Spring 2024 - HIST 326 D100

History of Aboriginal Peoples of North America Since 1850 (4)

Class Number: 4711

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 8 – Apr 12, 2024: Thu, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Apr 19, 2024
    Fri, 11:59–11:59 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units, including six units of lower division history.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines selected themes in the history of Aboriginal peoples of North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Students with credit for FNST 326 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course is a broad overview of the history of the Indigenous peoples of North America, or what is currently Canada and the United States, from the early nineteenth century to the near present.  While considering the coherence of the original peoples of this continent, both in their own self-understanding and in the eyes of newcomers, special attention will be given to the diversity of communities and individuals that came to be categorized as “Indian,” as well as to the great variety of of non-Indigenous communities, individuals, and colonialisms that engaged with them.  Another focus will be on the agency of Indigenous peoples in shaping their history.  Finally, throughout the course we will examine how our present moment in these settler societies has been shaped by this history, as well as how the truths currently coming to light are in turn helping us to view the past differently.

Themes and topics will include processes of métissage and ethnogenesis, responses to settler colonial regimes, treaties, resistance and uprisings on the prairies, the “Indian Wars” of the “American West,” assimilative policies, residential and boarding schools, Indigenous political organization and strategies of resistance, accommodation, and survival, and cultural resurgence.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

The course requirements of History 326 will help you achieve the educational goals of undergraduate courses in the Department of History.  By the end of the course, you will be able to

  • Understand “Indigenous issues” such as residential schools, treaties and land claims, and environmental justice, and how these issues affect all of us who call this continent home
  • Understand broad patterns and diversities of Indigenous and settler experiences in the US and Canada
  • Work with diverse primary and secondary sources, primarily by Indigenous authors, including the ability to read the archive “against the grain”

Grading

  • Participation 15%
  • Reading Response 15%
  • Essay Assignment #1 20%
  • Essay Assignment #2 20%
  • Take-Home Exam 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Winnemucca, Sarah.  Life Among the Piutes.  Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1994.

Paul, Elsie, in collaboration with Davis McKenzie, Paige Raibmon, and Harmony Johnson.  As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder.  Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2019.  http://publications.ravenspacepublishing.org/as-i-remember-it/index

Manuel, George, and Michael Posluns.  The Fourth World: An Indian Reality.  Foreword by Vine Deloria, Jr.  Introduction by Glen Sean Coulthard.  Afterword by Doreen Manuel.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2019.

Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake.  As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017.

* Please note that all of these readings are available either freely online or digitally through SFU Library.


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website 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

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.