Environmental Justice in Indian Country

Catalog description

Since colonization, Indigenous peoples have faced a wide range of environmental justice issues, from threats to their use of traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering practices; the protection of cultural resources, sacred sites, water resources and the broader environment and human health; adaptation to and resilience in the face of climate change; and tribal sovereignty and governance. This course will examine the environmental justice movement and its relationship to tribal sovereignty and the federal trust responsibility. Students will learn how environmental justice for Native peoples is integral to the legacy of colonization, lack of financial and technical resources for Tribes, and changing federal Indian law policies in U.S. history. This course also seeks to understand how Indigenous movements and activism seek to achieve environmental justice in multiple contexts, including the NODAPL movement, natural resource extraction, protection of water resources, and Indigenous responses to climate change. Students will gain a deep understanding of the challenges faced and lessons learned by Indigenous peoples in their fight of environmental justice. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, written assignments, final paper. Class meets 6:30PM-8:30PM on May 15, 16, 23, 28, and 29.