UA Press announces three new books

October 14, 2011

Sarah Manriquez

The University of Alaska Press announced the publication of three new books.

• Gwich'in Athabascan Implements: History, Manufacture, and Usage According to Reverend David Salmon, by Thomas A. O'Brien

The most detailed and well-illustrated study of material culture for any northern Athabascan language group to date, Gwich’in Athabascan Implements reproduces pre- and early post-contact tools that are historically important to the Athabascan people. A long-term collaboration between anthropologist Thomas O’Brien and Athabascan elder David Salmon, this volume provides more than forty one-to-one sketches of a wide variety of implements, many of which are no longer commonly in use.

Thomas A. O'Brien received an MA in anthropology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

• The Archaeology of North Pacific Fisheries, edited by Madonna L. Moss and Aubrey Cannon

For thousands of years, fisheries were crucial to the sustenance of the First Peoples of the Pacific Coast. Yet human impact has left us with a woefully incomplete understanding of their histories prior to the industrial era. Covering Alaska, British Columbia, and Puget Sound, The Archaeology of North Pacific Fisheries illustrates how the archaeological record reveals new information about ancient ways of life and the histories of key species. Individual chapters cover salmon, as well as a number of lesser-known species abundant in archaeological sites, including pacific cod, herring, rockfish, eulachon, and hake. In turn, this ecological history informs suggestions for sustainable fishing in today’s rapidly changing environment.

Madonna L. Moss is professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon. Aubrey Cannon is professor of anthropology at McMaster University in Ontario.

• North by 2020:
Perspectives on Alaska's Changing
Social-Ecological Systems, edited by Amy Lauren Lovecraft and Hajo Eicken

Originating from a series of workshops held at the Alaska Forum during the Fourth International Polar Year, this interdisciplinary volume addresses a host of current concerns regarding the ecology and rapid transformation of the arctic. Concentrating on the most important linked social-ecological systems, including fresh water, marine resources, and oil and gas development, this volume explores opportunities for sustainable development from a variety of perspectives, among them social sciences, natural and applied sciences, and the arts. Individual chapters highlight expressions of climate change in dance, music, and film, as well as from an indigenous knowledge–based perspective.

Amy Lauren Lovecraft is associate professor of political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Hajo Eiken is professor of geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the editor of Field Techniques for Sea Ice Research, also published by the University of Alaska Press.

For more information or to order these books contact Amy Simpson at 474-5832 or alsimpson@alaska.edu.