Phyllis Fast

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology, Harvard University, 1998

Biography

Dr. Fast is presently a Professor of Anthropology and Liberal Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  Her research interests are related to Alaska Native peoples, literary, visual and performative arts, as well as areas of transnational political and social economy as it relates to indigenous peoples, particularly in the area of gender relations.  Among her favorite courses are (Natives of Alaska Anth A200), Anthropology of Art (Anth A360),  and Native North Americans (Anth A335).  She is the author of Northern Athabascan Survival: Women, Community and the Future.  In 2009 Fast was part of a research team investigating Native perspectives on Alaska’s statehood for Sealaska Heritage Institute. Fast, a Koyukon Athabascan, conducted research among Athabascan elders for the project.  She received a BA in English from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, an interdisciplinary M.A. in Anthropology and English on Alaska Native Literary Forms from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and a PhD in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. After receiving her first degree at UAF, Fast studied both western and Alaska Native art, and developed a career as a gallery artist in Anchorage.

Research Interests

• Social anthropology
• Gender
• Alaska Native art
• North America.