 He did undergraduate studies at Boston University and received his master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago, where he was a student of the anthropologist Raymond D. Fogelson.Kan also cites the influence of Nancy Munn, George W. Stocking, Jr., and John and Jean Comaroff.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.