Haakanson, Jr., Sven David
Basic Biographical Information
Sven Haakanson, Jr. is a Native Alaskan archaeologist, museum professional, and artist. He was born in Kodiak and grew up in the native village of Old Harbor, which is a rural fishing community on Alaska’s Kodiak Island. After earning his high school diploma from Anchorage’s Bartlett High School (1985), he attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks (1985–1992). Here he studied English and education and discovered anthropology in classes with his mentor Dr. Lydia Black. A year teaching English in Magadan helped him develop fluency in Russian. Volunteering on archaeological projects in the Kodiak Archipelago fed his interests in history, technology, and native arts.
In 1988, Haakanson attended the Sixth Inuit Studies Conference in Copenhagen, an opportunity that shaped his career. Listening to Dr. Black speak about his ancestral culture on the opposite side of the globe motivated Haakanson to continue his studies. In the fall of 1992, he entered Harvard...
References
- Haakanson, S.D. 2000. Ethnoarchaeology of the Yamal Nenets: utilizing emic and etic evidence in the interpretation of archaeological residues. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Harvard University.Google Scholar
- - 2001. Can there be such a thing as an Alutiiq anthropologist?, in A.L. Crowell, A.F. Steffian & G.L. Pullar (ed.) Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people: 79. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.Google Scholar
- - 2004. Understanding sacredness: facing the challenges of cultural change, in L. E. Sullivan & A. Edwards (ed.) Stewards of the sacred: 123-28. Washington (DC): American Association of Museums.Google Scholar
- - 2007. Understanding the value and importance of traditional heritage through hands on programs: what the Alutiiq Museum mission is doing for the local Native community, in R. Saito (ed.) The culture of the North Pacific region: museums and indigenous culture: 13-8. Hokkaido: Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples.Google Scholar
- - 2012. Sugpiaq collections of the Kunstkamera: a Sugpiaq perspective, in I. U. E. Berezkin (ed.) The Alutiit/Sugpiat. A catalog of the collections of the Kunstkamera: 391-96. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.Google Scholar
- Haakanson, S.D. & A. F. Steffian. (ed.) 2009. Giinaquq: like a face – Sugpiaq masks of the Kodiak Archipelago. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.Google Scholar
Further Reading
- Crowell, A.L., A.F. Steffian & G.L. Pullar. (ed.) 2001. Looking both ways: culture and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.Google Scholar
- Haakanson, S.D. & P. Jordan. 2010. ‘Marking the land’: sacrifices, cemeteries and sacred places among the Yamal Nenets, in P. Jordan (ed.) Landscape and culture in northern Eurasia:161-78. London: University College London Institute of Archaeology Publications.Google Scholar
- Knecht, R. A., S. Haakanson & S. Dickson. 2002. Awa’uq: discovery and excavation of an eighteenth century Alutiiq refuge rock in the Kodiak Archipelago, in B. Frohlich, A. S. Harper & R. Gilberg (ed.) To the Aleutians and beyond: the anthropology of William S. Laughlin (Publications of the National Museum Ethnographical series 20): 177-91. Copenhagen: Department of Ethnography, The National Museum of Denmark.Google Scholar