Crow is my Boss: The Oral Life History of a Tanacross Athabaskan Elder (review)

Kenny Thomas Sr. (b. 1922) is clearly an excellent source of information on traditional Tanacross Athabaskan culture. He is a leader in reviving elements of the culture, including the language, songs, dances, and traditional forms of subsistence and technology. Craig Mishler is a folklorist with many years of experience in Alaskan Athabaskan cultures. Their book is an oral life history composed of narratives and commentary by Thomas and questions and comments by Mishler. It is mostly a verbatim transcript of their conversation, but Thomas's dialect has been somewhat standardized and Mishler's phatic replies have been omitted, as have false starts and feedback cues such as "you know." As a result of this collaboration, readers can be confident in the accuracy of the information. Each chapter is preceded by a summary by Mishler and his thoughts on the significance of the chapter.

The book should be of great value to those whose have an interest in Alaskan Native culture or history, and Thomas's life is worth reading about simply for the human story. Throughout the book, Thomas provides us with information on living and working in two cultures. The first part of the book, though, focuses mostly on his formative years, including growing up in Mansfield Village, working as a trapper, prospecting for gold, fighting in World War II, working on road construction, firefighting, developing and overcoming a problem with alcohol, and working as a counselor to alcoholics. The second part of the book presents and explains various aspects of traditional culture and his experiences with them, including pot-latching, being a song and dance leader, and working to revive traditional practices through a culture camp, which he and his family initiated. In various parts of the book he also discusses the traditional clan and moiety system.

Thomas's approach to counseling alcoholics and training children is particularly intriguing, though I wish that there had been more information provided here. In both cases, Thomas found his own way based on his roots in Athabaskan culture and his common sense, and his approach comes across as being both effective and humane. In training children, he never uses paddling ("No, no. I don't believe in that. I don't want to do that"; p. 185) or shouting ("No, no, no"; p. 185). Instead, he believes in talking to children individually.

Also of great interest are the traditional stories that Thomas presents toward the end of the book. One is a traveler story, which includes his version of the widespread narrative of the blind man and the loon (his has two loons) and the slaying of monsters. He also includes a Raven story and one about a crippled boy who saves Mansfield. In the latter story, the Mansfield people decide not to kill an invading war party as they have done in the past; they simply drive them away, thus ending the cycle of violence in the area. This story includes a version in the Tanacross language as well as an English version.

Throughout the book, we are shown the difficulties that Thomas has faced in trying to work and live in two cultures. He never comes across as bitter, however, and he describes in a moving way how his white comrades in war were like brothers to him. He speaks well of white and Native people alike and has nothing bad to say about anyone. The human aspects of this book are significant and worth reading, as are the contributions to our knowledge of Athabaskan culture and folklore. I highly recommend this book to both scholars and nonscholars.