MARIE (Nick) MEADE
Arnaq
![Marie Meade](https://www.alaskawomenshalloffame.org/wp-content/uploads/2015-meade.jpg)
• Yupik Language
• Education
Inducted: 2015
Nunapiciaq
MARIE (Nick) MEADE
Arnaq
Marie Meade is Yup’ik Eskimo from Southwest Alaska and was born and raised in Nunapiciaq, between the Kuskokwim River and the Bering Sea. She is a humanities scholar, language expert, and educator and Yup’ik tradition bearer. Meade teaches Central Yup’ik language, orthography and Alaska Native dance at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).
For more than 20 years she has documented the cultural knowledge of Yup’ik elders. Her publications and exhibitions have significantly contributed to the world’s understanding of the values, language, and beliefs of the Yup’ik people.
In 1996 Meade researched and assisted with assembling the traveling mask exhibit called “Agayuliyararput; Our Way of Making Prayer” and translated first-person accounts of elders to produce the book for the exhibit titled, Kegginaqut, Kangiit-llu/Yup’ik Masks and the Stories They Tell.
In 2005 she translated Yup’ik Words of Wisdom: Yupiit Qanruyutait, which is a bilingual volume focused on teachings and wisdom of expert Native orators as they instruct a younger generation about their place in the world.
In 2002 she received the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Humanities Educator and in 2014 received the Meritorious Service Award from UAA.
Mead’s Yup’ik name, Arnaq, means “woman.” Her community taught her the way of being Yup’ik, including how to gather, harvest and prepare food, and how to be the heartbeat of an extended family. Meade is the mother of three grown sons and many grandchildren. She has experienced the healing power of Yup’ik dance and trusts her intuition. When asked about advice to young women, she said, “Come to know and own yourself. Trust yourself the way you are and follow your feelings.”
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