Calricaram Naulluutem-llu Qanrutkumallra / Wellness and Illness in Yup’ik Oral Tradition brings together stories and information shared by more than a hundred Yup’ik tradition bearers over more than thirty years. Recorded during elder gatherings hosted by the Calista Elders Council beginning in 1997 and, since 2014, by Calista Education and Culture, the book passes on the words of wisdom that will remain enduring parts of these elders’ legacy.

Combining recent recordings with material from earlier gatherings, the narratives address various aspects of personal and community health: how people talk about sickness and health, traditional foods, qanruyutet (oral instructions) for living a healthy life, medicinal plants, medicinal uses of bodily fluids, ailments and treatments, traditional healing techniques, caring for those who are sick, mental health and mental illness, and epidemics.

Calricaram Naulluutem-llu Qanrutkumallra / Wellness and Illness in Yup’ik Oral Tradition invites readers to listen to these elders to better understand past practices and how they can contribute to a healthier future for all.

Ann Fienup-Riordan has lived and worked in Alaska since 1973. An anthropologist documenting Yup’ik history and oral traditions with the Calista Elders Council (now Calista Education and Culture) since 2000, she has written and edited more than twenty books, including Yungcautnguuq Nunam Qainga Tamarmi/All the Land’s Surface Is Medicine: Edible and Medicinal Plants of Southwest Alaska.

Alice Rearden is a fluent Yup’ik speaker and teaches Yup’ik at Bethel Regional High School. She was the primary translator and oral historian at the Calista Elders Council and has coedited and translated numerous books on Yup’ik history and oral traditions, including Yungcautnguuq Nunam Qainga Tamarmi/All the Land’s Surface Is Medicine: Edible and Medicinal Plants of Southwest Alaska.