Course Description
Native religious traditions of selected cultures of North America, with special attention to cultures of the Southeast, Great Plains, and Southwest.
Athena Title
NATIVE AMERICAN REL
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in RELI 2004H or RELI(NAMS) 2004H
Semester Course Offered
Offered every even-numbered year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
(1) To illumine the hermeneutic issues involved in understanding religion across cultures. (2) To introduce common aspects of traditional Native American life by examining elements of a variety of Native societies. (3) To demonstrate the diverse factors that affect human life by observing the influence of historic, geographic, and economic factors on Native beliefs and practices. (4) To challenge simplistic modern notions of religion. Computer Literacy To enhance and facilitate computer literacy by the use of word processing, the web, email, and OASIS through research, preparation, and presentation of work such as oral class reports and completion of written assignments. Critical Thinking To foster critical thinking by engaging in activities such as classroom discussion and debate, essay examinations, and oral presentations. Moral Reasoning (Ethics) To assist in the continued development of moral and ethical reasoning and reflection by encouraging creative thinking regarding individual and community concerns and needs, the challenging of prejudices and stereotypes, and examining rational and ethical bases of constructive social interactions.
Topical Outline
1. Introduction 2. Looking and Seeing: Understanding Religion Across Cultures 3. Approaches to Religion in Native American Cultures 4. The Clash of Cultures: Encounter and Conquest 5. Overcoming Spiritual Colonialism
General Education Core
CORE V: Social SciencesSyllabus