Topics in Sociological Analysis (476-0-22)
Topic
Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism
Instructors
Beth Redbird
As a student, I hated math. Imagine my surprise, when I grew up to be a computational social science professor. It wasn't until I discovered statistics that I started to love numbers. Math is too often taught as though the mysteries of the universe were discovered long ago. In contrast, statistics is one large puzzle, an ever moving and changing enigma with no "right" or "wrong". There is no single way to solve this puzzle - and each method has unique strengths and weaknesses. Thus, the greatest scientists are those with the greatest imagination. This class is not your usual statistics course. Instead of presenting statistics beginning with the math, we begin with the mystery, learning the math along the way - not as the ultimate goal, but as a guidepost for unlocking life's unending hidden questions.
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 222: Fri 12:00PM - 2:50PM
Overview of class
"Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism"
In this seminar, we examine settler colonialism as a political, social, cultural and economic formation, as well as Indigenous social thought, resistance, resilience, and resurgence, focusing on the U.S. in historical, comparative, and global perspective. Settler colonialism is a distinctive form of social organization. As Glenn (2015) has argued: "The settler goal of seizing and establishing property rights over land and resources required the removal of indigenes, which was accomplished by various forms of direct and indirect violence, including militarized genocide." This description is both accurate, and inadequate as it relates to the social construction of settler states.
This course engages with social theories of inequality, power, and difference, incorporating the Indigenous experience within U.S. settler colonialism. Topics covered include: indigenous perspectives on time, place, power, and knowledge; groups and tribalism; colonization and settler colonialism; the entanglements of social science with settler systems; property, dispossession, and capitalism; biopolitics, gender, and reproduction.
Class Materials (Required)
This course will have required books/other materials. Please contact instructor for further information.
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Graduate Students.