Field Experience: 40 hours/semester
Lecture/Seminar/Online/Hybrid: 20 hours/semester
The course will employ several instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some or all of the following:
- study abroad, field trips, both extended over a period of several weeks as part of a field school, and/or local day trips
- experiential and land-based learning
- lectures and guest lectures
- small and large group discussions
- readings, audio-visual materials and case study analysis
All methods of instruction apply to in class, hybrid and/or online modes of learning.
Course content will include:
A focus on a wide-ranging and inclusive understanding of global Indigenous peoples, cultures, histories, and contemporary issues.
An examination of Indigenous knowledge systems and methodologies, how these differ from Western forms, and the complementary relationship between the two.
Experiential learning through study abroad, travel, and field trips etc.
An introduction to cultural protocols and practices appropriate to the setting of the learning experience.
Course content may include:
An introduction to anthropological methods such as interviewing, material culture analysis, ethnobotany, fieldwork etc.
Land-based pedagogy.
Mentorship and instructional support from Indigenous knowledge keepers.
Introduction to language, place names and narratives appropriate to the setting of the learning experience.
Exploration of personal cultural traditions, such as, greeting protocols, rites of passage, and cultural practices as appropriate to the setting of the learning experience.
Analysis of case studies.
At the completion of this course, successful students will:
- use insight gained from a sample of global indigenous cultures and perspectives to demonstrate a greater understanding of global Indigenous experiences in both historical and contemporary settings,
- be able to assess similarities and differences in global Indigenous experiences of colonization, along with contemporary struggles for legal equity and self-governance in the face of continuing neocolonialism,
- be able to explore multiple perspectives of research methodologies, knowledge acquisition, protocols, and ethics,
- participate in experiential learning and be able to critically assess the impact of that learning on their own worldview, and
- be able to reflect on experiential learning during study abroad/field trips and assess its relationship to their identity and community.
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. The instructor will provide a written course outline containing specific criteria during the beginning of semester and this will vary according to the instructor’s assessment of appropriate evaluation methods, the selected global experience, and theme of the course. Instructors will use a balance of assignments to assess learning, such as journal writing, participating in class and group discussion, essays, research papers, story-telling, oral presentations (individual and/or group), written or oral tests or quizzes, and/or essay-type exams.
An example of a possible assessment scheme:
Participation: 15%
Writing Assignment: 15%
Reflective Journal: 40%
Final Project: 30%
Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving human subjects.
A list of required texts and reading materials is provided on the instructor's course outline, which is available to students at the beginning of each semester. An instructor's course reader may be required.
Sample Reading Lists:
Sample Theme A: Global Indigenous Heritage
Atalay, Sonya
2012 Community-Based Archaeology Research with, by, and for Indigenous and Local Communities. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. ISBN: 9780520273368
Basso, Keith
1996 Wisdom Sits in Places, Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. ISBN:9780826317247
Coates, Ken
2004 A Global History of Indigenous Peoples: Struggle and Survival. Palgrave McMillan, London. ISBN: 978-0-230-50907-8
Kovach, Margaret
2021 Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts, Second Edition. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. ISBN: ? 978-1487525644
May Castillo, Manuel and Amy Strecker eds.
2017 Heritage and Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Patrimonio y Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas. Archaeological Studies Leiden University, 39. Leiden University Press. Leiden, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789087282998
Sissons, Jeffery
2005 First Peoples: Indigenous Cultures and Their Futures. Reaktion Books, London. ISBN: ? 978-1861892416
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai
2021 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Third edition. Zed Books, London. ISBN: 978184139510
Thornton, Thomas F.
2008 Being and Place among the Tlingit. Culture, Place, and Nature. University of Washington Press, Seattle. ISBN 9780295987491.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Wilson, Shawn
2009 Research is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax. ISBN: 9781552662816
Sample Theme B: Global Indigenous Ecologies
Brody, Hugh.
2002 Maps and Dreams. Faber and Faber, London. ISBN: 978-0571209675
Dove, Michael and Carol Carpenter eds.
2008 Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader. Blackwell Publishing, Malden. ISBN: 978-1-4051-1137-9.
Kawelu, Kathleen L.
2021 Kuleana and Commitment: Working Toward a Collaborative Hawaiian Archaeology. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. ISBN: 9780824892791
Kimmerer, Robin Wall.
2013 Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis. ISBN: 978-1-57131-356-0
Li, Tania.
2014. Land’s End Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier. Duke University Press, Durham. ISBN: 978-0822357056
McIlwraith, Thomas.
2012 ‘We are Still Didene’: Stories of Hunting and History from Northern British Columbia. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. ISBN: 978-1-4426-1173-3.
Orlove, Ben.
2002 Lines the in the Water Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN: 0-520-22959-2.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt.
2005 Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton University Press, Princeton. ISBN: 0-691-12064-1.