Tanana and Chandalar: The Alaska Field Journals of Robert A. McKennan

Edited by Craig Mishler and William E. Simone

$44.95 hc
Available Now
ISBN 1-55238-201-X
336 pp.
6" x 9"
b&w photographs and illustrations

Northern Lights Series, No.9

Copublished with the University of Alaska Press and the Arctic Institute of North America

About the Book

One of Alaska’s premier ethnographers, Robert A. McKennan (1903–1982) spent the years between 1929 and 1933 in several remote Native villages where he documented Interior Athabaskan life in a series of books and journals. McKennanís journals are an extraordinary window onto Athabaskan culture before it was radically transformed by social changes following World War II. While McKennanís two major ethnographiesóon the Tanana and the Gwichíin (Kutchin)órepresent the scientific aspects of his work, his voluminous letters and journals form an equally significant part of anthropologyís humanistic tradition.

McKennan chronicles both his day-to-day struggles to survive in the Alaska wilderness as well as his frustrations as an anthropologist. He recorded his field methods and the difficulties he encountered in pursuing his research. The result is a personal memoir of a dedicated researcher and sensitive observer. Historic photographs, maps, and a bibliography of McKennanís publications honor his legacy and highlight his lasting contributions to Alaska Native history and anthropology.

About the Author

Craig Mishler received his doctorate in anthropology and folklore from the University of Texas. He is the author or editor of several books on northern anthropology.

William E. Simeone has been a VISTA volunteer, a paralegal, a laborer on the Trans-Alaska pipeline, and an anthropologist working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In 1990, he received a Ph.D. in anthropology from McMaster University.

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