AIS 100 Introduction to American Indian Studies I: Indigenous North America to 1890 (Cheyfitz, E.)
TR 1:25 - 2:40P, plus sections
(100 is not a prerequisite to 101)
This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the cultures and histories of American
Indian Nations north of Mexico to 1890. Lectures and discussion sections begin with a survey of
the Precolumbian Indian occupation of North America, and then examine the political, economic,
cultural, legal, and demographic consequences of European and American colonialism. The course
will emphasize the contemporary relevance of traditional values, as well as the ways in which the
deep past continues to affect the present and future of Indian peoples. Course materials will
address Indian histories and cultures from a variety of perspectives, including those of the
humanities, social sciences, and expressive arts.
AIS 195 Colonial Latin America (Graubart, K.)
TR 1:25 - 2:15P, plus sections
This course examines the colonial "encounter" of Iberia, Africa, and the New World, which began in
1492. Topics include economic and social organization of the colonies; the cultural hybridity that
preceded as well as developed within colonialism; the production of ethnicity and race; slavery,
forced labor and economic stratification; intellectual currents and daily life; indigenous and
slave resistance and rebellion; and independence.
AIS 230 Cultures of Native North America (Lambert, B.)
MWF 1:25 - 2:15P
A survey of the principal Inuit and American Indian culture areas north of Mexico. Selected
cultures will be examined to bring out distinctive features of the economy, social organization,
religion, and worldview. Although the course concentrates on traditional cultures, some lectures
and readings deal with changes in native ways of life that have occurred during the period of
European-Indian contact.
AIS 239 Seminar in Iroquois History (Parmenter, J.)
TR 2:55 - 4:10P
This interdisciplinary seminar explores the history and culture of Iroquois people from ancient times,
through their initial contacts with European settlers, to their present-day struggles and achievements
under colonial circumstances in North America.
AIS 353 Anthropology of Colonialism (Simpson, A.)
MWF 11:15 - 12:05A
This course examines the relationship between colonialism and anthropology and the ways in which
the discipline has engaged this global process locally in North America. One of our aims in this
course is to gain an appreciation of colonialism both as a theory of political legitimacy and as
a set of governmental practices. As such, we will re-imagine North America in light of the
colonial project and its technologies of rule such as education, law, policy that worked to
transform indigenous notions of gender, property and territory. We will do so in order to
appreciate the ways in which these forms of knowledge and practice advanced the settlement of
space and place and both settled and unsettled peoples. This course will be comparative in scope
but will be grounded within the literature from Native North America.
AIS 400/600 Seminar in American Indian Studies (Simpson, A.)
T 1:25 - 4:25P (400 Caldwell)
This course is an interdisciplinary survey of the literature in Native American Studies. Readings for
this course engage themes of indignity, colonialism, power and "resistance". The syllabus is
formed from some of "classic" and canonical works in Native American Studies such as Custer
Died for Your Sins, but will also require an engagement with less canonical works such as the Red Man's
Appeal to Justice as well as theoretical and historical contributions from scholars that work outside of
Native American Studies . This course is open to graduate students but advanced undergraduates are
welcome to audit (with permission of instructor).
AIS 497 Independent Study
Topic and credit hours to be mutually arranged between faculty and student. Independent Study Forms
must be approved by American Indian Program Office.
AIS 601 American Indian Studies Pro-seminar
AIS 635 Indigenous Peoples and Globalization
Explores ways in which processes of globalization affect indigenous peoples worldwide and the strategies
indigenous peoples are using to deal with those pressures. Globalization, whether under the auspices of
the World Trade Organization and regional economic agreements such as the NAFTA or the deterritorialization
of social and political arrangements cotemporal with modernization or the expansion of communication
technology and its impact on traditional knowledge systems, have had profound social, cultural, and
economic impacts on indigenous peoples. At issue are the lands, resources, traditional knowledge,
intellectual and cultural property, and indigenous struggles for recognition and self-determination.
