People of the North and of the Pacific Northwest Coast

Our first three sessions explore the challenges and intricacies of arctic cultures: the prehistoric Dorset and Thule, and the living cultures of the Inuit (or Eskimo) and Yupik peoples, emphasizing the life ways of the polar ice fields and the sub-arctic tundra. We will encounter rich traditions of oral storytelling and many other forms of artistic expression, including expressive ivory carvings, masks, and other ceremonial and practical artifacts, giving focus to the theme of "inua" or spirit, and the role of shamanism, reaching across the far northern world from Siberia through Alaska and Canada, to Greenland. Our fourth through sixth sessions explore the "Land of the Totem Poles," the cultures of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America, including the Tlingit, the Haida, and the Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl). Beginning with archaeology and prehistory, we will focus on major categories of social, religious, and artistic expression, such as the winter ceremonial, the potlatch or chiefly feast, and masking.