Project Jukebox Survey
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The Tuluksak Project Jukebox was designed in collaboration with students and teachers of Tuulkessaaq (Tuluksak School) and Freda Alexie (Yupiit Elitnaurutait Local Cultural Coordinator). High school students Kristy Peter and Richard Phillip traveled to Fairbanks with Robin Sullivan, a teacher from Tuluksak to work with the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for this project. 
Interviews, maps and photographs were gathered for the jukebox from March 2004 to May 2005. All the base maps in this project were compiled by Robert Drozda and Vernon Chimegalrea from information provided by Lower Kuskokwim Yup’ik elders in 1988 (AHP CPSU and ANCSA 14(h)(1) Historical and Cemetery Sites Collection, ANCSA Project, at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office, Anchorage, Alaska).
The Yupiit School District formed by the Yup'ik villages of Akiachak, Akiak, and Tuluksak, designed a program in 1999 for cultural heritage education, entitled Yupiit Elitnaurutait (Cultural Teachings), whose central principle is "to strengthen and support Yup'ik identity of students through the Yupiit Piciyarait (Way of Life)." As part of that program, Yupiit Elitnaurutait staff members collaborated with the Oral History Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to create the Akiachak, Akiak and Tuluksak Project Jukeboxes to bring together Yup'ik oral history, traditional knowledge, and historical documentation.
The Tuluksak project was funded by the Yupiit School District & U.S.D.O.E. O.E.S.E. C.F.D.A #84.356A and Alaska Native Education Grant #S56A030068 & T290U010503. The original Tuluksak Project Jukebox was completed in 2005, and in 2021 it was upgraded from its original HTML format to Drupal. The information in this project reflects the context of the original creation date. Some information may now be out of date.
People
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Carrie Alexie |
Carrie Alexie is Yup'ik from Tukuksak, Alaska. She grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping, fishing and berrypicking and moving between seasonal subsistence camps. She learned traditional place names, trails, and important survival skills. In April 2005, Carrie participated in a group discussion with other Tuluksak elders speaking in Yup'ik about place names in the Tuluksak area while looking at a map that is included in the Tuluksak Project Jukebox.... Read More |
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Nick Alexie, Sr. |
Nick Alexie, Sr. is Yup'ik from Tuluksak, Alaska. He grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping, fishing and moving between seasonal camps. This provided him the opportunity to learn traditional place names, trails, and important navigation and survival skills. He spent a lot of time out on the land traveling by dogteam, boat and snowmachine, and gained detailed knowledge of the landscape, fish, birds, and wildlife in the area. He was always eager to... Read More |
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Joseph "Joe" Demantle, Sr. |
Joseph "Joe" Demantle, Sr. was Yup'ik and born in 1929 to Louise and Joe Demantle in Akiak, Alaska. Joe grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based on hunting, trapping and fishing. From his years of living on the land and traveling by dogteam, Joe learned the traditional place names and important navigation and survival skills. He married Lucy (Wassillie) from Akiachak and eventually they settled in Tuluksak, where Joe worked as a maintenance man at the school from 1966 to... Read More |
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Tuluksak Elders |
Tuluksak elders John Peter, Herman Hawk, Nick Alexie, Sr., Carrie Alexie, Joe Demantle, Sr. and Lydia Fly who participated in a group discussion about traditional Yup'ik place names in the Tuluksak area on April 13, 2005 with Bill Schneider, Louann Rank, Frank Chingliak and Sophie Kasyulie in Tuluksak, Alaska. |
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Lydia Fly |
Lydia Fly is Yup'ik from Tuluksak, Alaska. Lydia was born in 1933 to Martha and Peter Lott in a village that no longer exists that was across the river from Uuravik. She grew up near Uuravik and lived a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping, fishing and berrypicking and moving between seasonal camps. At age fifteen, she married Frank Fly and together they raised a large family, continuing to rely upon subsistence resources and traveling the land and rivers. For a... Read More |
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Herman Hawk |
Herman Hawk was Yup'ik from Tuluksak, Alaska. He was born in 1929 and grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping and fishing and moving between seasonal camps. He learned traditional place names, trails, and important navigation and survival skills. In April 2005, he participated in a group discussion with other Tuluksak elders speaking in Yup'ik about traditional place names in the Tuluksak area while looking at a map that is included in the Tuluksak... Read More |
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Lucy Napoka |
Lucy Napoka was Yup'ik from Tuluksak, Alaska. She was born in 1926 to Lilly and Henry Liskey. She grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping, fishing and berrypicking where her family moved around seasonal camps and she learned traditional knowledge of the land, places, and trails. Lucy married Peter Napoka at the Moravian Church in Bethel, Alaska, and together they raised a family based on the subsistence lifestyle and following the same Yup'ik... Read More |
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Marie Napoka |
Marie Napoka is Yup'ik from Tuluksak, Alaska. She was born in 1941 to Martha and Harry Jackson at Kwethluk, Alaska. She left home in 1958 to attend Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska. After she graduated in 1962, she went to cosmetology school in Anchorage for a year. In 1965, Marie moved to Tuluksak and married John Napoka. She taught adult education in Kwethluk, studied orthography of the Yup’ik language in Fairbanks, and then taught first grade Yup’ik language immersion classes... Read More |
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John Napoka, Jr. |
John Napoka, Jr. was Yup'ik and was born in 1940 to Mary and John Napoka, Sr. at Nuugpak near Tuluksak, Alaska. John grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping, and fishing which provided him great knowledge of the land and trails, traditional place names, and navigation and survival skills. He first traveled with dogteams and eventually used a snowmachine to check his trapline and travel in the area. In 1965, John married Marie (Jackson) and they raised... Read More |
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John Peter |
John Peter was Yup'ik from Tuluksak, Alaska. He was born in 1917 in Uuravik and came to Tuluksak as a little boy. He grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle based upon hunting, trapping and fishing and traveling to seasonal camps. He traveled by dogteam and learned traditional place names, trails, and navigation and survival skills. He received a basic education from a Bureau of Indian Affairs school, but his family needed him to help support them, so he returned home. John was a... Read More |
