Home Page Introduction Course Objectives Requirements Course Schedule Email the Class

Wednesday, May 10: Guest Lecture: Jennifer Sepez "The reading for this session will be "Treaty Rights and the Right to Culture: Native American Subsistence Issues in US Law". This article appears in a journal issue dedicated to examining the idea of a "right to culture," and is relevant to a discussion of culture and sustainability in the modern world. Among other things, the article makes the following assertion: Policy decisions based on biological considerations alone--migration patterns, reproductive seasons, sustainable yield, etc.--can, at best, overlook the legitimate concerns of regional cultural groups, and can, at worst, be employed intentionally to 'undermine a group's cultural integrity' under the guise of science-based management. This assertion at times has been perceived by some of my biologist colleagues as controversial, but I hope the real world examples in the article and that we talk about in class will convince people that is is sound. I'll focus on my research with the Makah Tribe here in Washington, which has examined their subsistence harvesting of wild foods and the controversy over whale hunting. I'll talk about cultural aspects of issues such as sustainable harvest practices, bycatch, waste, market forces, and technology. Since the class has been studying marine fisheries lately, I'll probably also talk a little bit about issues related to my current job as an anthropologist for Alaska fisheries at the National Marine Fisheries Service."