Course Description
Cultural diversity of contemporary Native American tribes of the continental United States and Alaska, including lifestyles, politics, literature, music, art, and socioeconomic conditions.
Athena Title
Contemporary Native America
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ANTH 3410H, NAMS 3410H, ANTH 3410E, NAMS 3410E
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Most students have little real knowledge of 20th century Indians beyond stereotypes and media "sound-bites." This course attempts to remove the banality and falsity of idealized Indians ("White Man's Indians") presenting instead the strength and diversity of contemporary Native America.
Topical Outline
1: "After the wars were over." Introduction and brief review of the removals and reservations. 2: "Re-invention and identity." Allotment and blood quantum: Senator Dawes and the Dawes Act. John Collier, and The Indian "New Deal." The challenge of self-government. Decertification and assimilation policies. 3: "The end of Kalijah, Drugstore and the White Man's Indian." Grassroots and the American Indian Movement (AIM); Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. Warrior, Means Banks, and other activists. Beyond AIM. Beer and the Rez - Pine Ridge 1999. Leonard Peltier. 4: Indian Education and Medicine. The status of Native American health - traditional and contemporary healing. Mental health and alcohol. Navaho. 5: "Inventing Realities." Spirituality and religion. Hopi. The survival of ritual. White "Shamans." Religious freedom and sacred places. Archaeology and the Indian - NAGPRA. The Ghost Dance; Native American CHurch; the Sun Dance. Handsome Lake and the Seneca. 6: Arts in Native America - from Tonto to Tallchief. The Pow-Wow Culture. Contemporary dance and music. Painting and sculpture; reinventing Custer and Crazy Horse - Memorial and Mountains. Contemporary literature, poetry, and music of Native America. 7. Ecology and the Indian. The environmental movements co-op of the Indian. Buffalo problem in Yellowstone National Park. Water and the Indian - Nevada. Treaty Fish and the Pacific Salmon problem. 8. Indians and the end of the 20th Century. State Tribes vs. Federal Tribes. American Indians and the future. Running a modern tribe. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The end of Indian "nations"?
Syllabus