Nora Marks Dauenhauer

Nora Dauenhauer in 2011

Nora Marks Dauenhauer (May 8, 1927 – September 25, 2017) was a Tlingit poet, short-story writer, and Tlingit language scholar from Alaska. She won an American Book Award for Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 And 1804.

Life

Nora Marks was born May 8, 1927, the first of 16 children of Emma Marks (1913–2006) of Yakutat, Alaska, and Willie Marks (1902–1981), a Tlingit from Hoonah, Alaska. Nora's Tlingit name at birth was Keix̱wnéi.[1] Following her mother in the Tlingit matrilineal system, she was a member of the Raven moiety of the Tlingit nation, of the Yakutat Lukaax̱.ádi (sockeye) clan,[1] and of the Shaka Hít or Canoe Prow House, from Alsek River. Emma's maternal grandfather had been Frank Italio (1870–1956), an informant to the anthropologist Frederica de Laguna whose knowledge was incorporated into De Laguna's 1972 ethnography of the northern Tlingit, Under Mount St. Elias.

She got married at age 18 to Tony Florendo, and the couple had four children. After her youngest child went to High School, she earned her GED. She then earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, Alaska.

In 1973 she married linguist Richard Dauenhauer, who had done his doctoral work on Tlingit language. Over the next 40 years, separately and together they were highly influential in preserving and teaching the Tlingit language.

She died on September 25, 2017 at the age of 90.[1]

Career

Dauenhauer researched Tlingit language for the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks from 1972 to 1973. There she translated and transcribed works of Tlingit culture into books. Her books include Beginning Tlingit, published in 1976.[2]

When Dauenhauer received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, she and her family moved to Juneau, Alaska, in 1983. There she became a principal researcher in language and cultural studies at the Sealaska Heritage Foundation from 1983-1997. From October 10, 2012, to October 2014 she resided as Alaska States Poet Laureate.[3]

Personal

Dauenhauer lived in Juneau where she wrote, researched, and volunteered at local schools. She had four children, 13 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.[4]

Awards

  • 1980: Humanist of the Year by Alaska Humanities Forum
  • 1989: Alaska's Governor Award for the Arts[5]
  • 1991 and 2008: Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award
  • May 2001: Received Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from University of Alaska Southeast.
  • December 2004: Received 2005 Community Spirit Award from the First Peoples Fund of Rapid City, South Dakota.
  • 2007: Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian tribes of Alaska recognized her with a lifetime achievement award.[5]
  • 2008: Received American Book Award for Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka 1802 and 1804.[5]
  • March 2010: Inducted into Alaska women's hall of fame.[5]
  • November 2011: Selected as Indigenous Leadership award honoree by Ecotrust, Salman Nation, Portland, Oregon.[5][4]
  • 2012 – 2014 – Alaska State Writer Laureate (first Alaskan Native to be honored with the position).[5]

Works

  • (1983) "Egg Boat." In: Earth Power Coming: Short Fiction in Native American Literature, ed. by Simon J. Ortiz, pp. 155–161. Tsaile: Navajo Community College Press.
  • (1986) "Context and Display in Northwest Coast Art." New Scholar, vol. 10, pp. 419–432.
  • (1988) The Droning Shaman: Poems by Nora Marks Dauenhauer, Haines: The Black Current Press
  • (1990) "The Battles of Sitka, 1802 and 1804, from the Tlingit, Russian, and Other Points of View." In: Russia in North America, ed. by Richard Pierce, pp. 6–24. Kingston, Ontario: Limestone Press.
  • (with Richard Dauenhauer) (eds.) (1981) "Because We Cherish You ...": Sealaska Elders Speak to the Future. Juneau: Sealaska Heritage Foundation.
  • (with Richard Dauenhauer) (eds.) (1987) Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors: Tlingit Oral Narratives. (Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature, vol. 1.) Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  • (with Richard Dauenhauer) (eds.) (1990) Haa Tuwanáagu Yís, for Healing Our Spirit: Tlingit Oratory. (Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature, vol. 2.) Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  • (with Richard Dauenhauer) (eds.) (1994) Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories. (Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature, vol. 3.) Seattle: University of Washington Press.
  • (with Richard Dauenhauer) (1998) 'Technical, emotional and ideological issues in reversing language shift: examples from Southeast Alaska', in Grenoble, L A. & Whaley, L J. Endangered Languages: Language Loss and Community Response. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Nora Dauenhauer, Richard Dauenhauer, Lydia Black, eds. (2008). Russians in Tlingit America. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98601-2.

See also

Bibliography

  • De Laguna, Frederica (1972) Under Mount St. Elias. 3 vols. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gullufsen, Kevin (25 September 2017). "Native scholar, writer laureate Nora Dauenhauer dies at 90". Juneau Empire. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Nora Marks Dauenhauer". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 29 May 2016. "Beginning Tlingit"is used all over Southeast, Alaska as well as their other works to teach the Tlingit language and culture.
  3. ↑ "Alaska". Main Reading Room. Library of Congress. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Nora Marks Dauenhauer, Alaska State Writer Laureate". Alaska State Writer Laureate. Alaska State Council on the Arts. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Remembering Nora Marks Dauenhauer". Values in Action. Sealaska. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.