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Estonian researcher helps restore the mask-making tradition of the indigenous people of Alaska
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The Yup’ik people living in southwest Alaska first came into contact with outsiders in the 1820s. A century later, under the influence of Christian missionaries, a large portion of the Yup’ik communities stopped making masks, and the knowledge and skills related to mask making faded. However, masks found on archaeological excavations today encourage the Yup’ik to continue their mask-making tradition in a new form, as is revealed in a doctoral thesis defended at Tallinn University.