United States Indian History 440
Spring 2015
Instructor: Richard L. Carrico
Office: AL-323
Voice Mail Telephone: 760-5181471
Office Hours: Mon@ 6:00; Tue/Thur @ 12:30 and more often by appointment, Do not be shy.
e-Mail: rbrujo@sbcglobal.net
Web Site : rockhilllearning.com
INTRODUCTION
A new year with new possibilities. Greetings and welcome to the spring 2015 semester at SDSU.
This syllabus provides you with an overview to the AIS 440 class and its requirements. Please read
this document carefully, you will be held responsible for following the instructions and
requirements offered here. If you do not understand something in this syllabus, please ask for
clarification.
This class is one requirement for the American Indian Studies major as well as fulfilling other
general academic requirements. As described more fully in the SDSU catalog, AIS 440 is designed
to provide the student with a fuller, better understanding of the history of Native American peoples
who have inhabited what is now the United States for more than 12,000 years. We will examine a
variety of topics to include legal history, history, economics, philosophy, culture history, political
systems, religion, intra/intertribal relations, Indian responses to American society and government,
resistance, and persistence. The time period to be covered is from the Jacksonian Period (1830 A.
D.) to the present day.
This class is broad and extensive; there were more than 500 separate cultures or tribes who occupied
this land when Europeans arrived. Given the cultural, historic, and geographic variance of these
peoples, we cannot take a comprehensive look at them all. The class might better be called United
States History, Indian Perspectives: A Selective View from Pre-Contact to 2105. We will be taking
a focused view of the history of perhaps twenty tribes and through them, gain an understanding of the
role and place of American Indians in the post-Jacksonian era and modern American history.
America history when viewed from an Indian perspective often varies from the traditional views and
approaches. The heroes may differ, the objectives of both Indian and non-Indian can be seen in
different light, and in many cases laws and regulations that apply to Indian people are unique to
them. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised, sometimes shocked, often enlightened, and
frequently disappointed at the treatment accorded the native peoples of the United States. This class
may be unlike any other history class that you have ever taken. In the context of American Indian
history, you will be asked to discard a little cultural baggage, and take a culturally relative stance in
this class. My philosophy is certainly not to “missionize” you, nor to present a one-sided view of
either the Indians or non-Indians. In fact I view the study of history in a prismatic, almost cubist
context--we will discuss this.
STRUCTURE OF THE CLASS
History can be taught in many ways and there are several methods used to engage you the student.
Unlike many history classes, this class is not structured in a linear, progressive fashion—while
history is often presented that way, it is not the only way to understand and observe the past. Please
note that I rarely lecture or instruct directly from the required reading sources for this course.
We will rarely touch specifically on the text material itself, those materials are for you to read and
absorb on your own—they will, however often be on the exams. Most of the material that I present
in lecture form in this class is drawn from a variety of sources and is NOT designed to lock into
textual materials with any great precision and unity or pattern of instruction. It is your obligation to
ask questions if the text or my information is unclear.
History can, and does, mean many things to many people. For me, history is not about arcane dates
or a panorama of passing events, instead history is an interpretive subject, a series of sometimes
interrelated stories about the human condition, about tribal pride, oral tradition, the views of people
inside and outside a given culture, and so on. History is most certainly not a collection of perfectly
formed blocks made of immutable facts and dates to be stacked in such a way as to form the
absolutely true or ideal history. Your critical facilities, creative processes, and analytical
capacities must be used in this class, not just your memory banks. Class discussions of books,
readings, and course topics are requested. Audio-visual material will be used. As you will notice, I
rarely lecture from notes, so please, even for excused absences, do not ask me if you can borrow my
lecture materials. They are largely in my head but I will be glad to meet with you and discuss what
you may have missed.
OBJECTIVES
Please keep in mind that as with most comprehensive classes that cover a broad historical field, this
semester's course will delve into several interrelated disciplines and avenues of research. In teaching
the class I have several concrete goals and other objectives that are somewhat more fluid. A
primary objective of the course is to expose you to the biases, the controversies, and the
historical facts that form our idea of American Indian History. A basic objective that I pursue in
this class and one to which I am committed, is the goal of exposing students to the many and varied
experiences of the time period being studied as well as the conflicting views as to what happened,
and how it happened. History is being made every day—right now as you read this. The current
administration in Washington has an Indian policy and that policy, for better or worse, will become
part a future historical debate.
As I see it, history cannot be easily encapsulated in some simplistic ideological or patriotic synthesis.
This is certainly true for the history of Indian-White relations in North America. Truth is out there,
but it is surrounded by distortions and often told through a haze of out-right lies.
A basic purpose or goal for History 440 is to expose students to a variety of historical-cultural
experiences and to hope that this might add to your understanding of life. If you become more aware
of the rich history of the Indian people of American, and develop a need to recognize, and maybe
even maintain, cultural pluralism in American life by this class experience, I will be content.
BASIC MATERIALS FOR THE COURSE
Suit you own preferences, study habits, talents, and finances in the purchase or renting of the
required books for this course, but get them soon, they may not be available later. The Aztec
Bookshop, as well as several off campus stores including KB stock copies for purchase.
Amazon.com is of course a great source for the books. You should buy the books as soon as
possible to avoid possible shortages later in the semester.
