Native America: Introduction

Catalog description

Though only 0.9% of the US population, Native Americans have played and continue to play an important part in American society. Largely invisibilized by the foregrounding of other ethnic minority groups, Native Americans in the US struggle for recognition (federal, state, and local), for survival as cultural groups (cf. Ile de Jean Charles evacuation/resettlement), and for basic rights (legal protections, religious freedom, education, health services, and subsistence). While focusing primarily on Native American groups in the US, this course will explore the histories of indigenous peoples. Vignettes of the cultures, languages, philosophies and lifeways of indigenous Americans provide the backdrop for coming to know the modern autochthonous peoples.