A Giant in the Rainforest: Frederica de Laguna’s Contributions to the Anthropology of Southeast Alaska

Abstract

Frederica de Laguna has influenced the research goals and career trajectories of many anthropologists working in the north. We are two who have worked in southeast Alaska, a region typically studied as part of the Northwest Coast culture area. In addition to numerous articles on the Northwest Coast, de Laguna authored, co-authored and/or edited four important monographs that have become standards of Tlingit archaeology and ethnography. After a brief biographical introduction, we write this paper in two voices, describing our intellectual debts to de Laguna and her published legacy. We then jointly summarize some of de Laguna’s major contributions to the archaeology, ethnography, and history of southeast Alaska to acknowledge her prodigious intellectual stature.