COURSE SYLLABUS

ANTHROPOLOGY216OL,

NORTHWEST COAST PEOPLES—

PAST AND PRESENT
Instructor: Dale R. Croes, Ph.D.
Office:   South Puget Sound Community College
2011 Mottman Road SW
Olympia, WA  98512
E-mail:  dcroes@spscc.ctc.edu
Phone:  360-596-5336

* PRINT THIS SYLLABUS AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFO (so you won't have to go online all the time to
check info, due dates, etc.).
** PUT ALL THE INFO IN A BIG RING BINDER!

PLEASE NOTE: MUCH OF THIS INFO IS REPEATED IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE
COURSE'S MANY LOCATIONS.

Pacific Northwest Coast Peoples--Past and Present examines

current indigenous and scientific thoughts about the origins, development and variation
of Pacific Northwest cultures. We consider at least 12,000 years of cultural history in the
Northwest Coast region, leading to one of the culturally most complex maritime
societies to have existed into the contemporary times. Pacific Northwest Coast
Peoples, rich in culture, tradition and with an extensive knowledge of the environment
they occupy, are recorded with mile-long villages containing as many as 1,000
inhabitants, monumental construction in both homes, canoes and art, and highly
complex societies, consisting of nobles, commoners and slaves. We will discuss how
these cultures shape modern life throughout this region today.

This vocationally oriented course is intended to train students to become familiar with
the available information compiled concerning the past and present peoples of the
Pacific Northwest Coast. It is important for Cultural Resources Specials (CRS) to
become quite familiar with what has been written about past and present peoples, so
that they can help build, improve and correct upon these perspectives.

STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This class fulfills the following core abilities that South Puget Sound Community College
believes its transfer students should possess:
1. Knowledge of one's intellectual and artistic heritage.

2. The ability to explain theories and laws that govern the universe.

3. The ability to understand themselves and others as they interact in a social, political,
and economic world.

4. The ability to think logically and critically.

5. The ability to integrate and synthesize knowledge.

 GENERAL OBJECTIVES

At the completion of the course the student will be able to:

 characterize the general and culturally significant environmental features of

the Northwest Coast of North America, Use the on-line resources to your best
advantage!
 understand how social scientist have described the languages, human
biology and archaeological heritage of the people in this region,
  have a broad overview of the historical cross-cultural contact period that set
the stage for treaties and efforts by the U.S. and Canada to acculturate
Northwest Indians into their culture,
 gain perspective on the history of anthropological research in this area,
 be able to characterize the anthropological/archaeological research in the
major cultural regions of the Northwest Coast, from north to south:

o       Tlingit/Haida
o        Tsimshian
o        Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw)
o        Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth)/Makah
o        Northern, Central,  Southern and Southwestern Coast Salish
o        Chinook
o  

  identify the underpinnings of current political configurations of tribes/bands in

the Northwest,
  examine contemporary issues in the region, including development of future
fishing, sea mammal hunting, land mammal hunting, gathering, logging and
gaming,
 perceive, from a Euro-american perspective of John Jewitt’s, what cultural life
was like from 1803-1805 while he was held as a slave of Chief Maquinna of
the Nuu-chah-nulth on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
EVALUATION

The following are the areas for your evaluation and final grade:

PARTICIPATION/DISCUSSION TOPICS: An online course in any subject matter is

created through the interactive process. You must go online and you must participate in
order to be “in class.”   In fact you will find that you will interact more in this class with
your classmates and instructor than you do (or can) in a real in class.

Therefore, as noted above, participation counts as 50% of your overall grade. Make
sure to add your conversation to the ongoing discussions: We really do want to know
what you have to say! If you are not a terrific speller, don’t worry about it because there
is a spell-check function for you to use on the Forum. When you get to your paper, that
should be checked by your document soft spelling-wise. But if you are involved in an
important topic, or are busy responding to another student, you may make grammatical
or spelling errors; we all do! So concentrate on content and what you have to say rather
than on perfect form.

Discussion will be based on the readings, lectures, and any other material assigned or
presented in class. Please be sure to keep up with the reading assignments, the lecture,
and the assignments for each week.

 When discussing a topic, you will choose a topic specified in the lecture, go to the
discussion board, create a thread, and write in your POST . Make sure to cite your
sources properly, that is, if you quote an author, use quotation marks if it is a direct
quote and the author's name, year of publication, and page number: for
example (Croes, 2007, Lecture Wk3) or (Heider, 2004, p. 4).

THEN read everyone else’s as well, and choose at least two classmates’ topics to
REPLY to (unnless otherwise specified). For your comments, copy, paste, and highlight
a particular quotation with a page number with your thread and discussion comments.

MIDTERM PAPER 1: Paper 1 will be derived from our look at the North Coast
(Tlingits, Haidas, and Tsimshians).  For this area, you will be responsible for materials
from the text, lectures, websites, discussions, person's contacted from that culture, etc.
and do a more in-depth look at one area of cultural studies covered (examples will be
given, but could be something like family life, kinship systems, religion and beliefs, etc.).
We will make these papers available for review, which will help us all learn from each
other more about the cultures of the North Coast.

