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A personal look at anthropology

Kenai Peninsula Online (Alaska)

Generations of anthropologists have appeared in Alaska Native villages and attempted, with varying degrees of tact, naivete or insight, to explain the villagers’ lives. Margaret B. Blackman who teaches anthropology at the State University of New York College at Brockport parts in “Upside Down: Seasons among the Nunamiut,” from typical scholarly writing to create a book of essays that read more like personal memoir than academic treatise.

” … I tired of academic writing,” she says in her introduction. ” … I became increasingly irritated with the uncanny ability of so many anthropologists to render, in stilted prose, the most interesting cultures hopelessly pedantic and unappealing. I wanted to write differently about Anaktuvuk Pass.” The result is a beautifully written exploration of an anthropologist’s life as well as a portrait of the remote Nunamiut village in the Brooks Range. >>continue

Kenai Peninsula Online (Alaska)

Generations of anthropologists have appeared in Alaska Native villages and attempted, with varying degrees of tact, naivete or insight, to explain the villagers' lives. Margaret B. Blackman who teaches anthropology at the State University of New York…

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Book Review: Uqalurait – Oral history of Nunavut requires some refinement

Nunatsiaq News

At 473 pages, the book is unlikely to appeal to the audience its authors say they’re aiming for: children, young parents, and teachers of Nunavut. It is more likely to attract academics, who should be its secondary audience. No one would refute the idea that Nunavut needs to hang onto the history that its elders can only safeguard temporarily. It’s to be hoped that in this case, the achievement will inspire someone else to produce a book that people want to read late into the night, and maybe pass on to someone else.
>>continue

Nunatsiaq News

At 473 pages, the book is unlikely to appeal to the audience its authors say they’re aiming for: children, young parents, and teachers of Nunavut. It is more likely to attract academics, who should be its secondary audience. No…

Read more