Fall 2013:
University of Massachusetts Amherst:
Anthro 220: Introduction to Native American Studies
Rae Gould. Tues - Thur., 11:15am-12:30pm, DuBois Library, 702
This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Native Studies. Course content includes the indigenous peoples and cultures of North, South and Central America as well as contemporary cultural expressions, representations, political issues, repatriation and active persistence throughout the ongoing colonization of their homelands.
Diversity Area
Anthro 270: North American Indians
Jean Forward. TuTh 2:30, Gen.Ed. 4 credits
Survey of the indigenous people of America north of Mexico; their regional variations and adaptations, their relationship to each other, and the changes taking place in their lifeways. (Gen.Ed. SB, U)
Diversity Area
Anthro 397MG: ST: Languages of Mexico & Guatamala
Emiliana Cruz. TuTh 4:00pm-5:15pm
Cultural Expressions Area
Anthro 697TR: Interpretive Trails
Sonya Atalay. W 9:05am-12:05pm
This course will be an examination of cultural heritage tourism with an emphasis on interpretive trails. We will look locally, nationally, and internationally to gain an overview of the scale, scope and organization of interpretive trail planning; emphasis on development of cultural and heritage resources of tourism; and identification of issues related to the economic, technological and political aspects of interpretive trail tourism. Some of the complex issues we will examine include: What are the collaborative processes involved in choosing sites for inclusion? Indigenous communities often have holistic views of landscapes that cannot easily divide natural, cultural and spiritual landscapes. How these multiple aspects of a place best presented to diverse public audiences? Who decides which communities are included on multi-cultural trails, and how do diverse groups work together in developing and caring for trails, particularly when cultural concepts of “care” vary dramatically and can sometimes conflict? Some of the most significant challenges in cultural heritage tourism, and interpretive trails in particular, center around the decision to even identify a site. How do archaeologists and public historians work with communities to protect and preserve sites once their locations are publically identified?
Format: The course will follow a seminar format in which we read and discuss weekly readings. We will review case studies but will also examine a local case-study with the development of an interpretive trail currently in development in Massachusetts.
Contemporary Issues Area
History 170: Indigenous Peoples of North America
Alice Nash, TuTh 4:00 pm-4:50pm, Thompson Hall room 106
The diverse histories of indigenous peoples in North America from their origins to the present. Focus on indigenous perspectives, examining social, economic, and political issues experienced by indigenous peoples. Emphasis on diversity, continuity, change, and self-determination.
Diversity Area
Theater 130: Contemporary Playwrights Of Color
Priscilla Page TU TH 2:30pm-3:45pm
Theater movements of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans, and the body of literature by contemporary playwrights of color within a historical context.
Cultural Expressions Area
Afroam 397B: ST-Native Americans/African Americans
John Bracey, Wednesdays 7:00pm-9:30pm, New African House room 311
Explores numerous levels and terms of the encounter between Native Americans and Blacks, including native tribal identity, Black identity, famous people of mixed ancestry, contested identities, Native Americans in jazz and pop music. Native and Black cultural traditions in intermarriage, Native Americans as slaves, slavery and freedmen, "free colored" communities, decoding historical documents, tribal legacy assertions, "triracials," and the impact of mixed ancestry on both Black and native communities.
Diversity Area
AfroAm 496: Independent Study: Topic: Native Film
Jena McLaurin, Every other Monday starting September 16, 6:30 pm, Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center in Chadbourne Dorm (ground level)
This 2 credit course will provide students with a general overview of how Native people have been depicted in films as well as how Native people have challenged these depictions with their own film representations. The course is centered around six film screenings followed by a discussion of each movie. By the end of the course, students will have addressed questions such as: Why were “cowboy and Indian” movies so popular? How are contemporary Native issues represented in film? What are Native American Indian stereotypes, and how do we challenge them?
