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Circumpolar Studies is a focus of graduate study in the Department of Anthropology offering relevant theoretical, methodological and substantive courses and research opportunities for students with professional interests in the northern social sciences. Its geographical focus is at the same time an organizing theme around which all students in anthropology can gain experience and training in interdisciplinary research applicable to any part of the globe. Graduates with this specialty have been successful as professionals in universities, governmental agencies, and research organizations both in the north and elsewhere. The Focus in Circumpolar Studies. Circumpolar Studies is one of the Department of Anthropology's special offerings imbedded within its general M.A. and Ph.D. graduate programs. The focus offers and coordinates courses and research opportunities for graduate students who at the same time are fulfilling their general requirements for advanced degrees in anthropology at Brown. It emphasizes comparative social and natural scientific analytical approaches to the study of circumpolar issues both as a means to prepare students for their particular Arctic specialties and as a vehicle for integrating into their educational program multiple social scientific, historical, geological and ecological research methods and theory. Although the program is centered in the Department of Anthropology, students are encouraged to incorporate courses in geology, biology, and history at Brown, in addition to course offerings from within anthropology. To prepare students to meet new challenges in research and teaching in the Arctic as well as beyond, the students also integrate into their graduate studies theoretical or topical specialties from the department's other strengths, such as ethnic studies, the anthropology of colonialism or gender, ethnohistory, or historical archaeology. Beyond its coordinating role the focus offers a series of lecture courses, seminars, and independent reading and research courses that stress comparative approaches to the analysis of Arctic issues. Comparisons focus on case studies derived from a wide range of Arctic and sub-Arctic ecological zones (riverine, maritime, forest and tundra) across the entire Circumpolar region. Topics include issues of prehistoric and historic archaeology, the anthropology of hunting, fishing, and gathering peoples, inter-ethnic relations, modern problems of northern indigenous peoples, paleoecological and ecological approaches to culture and culture change, and the analysis of material cultural and ethnohistorical materials. Fieldwork in circumpolar regions is encouraged and facilitated through research grants and linkages with other institutions and agencies with research interests in the Arctic. Laboratory, computer, and library facilities for students in the program are located at the Laboratory for Circumpolar Studies (LCS), one of the department's research facilities located at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Bristol, RI. The LCS also houses archaeological and faunal reference collections available for comparative study. In addition to its role in the graduate anthropology program at Brown, the Arctic Studies program also accepts as special students Arctic specialists from other universities. |
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