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What does it mean to be a Native American in the 21st century? Beyond traditional portrayals of military conquests, cultural collapse, and assimilation, the relationships between Native Americans and American society. Focus is on three themes leading to in-class moot court trials: colonial encounters and colonizing discourses; frontiers and boundaries; and sovereignty of self and nation. Topics include gender in native communities, American Indian law, readings by native authors, and Indians in film and popular culture.

The history of competing tribal and Western economic models, and the legal, political, social, and cultural implications for tribal economic development. Case studies include mineral resource extraction, gaming, and cultural tourism. 21st-century strategies for sustainable economic development and protection of political and cultural sovereignty.

This course incorporates a Native American perspective in the assigned readings and is an introduction to Native American History from contact with Europeans to the present. History, from a Western perspective, is secular and objectively evaluative whereas for most Indigenous peoples, history is a moral endeavor (Walker, Lakota Society 113). A focus in the course is the civil rights era in American history when Native American protest movements were active. Colonization and decolonization, as they historically occurred are an emphasis throughout the course using texts written from the perspective of the colonized at the end of the 20th century in addition to the main text. Students will be encouraged to critically explore issues of interest through two short papers and one longer paper that is summarized in a 15-20 minute presentation on a topic of interest relating to the course.

Using the assigned texts covering the protest movements in the 20th century to the texts written from the perspective of the colonized at the end of the 20th century, students will engage in discussions on decolonization. Students will be encouraged to critically explore issues of interest through two short papers and a 15-20 minute presentation on the topic of interest relating to decolonization for Native Americans in one longer paper. Approaching research from an Indigenous perspective will be encouraged throughout.