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Nora Marks Dauenhauer

ノラ・マークス・ダウエンハウアー

Nora Marks Dauenhauer

Pen Names: Keixwnéi（Tlingit name at birth / clan name）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1927-05-08 （Juneau, Territory of Alaska, U.S.）
Died
2017-09-25 （Juneau, Alaska, U.S.） age 90
Nationality
United States
Languages
Tlingit, English
Residence History
Juneau (primary residence) → Hoonah (seasonal residence) → Yakutat (maternal family area) → Icy Strait / Glacier Bay (seasonal hunting and fishing sites) → Cape Spencer (seasonal sites)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Writer, Tlingit language scholar, Educator
Active Years
1970-2017
Affiliations
Alaska Native Language Center (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Sealaska Heritage Foundation, University of Alaska Southeast (honorary degree)
Influenced By
Ancestral and clan oral traditions, Family knowledge-bearers (e.g., Frank Italio as an informant to ethnographers), Richard Dauenhauer (husband and collaborator)
Influenced
Tlingit language revitalization efforts and subsequent generations of learners, Scholars and writers of Indigenous Alaskan literature

Education

Alaska Methodist University (now Alaska Pacific University)
Faculty (Anthropology) / Anthropology
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology)
Period: 1970s - 1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
Learned English after childhood, obtained GED and later completed BA in Anthropology

Awards

Humanist of the Year (Alaska Humanities Forum)
1980
Organization: Alaska Humanities Forum
Result: 受賞
Alaska Governor's Award for the Arts (Native Alaskan Artist Award, co-recipient)
1989
Organization: State of Alaska
Result: 受賞（共同）
American Book Award (Before Columbus Foundation)
1991
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctor of Humanities
2001
Organization: University of Alaska Southeast
Result: 授与
Community Spirit Award (First Peoples Fund)
2005
Organization: First Peoples Fund
Result: 受賞
Lifetime Achievement Award (Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)
2007
Organization: Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Result: 受賞
American Book Award (for Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká / Russians in Tlingit America)
2008
Work: Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká / Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 and 1804
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation / University of Washington Press (publisher)
Result: 受賞（編集者としての貢献）
Inductee, Alaska Women's Hall of Fame
2010
Organization: Alaska Women's Hall of Fame
Result: 殿堂入り
Alaska State Writer Laureate
2012
Category: 2012–2014
Organization: Alaska State Council on the Arts / Alaska Humanities Forum
Result: 任命

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká / Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 and 1804

2008 History / Ethnohistory / Edited oral narratives 491 pages

An edited volume drawing on Tlingit oral accounts and historical sources to document the contact between Russians and the Tlingit around Sitka in 1802 and 1804, emphasizing local perspectives and cultural context.

colonial contactoral historycultural memory

Life Woven with Song

2000 Poetry / Autobiographical prose

A collection of poems and prose drawing on personal memory and clan narratives, blending lyric pieces with dramatized traditional Raven stories reflecting life on the northern Pacific coast.

memoryclan narrativesnature and the sea

Beginning Tlingit

1976 Language learning / Ethnolinguistics

An introductory textbook for learning Tlingit, created as a practical resource for language preservation and teaching in Southeast Alaska.

language preservationeducationtranscription of oral tradition

Bibliography

  • Beginning Tlingit (1976)
  • Life Woven with Song (2000)
  • Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká / Russians in Tlingit America (ed., 2008)
  • Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors (with Richard Dauenhauer, 1987)
  • Haa Tuwanáagu Yís, for Healing Our Spirit (with Richard Dauenhauer, 1990)
  • Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture (with Richard Dauenhauer, 1994)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Lyrical style incorporating oral-tradition formsConcise, dense expression reflecting the rhythms and symbolism of traditional storytelling
Recurring Motifs
sea and landRavenclan and ancestral narrativeslanguage and memory

Legacy

Nora Marks Dauenhauer made major contributions to the documentation and teaching of the Tlingit language and oral culture. As a poet, editor, and scholar she preserved regional history and memory and received wide recognition, including serving as Alaska State Writer Laureate.

Museums

  • Sealaska Heritage Institute Juneau, Alaska, U.S.

Archives

  • Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives
  • University of Alaska Southeast / Juneau libraries and archives

Quotes

  • Tlingit is not as simple as people think; I find it to be one of the hardest languages I have encountered.
    Source: Interview (KTOO) (2015)

Trivia

  • Born the first of 16 children.
  • Tlingit name at birth: Keix̱wnéi (clan name).
  • Given the title Naa Tláa (Clan Mother) in 2010 as ceremonial clan leader.
  • Collaborated extensively with her husband Richard Dauenhauer on research and publications.