IÑUPIAQ ESKIMO BOOK FROM UA PRESS WINS AWARD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 23, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska-"The Iñupiaq Eskimo Nations of Northwest Alaska, " written by Ernest S. Burch Jr. and published by the University of Alaska Press, has won the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Award.

Sponsored by the Publishers Marketing Association, the award recognizes Burch's book in the multicultural category. Chosen from a field of 1500, only 50 works received awards in their respective categories.

"The Iñupiaq Eskimo Nations of Northwest Alaska" lays the groundwork for an understanding of how 19th century Iñupiaq societies functioned in their relationships with each other and the outside world. The wealth of precise detail attests to the thoroughness of the author's interviewing techniques and the confidence placed in him by the elders upon whose information the work is largely based. Burch supplemented his fieldwork with extensive library and archival studies. Enhanced by numerous maps and photographs, the book is considered a benchmark in Alaska history and of critical importance to understanding long-term social change in the region.

The American Library Association's magazine "Choice" describes the book as "exemplary of the emerging body of scholarship that is both respectful of and responsive to the needs and perspectives of Iñupiaq, who are not just subjects but participating scholars."

Burch is a social anthropologist and social historian specializing in the study of aboriginal peoples of northern North America, particularly Eskimos. He has made 22 research trips to the Arctic, ranging in length from one week to 11 months; his first trip to Northwest Alaska was in 1960. The UA Press at the University of Alaska Fairbanks publishes and distributes works of scholarship increasing knowledge about Alaska and the North, with a particular emphasis on circumpolar regions.

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DPD/6-23-99/99-082