Cultural Expressions Area and Contemporary Issues Area
AfroAm 496: Independent Study: Topic: Native Music
Jon G. Hill, Day and Time TBA, Josephine White Eagle Cultural Center in Chadbourne Dorm (ground level)
Cultural Expressions Area
Geosciences 497PA: Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas
Stan Stevens. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:15am-12:30pm, Hasbrouck 236
Development and implementation of rights-based conservation and “new paradigm” protected area policy by Indigenous peoples, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), state parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and NGOs. Re-conceptualizations of protected area goals and governance, promotion of good governance and rights recognition, and political ecology critiques of “protection paradigm,” community-based conservation, and integrated conservation and development approaches. Analysis of experience in diverse parts of the world with new approaches, emphasizing Indigenous peoples and community conserved areas (ICCAs) and shared governance arrangements. Current initiatives by IUCN, CBD, UN human rights monitoring mechanism, the Global Environment Facility, the ICCA Consortium, Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples’ networks, and prominent conservation NGOs.
Contemporary Issues Area
Education 597R: ST-Leadership in Multicultural Tutoring
Robert Maloy, Tuesdays 4:00pm-6:30pm, Furcolo Hall room 128
Contemporary Issues Area
Stockbridge School 297C: ST-Traditional Herbal Medicine Systems I
Nazim Mamedov W 4:40PM 5:30PM
An examination of indigenous medicinal systems from around the world (including Ayurvedic, Chinese, African, Middle Eastern, European, Central Asian, Native American and Amazonian). Students will be exposed to the use of medicinal plants in different cultures around the globe. Companion course to PLSOILIN 297D. These courses can be taken in any sequence.
Diversity Area
Linguistics 391B: S-Indigenous Languages of North America
Staff TBA, TuTh 11:15am-12:30pm
Cultural Expressions Area
Amherst College:
American Studies 280/English 273: When Corn Mother Meets
Professors Brooks and Vigil. Tuesdays 1:00pm-3:20pm
(Offered as AMST 280 and ENGL 273.) In Penobscot author Joseph Nicolar’s 1893 narrative, the Corn Mother proclaims, “I am young in age and I am tender, yet my strength is great and I shall be felt all over the world, because I owe my existence to the beautiful plant of the earth.” In contrast, according to one Iowa farmer, from the 2007 documentary “King Corn,” “We aren’t growing quality. We’re growing crap.” This course aims to unpack depictions like these in order to probe the ways that corn has changed in its significance within the Americas. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, students will be introduced to critical theories and methodologies from American Studies as they study corn’s shifting role, across distinct times and places, as a nourishing provider, cultural transformer, commodity, icon, and symbol.
Beginning with the earliest travels of corn and her stories in the Americas, students will learn about the rich histories, traditions, narratives, and uses of “maize” from indigenous communities and nations, as well as its subsequent proliferation and adaptation throughout the world. In addition to literary and historical sources students will engage with a wide variety of texts (from material culture to popular entertainment, public policy and genetics) in order to deepen their understanding of cultural, political, environmental, and economic changes that have characterized life in the Americas.
Limited to 25 students.
Diversity Area and Cultural Expressions
American Studies 111: Global Valley
Professors Brooks and K. Sanchez-Eppler. TTH 10:00AM-11:20AM
Drawing on a wide range of primary materials, and taking advantage of the ease of visiting the sites of many of the topics we study, this course offers an introduction to American Studies through an exploration of the Connecticut River Valley that stresses both the fascination of detailed local history and the economic, political, social, and cultural networks that tie this place to the world. Topics may include conflicts and accommodations between Native peoples and English settlers; changing uses of land and resources; 17th century witchcraft trials; the American Revolution and Shays rebellion; religious revivalism of the Great Awakening; abolitionist and other 19th century reform movements; tourism and the scenic including Thomas Cole’s famous painting of the oxbow; immigration, industrialization and deindustrialization, especially in the cities of Holyoke and Springfield; educational institutions and innovations; the cold war, the reach of the “military industrial complex” into local educational institutions, and “the bunker”; the sanctuary movement; feminist and gay activism; present environmental, mass incarceration, and other social equity issues; and of course, Emily Dickinson's poetry.
Limited to 20 students per section.
Diversity Area
American Studies 240: Rethinking Pocahontas
Professor Vigil. TTH 10:00AM-11:20AM
From Longfellow’s Hiawatha and D.H. Lawrence’s Studies in Classic American Literature to Disney’s Pocahontas and James Cameron’s Avatar, representations of the indigenous as “Other” have greatly shaped cultural production in America as vehicles for defining the nation and the self. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the broad field of Native American Studies, engaging a range of texts from law to policy to history and literature as well as music and aesthetics. Film and literary texts in particular will provide primary grounding for our inquiries. By keeping popular culture, representation, and the nature of historical narrative in mind, we will consider the often mutually constitutive relationship between American identity and Indian identity as we pose the following questions: How have imaginings of a national space and national culture by Americans been shaped by a history marked by conquest and reconciliation with indigenous peoples? And, how has the creation of a national American literary tradition often defined itself as both apart from and yet indebted to Native American cultural traditions? This course also considers how categories like race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion have contributed to discussions of citizenship and identity, and changed over time with particular attention to specific Native American individuals and tribal nations. Students will be able to design their own final research project that may focus on either a historically contingent or contemporary issue related to Native American people in the United States.
