American Indian Studies (Minor)

IS 352. Native Philosophies and Religions. 3 Credits.

Introduces students to the complex and rich religions of Native Americans, from traditional religions to the Native American Church and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Both traditional and contemporary belief systems are discussed. F.

IS 311. Health and American Indian Cultures. 3 Credits.

The course investigates cultural perceptions of health as well as specific historic and contemporary health problems in indigenous communities in Canada and the United States. F.

IS 320. Native Cultural Landscapes. 3 Credits.

This course engages the notion of landscape - the environment as made meaningful by cultural perspectives on interactions and responsibilities. It investigates how American Indian cultures create, imagine, construct, map, and interact with landscapes and how they render them meaningful. F.

IS 354. Dynamics of Conquest and Resistance. 3 Credits.

This course is an advanced course on the experiences of Indian peoples in colonial Latin America and to the historical methods used to study them. The course will cover the period from late pre-Columbian times through Latin American Independence and will address topics including the conquest of core Indian civilizations, the creation of colonial Indian identities in the republica de Indios, the persistence of Indios barbaros on the frontiers, and the meaning of Latin American independence for Indians. F.

IS 360. Oral Traditions in American Indian Cultures. 3 Credits.

Despite all predictions that they would disappear, American Indian oral traditions are as strong today as ever before. This course will introduce students to the complexities, richness, and conventions of different oral traditions as well as to the collecting process. F.

IS 395. Ethnohistory of North America. 3 Credits.

This course introduces students to the historical study of Indian peoples of North America during the colonial and early national periods, particularly in situations where their voices or perspectives are not easily or explicitly captured in historical documentation of their own making. It will focus on key historiographic issues concerning the nature of frontiers and Indian agency as well as on historical method.