Harald Prins |
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Harald E.L. Prins is anethnohistorian and visual anthropologist. After his doctoraal at UNijmegen (‘76), he earned a certificate in advanced 16mm-filmmaking inNew York (‘80), and a PhD (New School for Social Research ‘88). Astribal anthropologist for a Mi’kmaq Indian rights and land claims casethroughout the 1980s, he successfully testified in the US Senate (’90)and subsequently served as expert witness in Canadian courts. He alsofunctioned as an International Observer in Paraguay’s contestedpresidential elections (‘93). Prins has taught comparative history inthe Netherlands and anthropology at Bowdoin College in Maine beforecoming to Kansas State University (KSU) in 1990. There he receivedseveral teaching honors, including KSU’s Presidential Award (‘99) andthe Coffman Chair for University Distinguished Teaching Scholars(’04-‘05). Based on extensive fieldwork and advocacy research amongindigenous peoples in South and North America, he has published severaldozen academic articles and book chapters in various languages. Inaddition to authoring a book, "The Mi’kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation,and Cultural Survival" (‘96), he co-edited "American Beginnings:Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega (‘94)".He also co-authored several major international anthropology textbooks,including "Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge" (’05), andco-edited several special academic journal issues. His majordocumentary film credits include co-authoring the internationalaward-winning "Oh, What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me!" (‘03) and "OurLives in Our Hands" (‘86)--a widely-screened documentary about Mi’kmaqIndians also broadcast on public television. He also served as keyadvisor on the award-winning "Wabanaki: A New Dawn" (‘96). In addition to being a member of several professional juries, editorial and advisoryboards, Prins served a two-year term as President of the Society forVisual Anthropology and four years as Visual Anthropology Review Editor of the "American Anthropologist". Harald Prins was recently appointedUniversity Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at KSU and alsoserves as guest curator for an exhibition on fieldwork and human rightsat the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,Washington D.C.
