Anthropology of Northwest Native Peoples
    Fall 2006 Report
         "Respect means listening until everyone has been heard and understood,
              only then is there a possibility of finding harmony among the peoples."

                    --  Dave Chief, Grandfather of Red Dog

 

"What an experience!"-- Rob, a student enrolled in COMM 3483
 

By Gary Gillespie, October 5, 2006

 

Overview 

For the second time the Northwest University Communication Department offered Anthropology of Northwest
Native Peoples (COMM 3483) during three Saturdays in September on the Kirkland, Washington campus and
traveled to Canada from the 15th to 18th for field study.  The focus of the course was to explore anthropological
and ethnographic principles from the perspective of native people groups of the Pacific Northwest.

 

The course permitted students to be exposed to the scholarship of Forrest Inslee. Forrest wrote this master’s
thesis on northwest native peoples and his PhD in cultural ethnography and until he became an administrator
for LEAP was one of our most popular communication professors. 

 

Here is the course description:

"This course explores contemporary Native American groups of the Pacific Northwest, paying particular
attention to the ways that expressive forms serve as a “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 and
contemporary expressive forms? How does art reflect, reify, and re-create worldview, and how is this
significant in our globalizing, postmodern cultural context?" 

 

Professor Gary Gillespie designed the concept and spent more than 20 hours of planning and preparation.
He served as field study coordinator, organizing the logistical details for the travel portion in Canada.

 

In addition to Gillespie and Inslee, Professor Suzan Kobashigawa attended the travel portion of the and served
as a lecturer and driver of one of the vans. Also, Lisa Commander, Director or General Education for LEAP, attended and
presented a lecture. She and her husband also volunteered as a driver for three students.

 

Fourteen students enrolled in the course and were challenged by an intensive learning experience that included 14 hours
of classroom instruction or lectures and more than 25 hours of field investigation and directed independent research.

 

The textbook was: The First Nations of British Columbia: An Anthropological Survey, by Robert J. Muckle 

 

Assignments included five reports on research, a speech reporting on student projects and a final term research paper.

 

In addition to lectures by Forrest Inslee, students heard from:

  • Suzan Kobashigawa on her work with reviving the traditional language of the Tualip people.

  • University of British Columbia Anthropology Museum Lecturer.

  • Lisa Commander lectured on the Whitman Massacre.

  • Cowichan Tribal Heritage Center Curator.

  • Makah Nation expert. 

Students also watched two films on native culture and were assigned to make observations of artifacts in the two best
museums devoted to the subject in the world – the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver and the Royal BC
Provincial Museum in Victoria. Another field outing took students to ancient fishing sites and the Quw'utsun' Cultural
Centre in Duncan, BC. In addition, students were assigned to speak to native people personally to gain insights on
course content. Students were assigned to view exhibits at the University of Washington's Burke Museum in Seattle as well.

 

Suggestions for next year:
We think that the breakfasts at the hotel was overpriced and some of our students didn't get in to eat. So, we would like to reduce the
fees next year by $20 and let students eat breakfast on their own. We also think that adding the native dance would be desirable.

 

Students Respond to the 2006 Course:
I have never learned so much information and interesting history of our region of the country in such little amount of time.
Visiting the museums and seeing the artifacts of the Native Peoples from the Northwest Coast in person
made the information come to life vividly. The class size was a great learning environment. I was able
to talk to the professor one on one and received speedy feedback from email questions. I would recommend
this course to anyone wanting to learn about other cultures. -- Sandra

I was pretty intimidated to participate in a course with the word “Anthropology” attached to the title.
Not only that, but going on a trip with people I had never met before did not help the “intimidation factor.”
Now that I have taken the course, participated in the British Columbia trip, and have all of these experiences
under my belt, I would not have traded it for the world! What an experience! To enter an entire different
culture and learn that there is life beyond the “American way,” lent me not only fresh academic knowledge,
but a perspective that has literally altered the motives of my life’s journey. Anthropology of Northwest
Native Americans goes far beyond earning 3 credits for college… it’s an opportunity to experience God
at work in places you would never imagine. -- Rob

Details on the Travel to Canada

Friday Sept. 15
Meet 8:00 AM at 6710 Building for lecture and instruction
on assignment for today. Depart for Vancouver.
                                                                                            
Arrive 12:30 UBC for Lunch at the Shaughnessy Restaurant
http://www.shaughnessyrestaurant.com/home_main.html
Next we drive to near by UBC Anthropological Museum 2 PM http://www.moa.ubc.ca/
 Tour of museum
4:00 PM Arrive BC Ferries   Dinner on Ferry or in Victoria on your own
Arrive Victoria  7:30 PM
http://vancouverisland.kulshan.com/British_Columbia/Vancouver_Island/Victoria/default.htm

Down town Hotel  Best Western Carlton Plaza Victoria Hotel 
http://www.bestwesterncarltonplazahotel.com/
  
Saturday Sept. 16
 8:30 AM lecture at hotel
10:30 AM Tour of Provincial Museum
http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
1:30 PM free for rest of the day. Evening oral reports at the hotel.

Sunday Sept. 17     
9:00 AM 30 minute church service
10:45 AM debate for Duncan Cowichan Heritage Center  http://www.quwutsun.ca/
http://www.ohwy.com/bc/n/naherctr.htm

12 PM Salmon barbeque Lunch included in your fees.
Film, guided tour, study artifacts, , explore the grounds.
 

4:00 PM return to hotel

Dinner on own
7:30  -- 9:30 PM Oral Reports on Projects
 

Monday Sept. 18
8:00 AM breakfast
10:00 AM luggage in lobby, depart for WA state Ferry in Sydney 
5:30 PM arrive home Kirkland.


Tour of Cowichan Heritage Center. Duncan, BC. The only day that it rained of the trip.
Wonderful salmon lunch.

Lisa Commander lectures on the Whitman Massacre. See her article, The Story of Laughing Flower

Left -- Rob leads group in a song.
Sunday morning began with Bible
study and worship.                                     Right  -- UBC Museum of Anthropology

Katie, Sandra and Joe researching in bookstore

Back to Headwaters

Cowichan Center, Duncan, BC

Back to Headwaters

_______________________________
Join us for a possible class: Native Peoples of Hawaii -- Tentatively planned for Spring Break 2009.