Street 1907 Wisconsin Smithsonian Institution

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the history of indigenous peoples within the present-day borders of the U.S.A. and Canada. While we will only be able to cover a few groups in any depth, the major themes of the course relate to all groups, including colonization, trade, land loss, sovereignty, religion and missionaries, treaties, war and peace, and identity. Another theme that runs through the course is the tension between history as understood and experienced by indigenous peoples and history as recorded and written by Euroamericans. Throughout, we consider the ways in which “history” lives on in the present.

With so much ground to cover, it is essential that you keep up with the reading and attend all lectures and discussions. Attendance at discussion sections is mandatory; see requirements page for details.

Class sessions

This class meets for a lecture on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. until 4:50 p.m in Herter Hall, Room 231. Each student will be assigned to a discussion session that meets on Fridays.

Required Texts

The required reading for this course consists of two books and a few shorter readings that are available either on the web or via e-reserve in DuBois Library. The texts are available at Amherst Books, which is next to the Subway in downtown Amherst. The textbook is also on reserve in DuBois Library.

Colin Calloway, First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History,
2nd ed.

Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony