History

This seminar explores the significance of Native American history and their relationships to the environment with an emphasis on the importance of their cultural connections to tribal homelands and waters. We will learn about the method of ethnohistory that offers an innovative approach to better understand indigenous voices in the past.

While colonization imposed several challenges, including dispossession, removal, and dramatic changes in the land and water, Indigenous people not only survived, but sometimes benefited from these changes for their own reasons. From colonial cities and intertribal villages to changed landscapes and aquatic ecosystems, Native peoples strove to retain ties to their homelands, often in new contexts.  Weekly readings introduce students to the growing historiography and include themes such as gender, animal depictions on treaties, water, seasonality, land tenure, place-worlds, sovereignty, and the importance of community engagement.