AIIS 4200 - [Locke and the Philosophies of Dispossession: Indigenous America’s Interruptions and Resistances]

(crosslisted) AMST 4220, PHIL 4941

Fall. Not offered: 2024-2025. Next offered: 2025-2026. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Recommended prerequisite: AIIS 1110 and AIIS 4000/AIIS 6000. Co-meets with AIIS 6200/AMST 6220/PHIL 6941.

T. Richardson.

This course looks at the philosopher John Locke as a philosopher of dispossession. There is a uniquely Lockean mode of missionization, conception of mind and re-formulations of the ‘soul’ applied to dispossess Indigenous peoples of the social institutions, intellectual traditions and the material bases and practices which sustain(ed) them. While colonization is typically used as a kind of shorthand for this process, we will be attempting to stay focused on the specific dimensions of Lockean dispossession and its mutually informing relationship with English colonialism.

Outcome 1: Demonstrate a fluency in the philosophical formulations for settler colonialism and the historical and ongoing dispossessing of Native Americans—specifically, a fluency in Locke’s philosophies of 1) the workmanship theory of property, 2) of consciousness and the modern “self,” 3) theories of mind, 4) metaphysics and theology.

Outcome 2: Develop enhanced interpretive abilities through formal presentations and writing assignments.

Outcome 3: Apply pedagogical skills in teaching course content where they lead seminar topics.

Outcome 4: Employ sharpened interpretation and critical analysis skills through course writing assignments and structured editorial assistance to 1) concisely convey central argument(s) of texts, 2) make warrantable claims using relevant historical, philosophical, legal and material/empirical evidence, 3) clearly indicate one’s positionality in developing arguments.