Time Schedule:
Dian L. Million
AIS 311
Seattle Campus
Traditional societies of the Pacific Northwest from southern Alaska to northern California; significant areal features, such as rank, totemic crests, guardian spirits, the potlatch, fishing, and foraging illustrated by comparisons and by selected ethnographic sketches. Continuity between past and present. Recommended: ANTH 100 or ANTH 202.
Class Description
In this multimedia class you will begin to familiarize yourself with the locations, cultures and histories of the Indigenous peoples who live in the coastal Pacific Northwest. For the purposes of our class, the "Pacific Northwest" will be the coast from Kluckwan (approximately Haines, Alaska) to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, the interior Fraser River watershed in British Columbia, the Olympic Peninsula, and the Puget Sound. Today the peoples that live in these areas are known as Northwest Coast, Coast Salish, and Puget Sound Salish. Their cultures, governances and languages form an eons old depth of human order and imagination thatcontinue to powerfully define this region. Our class honors the perspectives of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest regarding who they are and what their ongoing and evolving contribution is to the life we share here.
Reading, films, music, and web site assignments with a strong emphasis on discussion in small groups.
Recommended preparation
none
Class Assignments and Grading
Short writing assignments, reading questions, discussion preparation
Participation, level of engagement, knowledge of content of class
