Medill Explores (417-0-21)
Topic
Native American & Indigenous Environmental Issues
Instructors
Reynaldo Antonio Morales Cardenas
Meeting Info
303 E. Wacker Dr. 1624-A: Mon 1:00PM - 3:50PM
Overview of class
The course discusses and explores environmental issues across US and the world linked to the consistent issues of Indigenous Peoples self-determination, autonomy, and sovereignty, as they are expressed in different constitutional frameworks across the North and Global South. From major confrontations over pipelines affecting Tribal Reservations mobilizing Indigenous people and their allies around the world, to battles over whaling rights and mining of tar sands, to sulfide mining adjacent to Tribal Reservations, to disputed land claims in the Northeast, and battles in the West over water, fracking, and grazing, the rights of Native governments and World Indigenous Peoples are intersected in the new century at the cultural, political, and legal core of our contemporary history.
This course will prepare students to be able to understand and report about national and international environmental issues, such as air and water quality issues; mining; land tenure and uses of Indigenous traditional knowledge systems in agriculture and ecosystems conservation; infrastructure development; and territorial rights clashing with national and corporate expansion. The content has particular connections to First Nations in the Great Lakes region due to our geographical proximity and will also provide connections to corresponding national and international Indigenous environmental issues, and the responses and debates across science research, news, and international policy contexts. The seminar focuses too on how the media covers Indigenous environmental issues and how that coverage contributes to the formation of public opinion and public policy. The seminar provides the critical tools to analyze and report about current environmental struggles directly from US and World Indigenous Peoples voices, understanding the controversies within a cultural context, in order to make informed decisions and maintain a journalistic ethical integrity. The central case study of the seminar will be larger land rights issues, and the contradiction between development and sustainability. The case study of the travel that the course offers will be the impact of modernity and infrastructure development for Mayan Peoples in the Yucatan Peninsula, which will serve to expand the international scope on Indigenous environmental issues across the world.
Class Materials (Required)
None
Class Attributes
Attendance at 1st class mandatory
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Only students in the MSJ program may enroll in these classes
Add Consent: Department Consent Required