Anthropology/Certificate Program in Native American Indian Studies
NASS (Native American Student Services) ASB is a Partnership with the Wamoanoag
Indigenous Program (WIP) at Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth MA. This year it
will be 4 INDSY credits offered through the Anthropology/Certificate Program in
Native American Indian Studies.
The class will be limited to 9 undergraduate students and 1 graduate student.
We will meet once a week for 2.5 during the spring semester.
NASS will cover the 100.00 per person housing fee (we have two rooms at the
visitor's center and use of kitchen, bathroom and showers), and NASS will cover
the rental of one van.
Required readings will be Native Features: Indigenous Films Form Around the
World by Houston Brooks and First Peoples : Indigenous Cultures and Their
Futures. Both books are available through Food For Thought Books in downtown
Amherst, amazon.com and barnes and noble.com (I believe both may also be
available foe e-book downloads (Kindle). Additional readings will be provided
by the instructor (me) as handouts, emails, e-reserve, or library reserves.
During the First half of the semester we will focus on the impact of
colonization on Indigenous cultures and cultural identities. We also be come
familiar with the WIP website and attend a hands on learning session on the
Lexus research data base at the DuBois library. During our Lexus lesson we will
learn how to find several legal documents that are apart of the required
readings for the course.
Participants will submit a midterm paper the week before we leave for the
spring break trip (actually it is a draft for the final paper)that will discuss
what you have learn thus far and how you have been learning up to this point of
the semester( resources, history, law, popular culture, as well as methods and
pedagogues)
Spring break- Participants contribute 60.00 (which will be used to cover the
groups gas/tolls and groceries for the week of spring break (to/from/at
Plymouth). We will leave at 3pm on the Friday that spring break students must
and we will return the Sunday that spring break week ends. Thus students, will
not have to worry about where to stay that Friday night or that Sunday morning.
We contribute one day of physical work in the Wampanoag Village and attend a
orientation session with our WIP Instructors: You will also give them a copy of
your draft for review/questions/feedback. This gives them the week to review
and comment on the papers so you can bring the feedback with you.
Our WIP instructors will have handouts for us to read as daily outings and
projects that we will engage in. At this pint our community service
is "learning" about the histories of the various bands of Wampanoags, aspects
of their culture, as well as the behind the scenes of working and creating
learning opportunities at a bi-cultural "living museum" (Puritans and
Wampanoag).
Each evening we send one hour reviewing what we learned during the day-and how
we learned what we learned. The rest of evening will be devoted to studying for
other classes, games, socializing among ourselves as we learn more about each
others, and preparing and sharing supper. WE will also have breakfast each day
before starting the day, and some day we fix our own lunch and other days we
may eat out in town or at the museum.
Undergraduate participants will also figure out how to feed 11 people from
diverse
backgrounds with diverse dietary habits and dietary needs, three meals a day
for 9.5 days on a 560.00 food budget.
We will also make a visit and use two libraries during the week- one at the
museum and one in the town of Plymouth to conduct research and or compare notes
of resources available at the various libraries in Plymouth and UMASS.
On the Sunday morning that we will be heading back to campus-we tour the living
museum which will now be open to observe tourists interactions within the two
living villages, then we make one last trip to the town of Plymouth to view the
MAYFLOWER II while it is in port, and then take 102 hours for personal shopping
in town. We should be back at UMASS Amherst.
When we return to campus we will spend the rest of the semester finishing and
discussing all assigned readings, and movies in (class), as well the
participants creating a collective presentation (oral and PowerPoint)to be
given at the annual UMASS Indigenous Peoples Symposium (April 22-23, 2010.
that will cover. The presentation will focus on what the group learned and how
we learned from each other during the semester.
Students cannot register directly through spire. If you would like to enroll in
the course please email me your student ID , major expected year of graduation
and four-five lines of why you want to be in the class before November 20th.
Once we have sufficient participants we will decide on the best day and time
for
the group to meet once a week.
Joyce W. Vincent
Associate Director
Native American Student Services
Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center
B-11 Bartlett Hall
130 Hicks Way
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
