Two Juneau residents were honored Tuesday night at the Alaska Governor’s Arts and Humanities Awards in Anchorage.
X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell, a professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, received the Alaska Native Arts Award. The distinction recognizes his commitment to preserving Indigenous languages.
Twitchell is vice-chair of the Alaska Native Language Preservation & Advisory Council and has spent years recording, documenting and teaching Lingít.
He opened his remarks in Lingít before switching to English, saying he was hopeful about the future of Indigenous languages, despite the threats they face today.
“My challenge to every one of you is to say seven generations from now, will those little grandchildren of ours know your name based on what you did to avoid an unnecessary genocide of Indigenous peoples,” Twitchell told the audience. “I think they will know your name. I think they will say ‘this was a moment when things shifted in a positive direction for us. They did this for us.’ Because Alaska Native languages don’t just benefit Alaska Native peoples. They allow us all to survive.”
Also being honored Tuesday was the new state writer laureate Vera Starbard, a Lingít playwright, magazine editor and TV writer based in Juneau. She will serve two years in the role, traveling around the state to promote the literary arts.
Accepting her award, Starbard said she was honored to be recognized for sharing the everyday stories of Alaskans.
“I see much of my job now as translator, and taking this state, and this land and these people that I love so much, and figuring out how to turn that into bite-sized pieces for an outside world that can learn from us,” she said. “Your stories are not only valid, they are needed.”
Another Juneau resident created the awards for the ceremony. Master Chilkat weaver Lily Hope wove a Ravenstail dancing blanket that was divided up among the awardees, symbolizing reciprocity and interwoven identities.
“When a Chilkat dancing blanket is cut up and given away to dignitaries, this communicates the valuable relationship acknowledged by the receivers, who treasure their small part of the whole in a cultural cycle of reciprocity,” Hope said in a video shared on Instagram.