Yup'ik Qayaq

A Yup'ik qayaq (kayak) on display at the Alaska Native Heritage Center a few miles north of Anchorage. This qayaq was built during a three week period in the summer of 2000, led by master boat builder Phillip Moses, a Yup'ik native from Nelson Island who lives a traditional Yup'ik lifestyle. Born in 1926, he is concerned that few natives today learn the languages of or live by the traditions of their ancestors, threatening Alaska's native cultures with extinction as Westernization permeates their communities and young people abandon subsistence living and leave the villages in search of better-paying jobs in the cities. To preserve Yup'ik culture, Phillip Moses teaches others the skills he learned from his elders in a qasgiq (men's house). He worked with two apprentices to build the qayaq's frame; five Yup'ik women sewed the skin and weaved the grass seat.

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