James Kari

Who is James Kari?

James Kari is a linguist and Professor Emeritus with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks specializing in the Dene or Athabascan languages of Alaska. In the past forty years he has done extensive linguistic work in many Dene languages including Ahtna, Dena'ina, Koyukon, Deg Hit'an, Holikachuk, Lower Tanana, Middle Tanana, Tanacross, Upper Tanana, and Babine-Witsuwit'en. He was on the faculty of UAF from 1973 until his retirement in 1997. He continues to work on numerous Alaska Native language projects. He is the author or editor of over 200 publications, including more than 3000 pages of bilingual texts in seven Dene languages. He is the most prolific contributor to the Alaska Native Language Archive. His special interest is Dene ethnogeography, and he has compiled or documented more than 12,000 place names in fourteen Alaska or Canadian or Southwest Dene languages. He worked with Dena'ina writer and ethnographer Peter Kalifornsky on a 1991 compilation of his creative writings. In 2008 he was the organizer of the Dene–Yeniseian Symposium in Alaska, and co-editor of the volume The Dene–Yeniseian Connection published in 2010.