Summer 2021 - INDG 201W OL01

Canadian Aboriginal Peoples' Perspectives on History (3)

Class Number: 4888

Delivery Method: Remote

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Online

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An examination of fact and ideology in history and historic events involving contact between Aboriginal and European peoples. The course will also address questions of research methodologies in studying Aboriginal/European relations, such as the evaluation of oral history and written ethnohistoric sources. An additional focus will be on gender as it influences perspectives. Students with credit for FNST 201W may not take this course for further credit. Writing/Breadth-Social Sci.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • Identify and understand important processes and periods in the history of Canadian Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples during the last 1,000 years, including the fur trade, missionization, treaty making, government policies of the last 200 years, European settlement, and Indigenous peoples' dispossession of their lands and cultures.
  • Critically understand the concept of historiography and how historians present and analyze information about events and processes of the past, in particular as it is relevant for understanding the writing of Indigenous peoples' history.
  • Assess how historical writing, while presented as objective and scientific, has also been driven by political motivations and culturally and socially based assumptions on the part of the historian and the people he/she represents.
  • Understand how Indigenous peoples have been portrayed in European historical writing during the last few centuries and how these portrayals, in turn, reflect social, economic, and political processes in European society.
  • Have an understanding of the importance of oral history research in describing and analyzing histories of Indigenous peoples.
  • Appreciate the culture-specific ways in which Indigenous elders talk(ed) about their pasts and tell their histories and their stories.
  • Understand and critically assess current concerns of Canadian Indigenous peoples about having their own representations of their pasts validated by the Canadian political and legal system.
  • Proceed to further self-directed readings and/or advanced topics and courses about Indigenous history from an informed and critical basis.

Grading

  • Weekly writing assignments for feedback (for weeks 1 to 6) 60%
  • Research paper (8-10 pages weeks 7-12) 30%
  • Participation in assignments 10%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. 2nd Ed. New York: Zed Books Ltd., 2012. Relevant chapters of the book will be available online or by direct link.

In addition to the textbook, you will be required to read, watch, and listen to various online resources that are embedded within the course module page.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Younging, Gregory. Elements of Indigenous Style : a Guide for Writing by and about Indigenous Peoples. Brush Publishing, 2018.  Available online through SFU Library.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN SUMMER 2021

Teaching at SFU in summer 2021 will be conducted primarily through remote methods, but we will continue to have in-person experiential activities for a selection of courses.  Such course components will be clearly identified at registration, as will course components that will be “live” (synchronous) vs. at your own pace (asynchronous). Enrollment acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes. To ensure you can access all course materials, we recommend you have access to a computer with a microphone and camera, and the internet. In some cases your instructor may use Zoom or other means requiring a camera and microphone to invigilate exams. If proctoring software will be used, this will be confirmed in the first week of class.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112).