Makah & Neah Bay
Learning anthropology by doing anthropology
The Anthropology Club of the Department of Anthropology is a student run body that organizes a variety of events aimed at increased student participation. Join the the Anthropology Club here.
The Makah are eager to share their culture and are very talented cross-cultural educators. Why is this collaboration is so effective? PLU Professor Dave Huelsbeck began working with the tribe during graduate school in 1977. They know and trust each other. He’s been bringing PLU students to Neah Bay since 1995.
Year in and year out the students are eager to learn, respectful and honest – even if they don’t always agree with every Makah value. The students have earned the trust of the Makah people who work students from PLU. The trust makes possible an openness and sharing more characteristic of the multi-year relationship than a 12-day experience.
The trust relationship is reinforced by service activities. Students “help out.” It might be something as simple as stacking firewood for an elder, creating an opportunity to get to know each other as individuals. It might be helping serve dinner at a potlatch or helping with elder hospitality at Tribal Journeys, creating an opportunity not just to observe, but to participate. Participating in another culture is truly a life-changing experience.