The Intersection of Karuk Storytelling and Education

second books is merely a continuation of the first: “Knowledge and practice of the
California Indians with regard to tobacco has up to the present time been insufficiently
explored…Furthermore, the method pursued by others has been wrong. A constant
basing of the study upon language is the only path to correctness and completeness.
Every act and status must be traced through language to the psychology and mythology
behind it.” (1932, 1) His devotion to Arâarahi is evinced by these two quotations, and
driven home by a reading of his and Maddux’s books. These books, as well as his
unpublished field notes, have been instrumental in the revival of the language. But even
his contribution in recording Arâarahi for future generations is overshadowed by that of
William Bright.
Bright came to the Klamath River and worked with native speakers of the language
from 1949 through 1954. In his introduction, he gives credit to Harrington as well as his
own seven informants (including my relative Julia Starritt). He recorded a substantial
body of pikvah from them, which he published with the original facing his translation on
opposite pages. In this regard, The Karok Language resembles Maddux and Harrington’s
books. But these take up only roughly a third of the 457 page book. The first third is a
grammatical description of the language, and the final third is an Araaráhi-
English/English-Araaráhi lexicon, with a special focus on etymology. The impact of his
book on language revival has been so monumental, and his continued work with the
community so well-received, that upon his passing in 2006, the Karuk Tribe conferred
the only honorary tribal membership of an outsider on him.
The initial impact of these four men upon the community was generally separate
from their impact upon their own academic communities initially. They came, they
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