Limited to 20 students.
Cultural Expressions Area
Hampshire College:
Critical Social Inquiry 0129: Belonging in School
Kristen Luschen 10:30AM-11:50AM T,TH
Large numbers of students, particularly Latino, African American, and Native American students, disengage from school every year. Often this is in the form of "dropping out." However, there also is clear evidence that social policies as well school policies and practices work to push these students out of schools or exclude them all together. This course will examine the conditions of schooling that work to support students' formal and informal disengagement with school. We will explore what schools and their community partners can do to reengage students in schooling. We will explore research and current models of schooling that address the cultivation of a sense of belonging and community in schools. In particular, we will examine programs and schools that forefront community engagement, dialogue, racial justice, and student participation.
Contemporary Issues Area
Critical Social Inquiry 0134: Andean Lives
Michelle Bigenho 01:00PM-02:20PM M,W
Anthropologists, as well as travelers, conquerors, priests, journalists, novelists, and natives have constructed numerous accounts through which the Andean region has been imagined. These imaginings seem to vary as widely as the diversity of their authors: as a place steeped in highland indigenous traditions; as the idealized place of the Inca Empire; as a romanticized rural place of self-organized communities where an ethos of collective action outweighs that of individual interest; as the original source of the coca leaf that has ritual significance throughout the region; as the birthplace of a Maoist guerrilla movement in the last gasp of the Cold War; and as the place where social movements have challenged neoliberalism and brought an indigenous president to power. Through details about the lives of those who reside in the Andes, this course will bring together anthropological and historical views of this region with cases primarily from Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
Diversity Area
Critical Social Inquiry 0152: Zapatismo
Margaret Cerullo 10:30AM-11:50AM T,TH
Today, newspapers speak of a decided tilt to the left in Latin America (Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, for example, all have presidents who affirm socialism). This movement is accompanied, or propelled by, indigenous coalitions, that are challenging even governments firmly in the US orbit (Columbia and Mexico). This was not the case twenty years ago, when, to everyone's astonishment, the Zapatistas rose in revolt in Chiapas. Surfacing the same day that NAFTA went into effect-January 1, 1994, they announced a different vision of Mexico's future. The actions and writings of the Zapatistas constitute an extraordinary case study in which many preoccupations converge: the economic, the political, indigenous rights, women's rights, civil society, cultural memory, and writing that is poetic and political. Focusing on the Zapatista revolt enables us to consider an example of "local" resistance to "global" designs, the ongoing challenge to neoliberal economics and to limited conceptions of "democracy" that condemn populations to invisibility, their cultural memory to oblivion, and their needs and knowledge to subaltern status.
Contemporary Issues Area
Cognitive Science 0138: Endangered Languages
Mark Feinstein 10:30AM-11:50AM T,TH
Half of the world's six thousand or so languages are likely to disappear forever in the next few decades. This would be a reduction of human diversity on a scale equaling the most dramatic biological extinctions. Can it be stopped? Should it? In this course, students learn enough linguistics to understand why many linguists regard the impending death of so many languages as a scientific catastrophe, and we explore a range of issues in linguistic, cultural, and biological evolution. A central feature of the course is the introductory study of Irish (Gaeilge), spoken by millions in Ireland just a few centuries ago. Now, with no more than fifty thousand native speakers, this Celtic language faces its possible demise. We also examine contemporary political, cultural, and educational efforts to maintain Irish and save it from extinction. Students are expected to complete several written assignments, and to present a final project on the structure and sociolinguistic status of an endangered language of their choosing.
Cultural Expressions Area
Mount Holyoke:
Environmental Studies 317: Perspectives on American Environmental History
Lauret Savoy, Mondays 1:15 - 4:05
Diversity Area and Contemporary Issues Area
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