The Whale Spirit Is Watching | Sobriety, Whaling & Iñupiaq Story with Bernice Aviuk Oyagak

"It's not about hunting a whale. It's about knowing the whale spirit is watching you." Iñupiaq artist, whaler, and PhD student Bernice Aviuk Oyagak joins Professor Ace for a conversation about getting sober, building a family, and doing research that answers to community before academia.Bernice and Ace go back to softball tournaments in Utqiaġvik (Barrow). In Episode 95 they cover her first year of sobriety and why abstinence isn't the same as healing; her PhD in Indigenous Studies and research supporting her community's push from International Whaling Commission oversight toward domestic whaling management; losing her mentors — her whaling captain uncle among them — in the 2018 boating accident she survived; the courthouse wedding where the whole village showed up; raising twin boys, one on the autism spectrum, with her wife Kelly; her mixed-media artwork at Sacred Layers by Aviuk; and whaling as a spiritual reset — the intimate, vulnerable prep work that comes before any reward.The Critical Social Worker is a Revolutionary Social Work production.Revolutionary Social Work: https://revolutionarysocialwork.comSubscribe: https://youtube.com/@thecriticalsocialworker?sub_confirmation=1Contact Professor Ace: [email protected]'s art — Sacred Layers by Aviuk: https://www.sacredlayersbyaviuk.comAbout Bernice: https://www.sacredlayersbyaviuk.com/about-2Bernice on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernice-aviuk-oyagak0:00 Intro1:32 Catching up & a Barrow softball reunion4:21 Getting sober: "Never going back"6:27 The PhD grind: comps in Indigenous Studies8:13 Whaling research, by and for Utqiaġvik11:33 Losing her mentors: the 2018 boating accident13:39 Alone in academia, accountable to community14:54 Missing home during spring whaling15:59 Parenting with intention18:41 The wedding the whole village showed up for24:11 IVF, twins & raising Roxy and Stanley27:41 Turning 10: BB guns & Iñupiaq milestones29:53 Turning 40 & taking health seriously32:56 Sacred Layers: painting memory36:42 Many hats, one intention40:24 Self-care: sleep, health & relearning food48:19 The whale spirit is watching53:01 Closing: hope for new leaders© Revolutionary Social Work