Course
ANTH-320 Native North America
Document Type
Video
Publication Date
10-28-2015
Disciplines
Anthropology | Indigenous Studies
Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement
A journey through the evolution on the Tlingit tribe of Alaska, focusing especially on traditional cultural practices that were forbidden or forgotten during the colonialist period, but have been reborn in the last twenty years.
Augustana Digital Commons Citation
Meyer, Brianna. "Tlingit Culture: Pre-Contact, Colonialism, and Rebirth" (2015). Anthropology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works.
https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/anthstudent/4
Comments
This collection of videos were created for Adam Kaul's ANTH-320 class, "Native North America", in conjunction with the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art. The primary goal for Dr. Kaul and Claire Kovacs, the Museum Director, was to add some cultural and historical context to the Olsen-Brandelle Collection for patrons of the museum. Instead of simply gazing at these objects in glass cases, separated from any cultural meaning, they need to be understood as part-and-parcel of those cultures. Simultaneously, we wanted to humanize the collection and make sure that patrons understood that these are not "vanished" cultures; they are still with us today. These videos were one attempt provide that context and that sense of contemporary relevance. Students were assigned a single cultural group represented in the collection and asked to research one aspect of the culture in the contemporary world. These videos were the result.