Approaches to History (393-0-24)
Topic
Beyond Pocahontas: Finding Native Voices in Early
Instructors
Michaela Kleber
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-339: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Touching on topics including environmental change, gender and sexuality, Native power, slavery, and memory, this course will examine the various ways that scholars have written histories of Native Americans in early America, when most of the sources were produced by colonizers. Famous figures like Pocahontas are well known and well documented, but how can historians tell the story of everyone else? And what is their responsibility to modern Native nations?
Learning Objectives
Read critically, understand and analyze works of history produced by scholars with different methodological and theoretical approaches. Improve analytical, writing, and communication skills through close readings of texts, class discussions, and writing papers. Learn to recognize historical arguments regarding controversial historical questions and to formulate and support an original historical argument using primary and secondary sources. Learn how to properly structure a thesis-driven paper, how to apply appropriate methods of citation, and how to use a clear writing style that conveys historical knowledge, ideas, and evidence in a mature, readily understood manner. Students will also gain an understanding of the major events and shifts in Native history through the Removal era—no prior knowledge of Native American history is necessary.
Evaluation Method
Participation, 2 papers
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Distro Area