Parka-clad children at play in Children playing in Kwigillingok in the 1940s. (Warren Petersen / Petersen Family Collection) “Tengautuli Atkuk - The Flying Parka: The Meaning and Making of Parkas in Southwest Alaska” By Ann Fineup-Riordan, Alice Reardon and Marie Meade; University of Washington Press, 2023; 320 pages; $45. Since time immemorial, the Yupiit people of Southwestern Alaska have thrived in one of the harshest environments on Earth, and learning to dress appropriately for the elements has been key to their success.
Perhaps no article of clothing has proven more critical than parkas. The wind-, rain- and cold-proof outer jackets allow their wearers to move freely through their world, staying warm and dry while pursuing a subsistence lifestyle that still informs their lives today. Those parkas were and still serve not just as attire, but as living pieces of culture, representing who the Yupiit are as a people.
“Parkas were not only beautiful but warm,” Ann Fineup-Riordan writes in the introduction to “Tengautuli Atkuk - The Flying Parka,” noting as well that: “One’s parka not only identified one’s family but displayed their hunting and sewing skills for all to see.” “The Flying Parka” is drawn from several meetings with Yup’ik Elders who discussed the history, creation and uses of parkas, and who provided personal memories and legends that enhance our understanding of their roles in an ancient culture. The book is a joint effort by Fineup-Ri.