Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup'ik Eskimo Oral Tradition (Civilization of the American Indian Series) [Paperback]

Ann Fienup-Riordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0806126469 | ISBN-13: 978-0806126463

This book brings together as complete a record of traditional Yup’ik rules and rituals as is possible in the late twentieth century. Incorporating elders’ recollections of the system of ruled boundaries and ritual passages that guided their parents and grandparents a century ago, Ann Fienup-Riordan brings into focus the complex, creative Yup’ik world view-expressed by ceremonial exchanges and the cycling of names, gifts, and persons-which continues to shape daily life in communities along the Bering Sea coast.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ann Fienup-Riordan is an independent scholar/anthologist. She was named Alaska History of the Year for The Real People and Children of Thunder: The Yup?ik Eskimo Encounter with Moravian Missionaries John and Edith Kilbuck, also published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (September 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806126469
• ISBN-13: 978-0806126463
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,422,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Conduit of Identity, May 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup'ik Eskimo Oral Tradition (Civilization of the American Indian Series) (Paperback)

"Boundaries and Passages" is one of the better anthropological texts on Arctic peoples to be found, Fienup-Riordan's text engages Yup'ik culture through context of ritual and shared space.

Detailed and often more of a documentary than an analysis, this text arms the anthropologist and/or interested reader with the context to form their own evaluations and conclusions.

The Yup'ik world is one formed by passages between the natural, spiritual, and human worlds. These passages are bounded, transgressed, and set right by rituals and practices that unite community...in effect creating Yup'ik identity in context of the outside world.

As well, Fienup-Riordan's text is a modern one, and she is clearly capable of acknowledging the changing spheres of influence that constantly create and recreate Yup'ik culture. Nowhere is the staid analysis of the Yup'ik as a dying culture, as a dead culture, as a static culture. Fienup-Riordan's book is a window into the living culture as well as the historical perspective.

An excellent text!