FINAL PAPER 2: The final paper will follow the same format as the midterm paper,
however it will be a comparative study concerning cultural topics from a North Coast
(Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian) group and a Central Coast (Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-
nulth/Makah, Coast Salish and Chinook) group. For this comparison, you will be
responsible for materials from the text, lectures, websites, discussions, person's
contacted from that culture, etc. and do a more in-depth look at the two areas of cultural
studies covered.  It could also be a past and current times in these two areas.  Since we
will read about John Jewitt as a slave of Maquinna on the Wests Coast, that can
certainly be part of the comparisons. 

KEEPING UP WITH THE WORK: DUE DATES

Do your work on time. Do not let it pile up or you will find yourself in a JAM! This is not a
self-guided class that you can do in your own time. There are specific due dates that
must be met. Assignments that are late will lose points!

 INCOMPLETES AND V GRADES: 

Incompletes are strongly discouraged as are "V" grades. Do not assume that you will be
dropped automatically from the course if you do not attend. If you need to drop the
course, be sure to complete the paperwork or let me know that you cannot continue,
and I will consider a "V" grade--which means no grade, no credits.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

All your tests will be open book, so there is not an issue of “cheating.” But academic
integrity means that all the work that you submit is your own work, created for this
specific course. In written assignments, this means that you must be certain to give
credit to your sources. If you state something based on information you have read, no
matter if you already knew something about that topic, you must cite a sources. To be
sure as to how to go about referencing, go to the website for the Modern Language
Association (http://www.mla.org ) or the American Psychological Association
(http://www.apa.org) and look for their “style guides.”

Plagiarism will result in an F on an assignment. Remember: Failure to cite a resource,

whether directly or in paraphrase, counts as plagiarism. If you are in doubt, quote your
resource even if it seems redundant! And DO NOT RE-USE PAPERS FROM
PREVIOUS COURSES. I expect new and original work from you, not a re-write of a
tired old paper!

ONLINE POLICIES:

In addition to following the requirements for the course, I also expect conduct
appropriate to college students. This includes participation in and attention to
discussions; respect for other individuals' ideas, opinions and beliefs; open-mindedness
about other people's cultural practices; and appropriate conduct on-line (nothing
offensive, obscene, distasteful--if anyone else comments that it is inappropriate, then it
is, and you have been warned not to persist). Failure to follow these policies may result
in your being asked to leave the class. You must be of a good heart and feeling to best
participate in this program. You may be barred from posting if you offend me or anyone
else in the class with racist, sexist, or other inappropriate ad hominem statements or
comments!  I will let you know if I think this is happening and give you a warning.

FINANCIAL AID:

Students receiving financial aid should always check with Financial Aid prior to
withdrawing, signing an incomplete contract, changing to an audit, or receiving an F or a
V grade in a class.

YOUR OBLIGATIONS:

COURSE MATERIALS

TO COMPLETE THIS COURSE YOU WILL NEED THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS... 

1. Required texts: 
Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast. 1990

Wayne Suttles, Volume Editor, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 

This handbook may seem to be like an Encyclopedia--but it is the most comprehensive text on
Northwest Coast Peoples--Past and Present available.  It is also an excellent reference books
(with 90+ pages of bibliography) that becomes invaluable as a source book if and as you become
a Cultural Resources Specialist.  So treat it as a major reference source to overview and learn
from. 

The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt Captive of Maquinna 1987

Hillary Stewart (Annotator and Illustrator), Douglas and McIntyre Press,

Vancouver/Toronto, ISBN 0-88894-554-X

This book is out of print, but we have arranged with the publisher to have it copied for this course
and should be available through the WAOL bookstore.

This text is beautifully illustrated and gives an 1804 account of life with the Nuu-chah-nulth
peoples of Western Vancouver Island--even if the recorder is a slave of this chief.  Jewitt learned
language and their culture to survive as in involuntary participant observer,  something
anthropologists must try to do in their work (though voluntarily!).  Therefore it provides a good first
hand view of the dynamics of a West Coast culture at contact.  

 Additional reading materials will be provided through lectures, web sites and otherwise
by the instructor throughout the length of the course

 
2.   3-Ring-Binder Notebook. You are responsible for all the information on this
syllabus and all other documents that appear in this course. I will interpret your
continued enrollment in this course as an implicit agreement that you intend to meet the
obligations and requirements of the course with the syllabus serving as a contract.
Please ask questions about the contents of this syllabus or any other written materials
that you are given. The syllabus and other documents are subject to written change by
your instructor.

3.  Word Processor and Web Browser. You will need Microsoft Word or an
equivalent set-up that can read Word documents. In addition, we will be visiting various
web sites so you will need Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and/or equivalent
browsers. Using WordPerfect is a problem in this classroom because others will not be
able to read your attachments.  

Good luck and see you online soon, Dale Croes