BOOKS, RADIO AND TV
Archaeology, landscape, history and tradition collide in a lyrical travelogue
What to read, watch and listen to.
BOOK SURFACING BY KATHLEEN JAMIE, SORT OF BOOKS, £12.99 (HB)
Surfacing is a series of poetic journeys through three distinct landscapes and cultures, spanning 5,000 years up to the present. The first third of the book focuses on the Alaskan town of Quinhagak, home to 700 Yup’ik, the indigenous inhabitants of the region. Jamie arrives to help on the archaeological dig at Nunallaq, exposed as sea levels rise, permafrost melts and the tundra erodes. It’s not all bad: as 500-year-old artefacts start to emerge – made from walrus ivory, caribou antler, wood, stone – local leaders recognise an opportunity to revitalise old traditions and develop cultural resilience. Yet this is no exotic “Alaskan wilderness”: there are coconuts for sale in the supermarket. As Warren Jones, president of the Village Corporation, tells Jamie: “Just tell ‘em we don’t live in igloos”.
Echoes of Quinhagak reverberate in the second part of the book: the author’s trip to the Neolithic archaeological site of Noltland on the Orcadian island Westray. Once again, land erosion has exposed 5,000 years of history. Fragility and impermanence – of landscapes, humans – are themes throughout. The last third, the author’s youthful trip to Tibet, is compelling but perhaps less rooted than what has gone before, as she asks: “What did I learn of their lives? Nothing at all.” Yet throughout, Jamie’s reflective, considered voice is neither intrusive nor selfaggrandizing: at the heart of her narrative are the people she encounters, their histories and the spaces they inhabit.