IPinCH Fellow: 2010-2011
PhD, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
Research key words:
Cultural landscapes, indigenous archaeology and traditional knowledge, applied archaeology, legislation and policy, rock art, Northern Plains and Interior Plateau regions, proto-contact and contact period.
My Ph.D. research addresses the implications of Indigenous archaeology and cultural landscapes for applied archaeological practice in British Columbia. I build on recent theoretical advances in anthropological, archaeological, and Indigenous approaches to cultural landscape and community-based heritage stewardship. I review the issues arising from the conflict between Indigenous perspectives and "cultural resource management", and describe the role and practice of Indigenous archaeology based on case studies within the St'at'imc and Nlaka'pamux nations in the mid-Fraser region of B.C. Lastly, I explore alternative approaches to heritage stewardship from the perspective of ethics, authority, intangible heritage, and Indigenous landscape.
Master's Thesis: Icons of Power, Narratives of Glory: Ethnic Continuity and Cultural Change in the Contact Period Rock Art of Writing-On-Stone, Alberta (1995). Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough ON.
Selected Publications:
2009. Klassen, M. A., R. Budhwa and R. Reimer/Yumks. First Nations, Forestry, and the Transformation of Archaeological Practice in British Columbia, Canada. Heritage Management 2(2): 199-238.
2008. Klassen, M. A. First Nations, the Heritage Conservation Act, and the Ethics of Heritage Stewardship. The Midden 40(4):8-17.
2008. Klassen, M. A. Aboriginal and Archaeological Perspectives on Conservation and Stewardship: Examples from the Plains and Plateau. In Preserving Aboriginal Heritage: Technical and Traditional Approaches: Proceedings of Symposium 2007, edited by C. Dignard, K. Helwig, J. Mason, K. Nanowin and T. Stone, pp. 325-332. Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa, Ontario.
2005. Klassen, M. A. Converging Perceptions: Áísínai'pi (Writing-On-Stone) in popular, anthropological, and traditional thought. In Picturing the American Past. L. Loendorf, C. Chippindale and D. S. Whitley, eds. pp. 15–50. University of Arizona Press: Tucson.
2003. Klassen, M. A. Spirit images, medicine rocks: The rock art of Alberta. In Archaeology in Alberta: A View from the New Millennium. Archaeological Society of Alberta: Lethbridge AB.
2001. Keyser, James D., and Michael A. Klassen. Plains Indian Rock Art. University of Washington Press: Seattle.
2000. Klassen, Michael A., James D. Keyser, and Lawrence L. Loendorf. Bird Rattle's petroglyphs at Writing-On-Stone: Continuity in the Biographic rock art tradition. Plains Anthropologist 45(172): 189–201.
1998. Klassen, M. A. Icon and narrative in contact transition rock art at Writing-On-Stone, southern Alberta, Canada. In The Archaeology of Rock-Art, P.S.C. Taçon and C. Chippindale, editors. University of Cambridge Press: Cambridge UK.
