9725668 Lee This project makes a permanent record of the history, techniques and regional and temporal variations of Alaskan Eskimo (Yup'ik) coiled basketry. While often dismissed as "tourist art," and as a consequence ignored, Yup'ik coiled basketry is an important women's art form. Also, it has been an important component of the mixed cash-and-subsistence economy of modern rural Alaska. Finally, changes in basketry styles are linked to important historical and economic changes that have affected different Yup'ik societies. The documentation of Yup'ik coiled basketry is of great interest to scholars of Alaskan Eskimo ethnography and ethnohistory, researchers in the fields of arts acculturation, material culture studies, and gender studies, and researchers with interests in economic anthropology, diffusion, and innovation. This project produces photo-documentation of different coiled basketry styles that is linked to different historical and economic events affecting regional Yup'ik groups.
