SYLLABUS

CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICA

ANTH 3410

Instructor: Ervan Garrison, Departments of Anthropology and Geology

Textbooks: Killing the White Man's Indian (Bordewich)
The Toughest Indian in the World (Alexie)

Time: 10:30-12:45

Place: Baldwin Hall, G20

Grade: Based on examinations (2); class recitation and participation

Course Description:

This study of contemporary Native America begins with the end of the 19^th century and examines te evolution and adaption of American Indian cultures(s) in the modern world. It is a survey of selected tribal groups in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. One perspective of Contemporary Native America is one where American Indians didn't "vanish" - rather they "reinvented" themselves in an alien and often antagonistic social and cultural matrix.

Mixing the traditional and the modern, the indigenous and the European. Native Americans are both "in" and "out" of the present, temporally and culturally, representing important examples of cultural survival and renewal. In today's climate of multiculturalism, the Native American is the original majority turned minority. Most students have little real knowledge of 20^th century Indians beyond stereotypes and media "sound-bites". This course

goes far to remove the banality and falsity of idealized Indians ("White Man's Indians") presenting instead the strength and diversity of contemporary Native America.

Topics:

Week 1. "After the Wars Were Over." Introduction and brief review of the removals and reservations. 554 U.S. tribes
Readings: Bordewich (9-21; Chap. 1); Alexie
Video: "500 Nations"

Week 1 cont. "Re-Invention and Identity." The challenge of self-government. Decertification and assimilation policies - allotment and blood quantum: Senator Dawes and the Dawes Act.
Readings: Bordewich, Chapters 2, 3; Alexie

* Special Note: Due to a scheduling conflict with Dr. Garrison's May Session courses, ANTH 3410 will not meet Friday, June 7^th.

Week 2. "The End of Kalijah, Drugstore and the White Man's Indian". Grassroots & the American Indian Movement (AIM); Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. Beyond AIM.
Readings: Alexie.
Video: "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse"

Week 2 cont. Indian Education & Medicine. The status of Native American health-traditional and contemporary healing; herbs and pharmaceuticals; mental health. Navaho.
Readings: Bordewich, Chapters 7 & 8; Alexie Reader
Video: Millennium Series. "Touching the Timeless."

Week 3. "Inventing Realities" - Spirituality & Religion. Hopi. The survival of ritual. White "Shamans". Religious freedom and sacred places. Archaeology and the Indian - NAGPRA.
Readings: Bordewich, Chap. 6, 5; Alexie; Feder, "Indians and Archaeologists".
Video: "White Shamans & Plastic Medicine Men".

Week 3 cont. "Arts in Native America - From Tonto to Tallchief." The Pow-Wow Culture. Contemporary dance and music. Painting and sculpture. Contemporary literature and poetry.
Readings: Alexie Reader, selected stories
Videos: Excerpts from contemporary cinema "Pow-Wow Highway"; "Clearcut", Smoke Signals; Plaines & Southeast dance & song; contemporary music of Native America; "Momaday".

Week 4. Ecology & the Indian. The environmental movements co-op of the Indian.
Reading: Bordewich, Chap. 4; Buffalo problem in Yellowstone National Park.
Video: "American Buffalo"

Week 4 cont. Indians & the end of the 20^th Century. State Tribes vs. Federal Tribes. American Indians and the Future. Running a modern tribe. The end of Indian "Nations?"
Readings: Bordewich, Chap 9

Final Exam: Thursday, July 5^th, Regular Class Period