| Alfred Young Man Kiyugimah or Eagle Chief, | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1948 Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana |
| Field | artist, writer, and educator. |
| Training | Slade School of Fine Arts in London, England & Rutgers University |
Alfred Young Man, Ph.D. (Kiyugimah or Eagle Chief, b. 1948) is a Cree artist, writer, educator, and an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Indian Reservation, Rocky Boy, Montana, USA. He is the former Department Head (2007–2010) of Indian Fine Arts at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan and former Chair (1999–2007) of Native American Studies, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.[1] He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Lethbridge and University of Regina.
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Alfred Young Man was born on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana in 1948.[1] His father Joseph Young Man (Sausitquanis) and mother Lillian Katherine Boushie were Cree and fluent in Cree and English; both are deceased. His paternal Cree grandmother, Theresa Ground Woman Big Springs, spoke only Cree and lived to be over 113 years old by some estimates, she is also deceased. Alfred's maternal grandfather, Edward Boushie was Cree/Métis and Edward's wife, Eliza, was also Cree from the Erminskin Reserve in Hobbema, Alberta - both were fluent in Cree and English and are deceased. Alfred grew up in East Glacier, Montana and at first spoke Cree as a child with his extended family but like nearly all Indian children of his generation, he and his siblings were taken away to boarding school when he was six years old where the Cree language, customs and traditions were made illegal and therefor forbidden to speak or practice under US government law. Alfred's memory of the Cree language is sparse and he speaks and understands a smattering of it, however, because of the U.S. government decree he was unable to converse with his grandmother Theresa; fortunately many members of his immediate and extended family still speak and understand fluent Cree, the third most widely spoken language in Canada.[2]
Young Man attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico from 1963 to 1968 and went on to study painting, film history and photography at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, England (1968–72). He earned his M.A. at the University of Montana (1972–74) and graduated with his doctor of philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Anthropology from Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1997.[2] Young Man has been a teacher since the early 1970s, beginning at the Rocky Boy Elementary School, then to the K.W. Bergan Elementary School in Browning, Montana, then to the Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, Montana (1975–77) and onward to the University of Lethbridge in 1977 where he was tenured up until 2007 when he chose early retirement and began teaching at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan.[3] Pedagogically he taught all of his courses from the Native perspective, something unheard of when he began teaching Indian fine art at the University of Lethbridge in 1977 and something that, even today, very few if any, Native art professionals claim to do.[4] In addition to his teaching activities at the First Nations University, Young Man also worked as archival curator and custodian of the school's 1500 piece art collection.
Young Man served as chair of the board of the Society of Canadian Artists of Native Ancestry, which was instrumental in convincing the National Gallery of Canada to include First Nations art and artists in its vast collection.[3]