Ann Fienup-Riordan
Anthropologist

An independent scholar, Ann Fienup-Riordan received her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1980. She has lived, worked and taught in Alaska since 1973. During the last twenty years, she has changed the way she works in response to changing needs. In 1976-77 she carried out field work on Nelson Island in the "classic" anthropological tradition of participant observation, publishing the results in her first book, The Nelson Island Eskimo. Since then she has been involved in half-a-dozen collaborative research projects including work for the Association of Village Council Presidents, the Yupiit Nation, the Toksook Bay Traditional Council and most recently for the Coastal-Yukon Mayors' Association and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art in their efforts to organize the Yup'ik mask exhibit "Agayuliyararput: Our Way of Making Prayer".

In 1978 when her daughter Frances was born, she came to the conclusion that of the three things she wanted to do -- write, teach and raise kids -- she could juggle no more than two. She has since divided her time between research and writing projects: "Eskimo Essays"; "The Real People and the Children of Thunder"; "Boundaries and Passages"; "Freeze Frame: Alaska Eskimos in the Movies"; and "The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks"; and her children Frances, Jimmy and Nicky. In recognition of her work in the field, she was named "Alaska Humanist" by the Alaska Humanities Forum and 1991 "Historian of the Year." At present she is working with the Association of Village Council Presidents on an NSF funded project "Elders in Museums: Standing Fieldwork on it's Head."

Education
Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. 1980
M.A., Cultural Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1973.
B.A., Religious Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1971.