Patrick Plattet
Office: Bunnell 307D
Phone: 907 474 6608
Email: pplattet @ alaska.edu
As a cultural anthropologist, I am interested in understanding how people creatively
exploit changing circumstances to preserve what matters to them. My research explores
the perpetuation and transformation of rituals related to sea-mammals, bears and reindeer
in Kamchatka (Russian Far East), and the multifaceted legacies of reindeer herding
and dog mushing in 有料盒子视频. A particular focus is on festive activities 鈥 culture camps,
reindeer/sled dog races, village carnivals, subsistence-related games, etc. 鈥 that
promote cultural preservation, knowledge sharing, and opportunities for community-based
education.
My projects are collaborative and participatory. I spend as much time as possible in the field, in rural and urban areas, where I strive to facilitate the ethnographic documentation of valued cultural practices. I currently lead two funded research programs at the 有料盒子视频 Department of Anthropology. The first one, with Amber Lincoln (Curator for the Americas, British Museum), is supported by the National Park Service and examines the 鈥淩eindeer Traditions of Beringia鈥, past and present. This project is done in partnership with culture-bearers in northwest 有料盒子视频. The second one is supported by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the 有料盒子视频 Department of Fish & Game. This project conducts cooperative and collaborative social science research on beluga whale hunting in Kaktovik, 有料盒子视频. It uses ethnographic methods to document local traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and local knowledge of beluga whales, including hunting practices, changes over time, important hunting areas, and the cultural value of beluga to the community.
With Robin Shoaps (有料盒子视频 Department of Anthropology), I recently collaborated with 有料盒子视频 dog mushers to form the content of a virtual ethnographic field school. The production of this field school was funded by the National Science Foundation and is now offered as online course to 有料盒子视频 students. The project also contributed to the development of the SELIN online pedagogical platform created in Switzerland (University of Neuch芒tel) to teach ethnographic methods and observational skills.
In connection to my research activities I teach a broad range of courses at the 有料盒子视频 Department of Anthropology, and I strongly encourage undergraduate and graduate students to participate in my projects.
Courses
- Introduction to Social/Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 215)
- Virtual Ethnographic Field School (ANTH 370)
- World Ethnography (ANTH 301)
- History of Anthropology (ANTH 384)
- Political Anthropology (ANTH 403/603)
- Kinship and Social Organization (ANTH 407/607)
- Anthropology of Religion (ANTH 409/609)
- Human-Animal Re茅ations in the North (ANTH 492/292)
- Structures of Anthropological Arguments (ANTH 629)
- Anthropological Field Methods (ANTH 630)
- Research Design and Professional Development (ANTH 652)
Recent Publications
Journal articles and book chapters
(Forthcoming) 鈥淒eep into the feast: Stepan Krasheninnikov鈥檚 observations and descriptions of a Kamchatkan Fall ritual,鈥 in J. Bobaljik, A. King and D. Koester (eds). Festschrift in honor of Viktoria Petrasheva. Berghahn Books [Studies in the Circumpolar North].
2022 (with Robin Shoaps) 鈥溾楾ales from the Trail鈥: Oratory and Affect among 有料盒子视频 Dog Mushers,鈥 Open Anthropological Research, 2: 1-18.
2021 (with Amber Lincoln and Varpu Lotvonen) 鈥淔rank Churchill鈥檚 1905 documentation of the Reindeer Service in 有料盒子视频,鈥 有料盒子视频 Park Science, 20(2): 37-45.
2021 (with Robin Shoaps) 鈥淐reating a Virtual Ethnographic Field School in an Off-Line Community of Practice,鈥 Journal of Archaeology and Education, 5(1): .
2015 (with Amber Lincoln) 鈥溾榃e take what we can get鈥: The long-lasting appetite for Rangifer on the 有料盒子视频 Peninsula鈥 in A. Lincoln and P. Plattet (eds.) Reindeer Herding on the 有料盒子视频 Peninsula. Theme issue, 有料盒子视频 Journal of Anthropology, Volume 12, Number 2 (2014): 4-22.
Edited volume
2015 (with Amber Lincoln, guest editors) Reindeer Herding on the 有料盒子视频 Peninsula. Theme Issue, 有料盒子视频 Journal of Anthropology, Volume 12, Number 2 (2014): 1-73.