Youst & Seaburg, "Coquelle Thompson, Athabaskan Witness"

[David D. Robertson]

(Youst, Lionel & Seaburg, William R.  2002.  Coquelle Thompson, Athabaskan
witness:  a cultural biography.  Norman, OK:  U. of Oklahoma.  [The
Civilization of the American Indian Series, no. 243.])

Has any of you read this engaging book yet?  I'm slowly making my way
through it during breaks from grad studies.  Youst also wrote the
1997 "She's Tricky Like Coyote:  Annie Miner Peterson, an Oregon Coast
Indian Woman", which I've discussed on this list.  There seems to be an
emerging and welcome genre of biography of linguistic & anthropological
informants, to which both books are important pioneering contributions.

There's extensive research backing up this story of Thompson's life, and
members of this list will be interested in the significant role this man
from Siletz Reservation played in the study of Chinook Jargon and other
Oregon Coast Native languages.  (One of his CJ texts is in Melville
Jacobs' 1936 collection, and shows tantalizing shared features with Grand
Ronde Jargon.)

Let me add that this book is a step toward duly recognizing E. "Bess"
Jacobs (Melville's wife and collaborator) for her extensive fieldwork
carried out with Thompson and others.

I'm sure I'll post more about the book in weeks to come, and I encourage
others who've read it to share their thoughts.

--Dave