Sergei A. Kan is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 anthropologist known for his research with and writings on the Tlingit people of southeast Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, focusing on the potlatch

Potlatch

A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...

 and on the role of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

 in Tlingit communities.

Kan is of Russian Jewish origin and came to the U.S. in 1974. He did undergraduate studies at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 and received his master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, where he was a student of the anthropologist Raymond D. Fogelson

Raymond D. Fogelson

Raymond D. Fogelson is an American anthropologist known for his research on American Indians of the southeastern United States, especially the Cherokee. He is considered a founder of the subdiscipline of ethnohistory....

. Kan also cites the influence of Nancy Munn, George W. Stocking, Jr.

George W. Stocking, Jr.

George W. Stocking, Jr., is an American scholar noted for his scholarship on the history of anthropology.Trained in history and the humanities as well as anthropology, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a student of A...

, and John

John Comaroff

John L. Comaroff is a Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. He is also Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation....

 and Jean Comaroff

Jean Comaroff

Jean Comaroff is Bernard E. & Ellen C. Sunny Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago and Honorary Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. She is an expert on the effects of colonialism on people in Southern Africa.She...

.

He began fieldwork with the Tlingit in Sitka, Alaska, in 1979 and in 1980 was adopted by Charlotte Young (Tlaktoowú) (1916-1982) into the Kaagwaantaan clan. In 1991, he was adopted by Mark Jacobs into the Tlingit Dakl'aweidí clan.

He was an associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 before going to Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, where he was granted tenure in 1993.