Taking a global perspective, this course will discuss the role that indigeneities and Native knowledge play in the contemporary world, paying particular attention to indigenous cultures in the Americas and Polynesia. There will be an opportunity for students to move across texts and genres (such as scholarly articles, expository essays, zines, novels, short stories, poems, films, and other forms of media), focusing on how notions of indigeneity circulate within dominant discourse and how the authors work to resist and combat the historical, political, and cultural factors that impact the continued survival of indigenous peoples, their communities, and their cultures. As we engage with literary and visual texts that recenter marginalized narratives of indigeneity, we will also examine how colonial structures of power and dominance contribute to the silencing and erasure of Native knowledge. As such, this course provides a framework for critiquing how colonialism, neocolonialism, and settler colonialism manifest in historical and contemporary contexts; it also provides us with an understanding of how many indigenous communities continue to struggle for sovereignty, self-determination, and a sustainable future. As we analyze the similarities and differences among various indigenous cultures, we will also examine a broad range of issues that many indigenous communities face and unpack the implications and resonating effects that these issues have for both Native and non-Native communities alike. Some of the topics we will cover throughout the course include: human rights, modernization, and social stratification; issues of ethnic identity, racial identity, and hybridity; sex, gender, and sexuality; kinship structures; political sovereignty and self-sustainability; environmental degradation and pollution; heath disparities; incarceration; spirituality and religious beliefs; sacred lands and land developments; appropriation, commodification, and revitalization of culture (e.g., language, traditions, rituals, music, art, dance, etc.); and, preservation of indigenous cultural artifacts and knowledge.

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