Not Extinct: Keeping the Sinixt Way

$30.00

Taress Alexis and Marilyn James — Photo by Moe Lyons

ISBN: 978-0-9685302-8-3 Paperback: 176 Pages Published: 2018 Dimensions: 28 × 21 cmWeight: 28 × 21 cm Tags: Alexis, Art, Indigenous, James, Sinixt, Storytelling

Description

What does it look like to return from Extinction? In this book, Sinixt storytellers and knowledge-keepers Marilyn James and Taress Alexis address the reality of their living culture in the face of Canada’s bureaucratic genocide of their people in 1956. Through lively story and discussions by the authors, each chapter illuminates the Sinixt relationship with the upper Columbia River watershed and their quest to reclaim their rights and responsibilities in their x̌aʔx̌aʔ tum xúlaʔxʷ, their sacred homeland. Gorgeous illustrations and reflections by regional settler and Indigenous artists and writers give readers further opportunities to engage with the stories. Their perspectives represent the interest of increasing numbers of people in developing respectful and decolonizing relationships among Indigenous and settler peoples and to inspire the work of reversing the Sinixt extinction. Join them all to meet the trickster Snk̓lip and the other Animal Beings who people the stories of the captikʷɬ, the Sinixt oral history.

Free Audio Download of the 21 Sinixt stories that go with Not Extinct – password is on the copyright page of the book (you do not need the user name). These stories are also available for purchase as a 2-CD set. Contact us if you want to order one.

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Reviews

Read Paula Pryce’s BC Booklook Review of Not Extinct: Keeping the Sinixt Way

About the Authors

Marilyn James

Marilyn James was the Spokesperson for the Sinixt Nation in the Canadian portion of her people’s traditional territory for over 25 years. She continues to be active as an elder in the responsibility of upholding Sinixt protocols and laws in the Sinixt tum xúlaʔxʷ under Sinixt smum iem law. She holds a Masters of Education from Simon Fraser University and has developed aboriginal curriculum currently being used in four BC School Districts and on the provincial web platform. Marilyn is an accomplished Storyteller in the Sinixt tradition and has told stories to a wide variety of audiences. She is an ardent advocate for human responsibilities toward land and water and is a mother and grandmother.

Taress Alexis

Taress Alexis is a Sinixt mother of two young children who has worked as an Aboriginal Education Support Worker and Teaching Consultant in three BC School Districts where she delivered culturally appropriate materials to school-aged children using Storytelling and crafts. She has also been an active Storyteller at the Kootenay Storytelling Festival since 2006 and works with community members in other contexts to enhance cultural sensitivity towards the First Nations Community. She is currently working on expanding her repertoire of original and traditional Sinixt and other First Nation stories for children and general audiences