Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture (390-0-23)

Topic

Land, Identity and the Sacred

Instructors

Eli Suzukovich III
1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208-1310

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L06: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

Land, Identity and the Sacred

This class focuses on a cross section of religion, law, language, philosophy, cosmology, cultural preservation, and ethno-ecology. In this course, the topic of Native American relationships to land, land management and cosmology all attend to scholarship on historical and present-day power dynamics in the United States and Canada as they pertain to Native American religious rights and treaty obligations. This is achieved by examining core cosmologies of selected tribes and communities and how they conceptualize the spiritual and material worlds that they live in. Central to the class will be a focus on the sacred aspects of tribal identity and the role that landscape plays in the creation and maintenance of these identities. Along with cultural perspectives, the class will cover laws pertaining to religious freedoms and how they are applied to Native American contexts throughout the United States and Canada, along with the histories and philosophies that have, and still influence these policies.