The Alaskan Cross-Cultural Case Studies Series

Within the area of the earth’s surface labeled “Alaska” there exists a unique mix of people whose cultural backgrounds and life styles range from subsistence hunters to industrial workers. All of these people interact in various ways to play out the drama of the everyday lives they lead, and for most, cross-cultural encounters are an inherent part of that interaction. The purpose of the Alaskan Cross-Cultural Case Studies Series is to make available materials that describe the nature of those cross-cultural encounters and contribute to an understanding of how they influence and are influenced by the social and institutional contexts in which they occur.

While the case studies in this series are derived from conditions and situations imbedded in the Alaskan context, their usefulness extends beyond Alaska and can contribute to increased cross-cultural understanding in other situations and contexts as well. The concentration and diversity of cultural interchange in Alaska serves to bring cross-cultural issues into bold relief, thus highlighting some of the significant factors that contribute to an understanding of those issues. With the understanding derived from an analysis of the Alaskan experience, we are in a better position to approach any cross-cultural situation in a way that reflects greater respect for the cultural integrity and diversity of the people for whom that situation is part of their everyday existence. Only with such respect and understanding can we expect to shape the social and cultural institutions that make up society in a way that all people can have equal opportunity for full participation in that society.

The case study format will provide the methodological basis for this series, because it provides a richness of information and a level of analysis that brings the various elements of a situation together and treats them as an integrated whole, rather than as independent parts. It is this examination of how the elements of different cultural systems interact when they come together that is so crucial to the development of cross-cultural understanding. Through the Alaskan Cross-Cultural Case Studies Series we will continue to identify, prepare, and make available materials that contribute to such understanding.

General Editor, Ray Barnhardt