Peter Schweitzer

This article attempts to explore the state of urban anthropology in northern North America, with a special focus on the indigenous peoples of Alaska. It starts with a short history of urban anthropology and proceeds with discussing the (demographic) levels of urbanization in the North American Arctic and Subarctic. Thereby, problematic dichotomies between rural and urban and traditional and modern will be touched upon. Finally, more recent developments in northern urban anthropology will be discussed, and potential comparative dimensions with the situation in the Russian North addressed.