AIIS 1110 - Indigenous Issues in Global Perspectives

(crosslisted) AMST 1601
(CA-AG, D-AG)

Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

K. Kassam.

This course attends to the contemporary issues, contexts and experiences of Indigenous peoples. Students will develop a substantive understanding of colonialism and engage in the parallels and differences of its histories, forms, and effects on Indigenous peoples globally. Contemporary Indigenous theorists, novelists, visual artists and historians have a prominent place in the course, highlighting sociocultural and environmental philosophies, critical responses to and forms of resistance toward neocolonial political and economic agendas and the fundamental concern for Indigenous self-determination, among other topics. We will not only examine the history of victimization of indigenous peoples through colonial oppression, but we will also study their response as agents of change in providing alternative paradigms and insights to humanity in the third millennium.

Outcome 1: To gain perspective of contemporary issues in Indigenous Studies with a historical sense that not only conveys the “pastness of the past” but its presence and relevance for the future.

Outcome 2: To examine current issues in Indigenous Studies that are important to communities.

Outcome 3: To apply an interdisciplinary lens in understanding indigenous sociocultural and ecological issues.

Outcome 4: To appreciate the complex interconnectivity between the ecological and the sociocultural.

Outcome 5: To comprehend that policy actions informed by cultural systems manifest themselves in social structures that rely on ecological foundations.

Outcome 6: To situate Indigenous Studies within a humanistic framework of knowledge generation.

Outcome 7: To illustrate the relevance and contribution of Indigenous Studies to broader issues of humanity in the 21st Century.

Outcome 8: To discern a methodology of hope based on indigenous experience.