Native American Women’s Studies ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

This study addresses a specific sub-field in Native American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. It addresses Native women’s history and concerns from Native women’s perspectives and examines ways they survive and resist. We examine fictional, historical, and intergenerational stories that illuminate women’s and girls’ experiences, and apply activists’ analyses of contemporary problems in order to contextualize these voices. By examining differences between how women position themselves in Native American Studies and how Native Americans position themselves in Women’s Studies, we analyze paradigmatic differences between a Euro-American focus on gender and class in patriarchy, and a Native American focus arising from egalitarian or matriarchal cultures. We will identify Native American women’s responses to a complex of concerns such as racism and colonialism through different nations as well as a range of activist strategies, from literary to agricultural to political and research Native women’s concerns in students’ own locales. Prerequisites: Solid writing skills