Topics in Anthropology (490-0-30)

Topic

Key Concepts in Native American/Indigenous Studies

Instructors

Megan Baker

Meeting Info

ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Dakota intellectual Elizabeth Cook-Lynn robustly argued that American Indian Studies should be a discipline dedicated to defending Indigenous nationhood. Guided by this argument that was the hallmark of her scholarship, students will learn about the developmental history and core concepts for what is now known as the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS). Through analytical focus on Indigeneity, students will gain theoretical grounding in the major concepts that have shaped the field while engaging new works grappling with these concepts, histories and emerging trends. Students will develop critical Indigenous critique and its insights for understanding the wider contemporary world.

Class Materials (Required)

Belcourt, Billy-Ray. 2019. This Wound Is a World. University of Minnesota Press. 9781517908454

Coulthard, Glen S. 2014. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. University of Minnesota Press. 9780816679652

Dennison, Jean. 2024. Vital Relations: How the Osage Nation Moves Indigenous Nationhood into the Future. University of North Carolina Press. 9781469676982

Pierce, Joseph M. 2025. Speculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair. Duke University Press. 9781478032151

Simpson, Audra. 2014. Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States. Duke University Press. 9780822356554

Smith, Jen Rose. 2025. Ice Geographies: The Colonial Politics of Race and Indigeneity in the Arctic. Duke University Press. 9781478031772

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Graduate Students.