Anthropology of Northwest Native Peoples

Catalog description

This course explores contemporary Native American groups of the Pacific Northwest, paying particular attention to expressive forms as “lenses” into multiple dimensions of culture. The course relies heavily on fieldwork, including observation of cultural art and artifacts. In particular, the course is oriented around these issues: How do native peoples communicate essential components of their cultures - to themselves and to people outside their culture group - through traditional expressive forms? How does art reflect, reify, and re-create worldview, and how is this significant in our globalizing, postmodern cultural context? Travel fee required