AMST 254
Sovereignty, Resistance, and Resilience: Native American Histories to 1865
Last Offered Fall 2020
Division II Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed HIST 254 / LEAD 254
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

This course surveys Native American/Indigenous North American histories from creation through the U.S. Civil War, tracing the complex ways that tribal nations and communities have shaped North America. It also introduces foundational methodologies in Native American and Indigenous Studies and strategies for pursuing decolonizing scholarship and action. Beginning with the diverse Indigenous societies that inhabited the Americas millennia before Columbus’s arrival, it discusses the cultural complexity of Native peoples, nations, and worldviews rooted in particular ecosystems and homelands, as well as accounts of beginnings and migrations. It addresses how Native peoples confronted grievous epidemics resulting from the “Columbian Exchange,” and contended with Euro-colonial projects of “discovery” and colonization. Indigenous nations’ multifaceted efforts to maintain sovereignty and lands through eras of pervasive violence and removal are discussed, as well as the important yet under-recognized ways that Native communities negotiated the tumultuous era and conflicting allegiances of the Civil War. The course centers on Indigenous actors-intellectuals, diplomats, legal strategists, knowledge keepers, spiritual leaders, artists, and others-and consistently connects historical events with present-day debates over land, historical memory, education, and activism. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to engage with original materials pertaining to Native histories in the Williams College Archives/Special Collections and Art Museum. While the scope of the course is continental and transoceanic, it devotes significant attention to the Native Northeast and the particular Indigenous homelands in which Williams College is located.
The Class: Format: seminar; Remote class. Class will blend short pre-recorded lectures with weekly Zoom discussion sections/seminar format, plus time for virtual one-on-one conversations with the instructor.
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 2843
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: active participation in class discussion, several short essays based on readings and discussion topics, (virtual) museum/archives exercise, final essay
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: History or American Studies majors, followed by first- and second-year students
Distributions: Division II Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
AMST 254 Division II HIST 254 Division II LEAD 254 Division II
DPE Notes: This course intensively explores Native American/Indigenous North American histories, experiences, and forms of critical and creative expression, as well as responses to and engagements with Euro-American settler colonialism. It guides students into methodologies central to Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS), and gives opportunities for oral and written reflections on NAIS approaches to historical themes and sources, as well as decolonizing methodologies more broadly.
Attributes: HIST Group F Electives - U.S. + Canada
HIST Group P Electives - Premodern

Class Grid

Updated 4:43 am

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