The study of Native American cultures and history involves a broad range of interdisciplinary research into areas including American history, indigenous cultural studies, art history, agriculture, public health, anthropology, human rights, and legal studies.
Whether addressing the ways U.S. housing and education policy affects contemporary Native American communities, tackling issues of medical anthropology in pre-colonial times, or analyzing the economic function of Native American art, Native American Studies can serve as the focus of a student’s concentration or be incorporated into a broader concentration in any number of fields.
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The New Class of Racism |
The purpose of this course is to critically analyze and discuss the historical, political, and social origins of empire and its impact on the racial formation of particular American communities: Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and African Americans. We will interrogate the history and politics of ethnicity, race, and gender, while learning about domestic work, red-lining, one-drop laws, immigration (legal and illegal), affirmative action, welfare, low-wage work, and miscegenation. We aim to highlight the various ways in which racializing and class-distinctions develop and operate within particular historical periods and communities.
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Five College Certificate in Native American Indian Studies The program emphasizes the many long histories of Native American Indians as well as their contemporary lives and situations. A holistic and comparative interdisciplinary approach underlies the certificate program’s requirements, enabling students to become familiar with the diversity of indigenous lifeways, including cultural forms, institutions, political economies, and modes of self-expression. In addition to this broader perspective, the program places some emphasis on the native peoples of the northeast so that Five College students can become acquainted with the history, culture, and presence of indigenous peoples in this region. U.S. Southwest and Mexico Program Five College Center for Crossroads in the Study of the Americas (CISA) |