Native American History

Catalog description

Surveying Native American history from the pre-colonial era to the present, this course examines key historical events, including: Indigenous civilizations before colonialism; the invasion of North America by Europeans; colonial epidemics; the Indian slave trade; the Pueblo Revolt; the Seven Years' War; the development and impacts of U.S. Indian policy; Indigenous sovereignty. Methodologically, this course exposes students to a range of historical subfields, such as social history, cultural history, political history, military history, and gender history. Additionally, History 539 gives students an overview of ethnohistory, an interdisciplinary field that draws on techniques and sources from History and Anthropology. By studying ethnohistory, historians will become better acquainted with cultural anthropology and archaeology. This seminar introduces students to major questions, themes, and problems in Native American history. These include: How can we study pre-colonial Indigenous history? What impact did colonization have on the Americas? How did Indians, Europeans, and Africans attempt to navigate cultural differences? How did the enslavement of Indigenous peoples and Africans impact race in North America? How do Native-centered histories transform our understanding of the American past?