarluta: Yup'ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska (Paperback)

One of the best books and pictures I have yet to read about the life and culture of the Yup'IK people! I am fortunate to live in Bethel and found the book to be a wonderful "snapshot" of a year in the life of substistance living and survival! They are a strong and amazing group of people!