A.
Required Materials:
I. There are two texts and a collection of handouts that you must read and understand.
A reading list will be provided to you. The text books are:
First Peoples (4th Edition), Colin G. Calloway; Strangers in a Stolen Land (3nd Edition 2014) by
Richard L. Carrico and The Autobiogrpahy of Delfina Cuero by Florence Shipek (Note: The
reading assignments in Calloway are geared to the 4th edition and the 3rd edition does not cover
the later material in this class.)
I.
The readings in the class are drawn from these three books; you must complete the
readings to succeed in this class. You will be reading approximately 300 pages for this
class--if this is too much for you because your personal life or work schedule will not
allow such a load, please-- do not take the class. Your work load or outside activities
are not an excuse for non-attendance or poor performance.
II.
Several audio-visual presentations may also be used in this class. You are responsible
for major ideas, events and impressions you may glean from these materials. Take home
assignments, and exams may ask you to evaluate your comprehension of these audiovisual resources. In the event of an unscheduled absence on the part of your professor,
there will be a video presentation and you will be responsible to complete a brief analysis
of the video using a hand out that will be provided via the web site..
III.
Reminder: Readings from the texts are designed to supplement and add to themes and
topics covered in this class. You should not expect that it is possible to be evaluated
on everything assigned, viewed or discussed in this course. Your commitment to the
subject means that you are responsible for doing as much as is possible to absorb and use
information covered in the course.
IV.
Other Information:
A. Course Format: Lecture, discussion and slides, video-tapes. Your participation in class
activities is expected. Student questions and responses are welcome as long as they are germane to
the subject matter we are covering in the course.
B. Absenteeism and Bad Behavior: Absenteeism at any time reflects your decision to not take
part in that particular stage of the learning process—it is not simply missing class. While I do not
take roll; absenteeism is discouraged at any time, it is likely to hurt your grade (especially on pop
quizzes and if and when I give out “attendance points and during examination periods, it is especially
frowned upon. Please avoid the need to take a make-up exam. Examinations and quizzes missed
without an advance excuse will be made up during the last week of the semester. This not
apply to pop quizzes, they cannot be made up.
Rudeness is not a luxury that you will be allowed to indulge in while in this class. Checking your
Facebook account in class is rude. Cell phone use in class is rude; doing homework on your lab top is
rude, talking in the midst of a lecture is rude. Particularly disruptive behavior will be dealt with as
specified in the student handbook and through the procedures approved by the University.
C. Grades
I have developed an evaluation system that will guide your studies and at the same time allow me to
gauge how well you have absorbed and integrated these materials. The grading system is simple and
straightforward; this is by design. There will be two large exams (a midterm and 1 final, noncomprehensive) worth 100 points each for a total of 200 points. These exams are scheduled for the
midterm (duh) and at finals time. The exams will be 80% multiple choice/true false, map
completion, and 20% short answer using forms that I will provide to you--no Scantron will ever be
required. In the course of the semester there will also be three scheduled quizzes. These quizzes
will approximately every five weeks and will be worth 50 points each for a total of 150 points.
There will be pop quiz given randomly during the course of the semester. It will cover whatever
material we are studying at that time. So the total points possible will be 400 and an A grade will be
90% of that or about 360 points; a B grade will be 320 points and so on.
There are no extra credits or bonus points (unless I assign them to the whole class as positive
attendance points in which case you can receive 10 points per session and those will be added to the
total so in the end of one attendance extra credit the total points possible will move to 410 and thus
an A would be 90% of 410 or about 369 and so on and no make-up should you miss a quiz or
suddenly realize at the end of the semester that you are below an acceptable level of
achievement.
D. Office Hours and Consultation
First, I would like to stress that I am interested in assisting you in any way that I can to ensure that
you succeed in this class and in college generally. Typically students do not interact enough with
their professors; they wait until a minor problem has become unresolvable, or otherwise hurt
themselves by not stepping forward. Part of my role as an instructor, as an educator, is to help you
as a person and to ensure that we have both tried to maximize your educational process over the next
three months. Having said all of that, I hold regular office hours based on the hours noted above. I
often do not, however, sit in my office and wait for students to drop in. If these times are not
convenient for you, we can make other arrangements by appointment—I am highly accessible. Make
an appointment for my office hours or other times that we can meet.
E. Reading List
The readings cover approximately 300 pages. A reading list provided below covers the first five
weeks of study and testing. If you plan on about 4 hours a week plus 4-5 hours the week before
the exams, I believe that you will do well in this class, at least in terms of reading and knowing
the assigned materials. I would strongly recommend that you give this class at least 4 hours a
week; that is far less time than most Americans spend watching so-called reality television,
sports, Facebook, and other images from the vast wasteland. You give me 3 hours of your time
in class and 4 hours through reading and I guarantee that I will make you a better-informed, more
intelligent American.
F.
Tentative Schedule of Events
Event
Date
Last day to add/drop classes
First Quiz
Feb. 3th
Feb 5th
Second Quiz
Mar 5th
Midterm Exam
March 26th
Spring Break
March 29-April 5th
Third Quiz
April 21th
Finals Week Second [Final] Exam
May 12th 10:30
Reading List for first quiz and first exam: Subject to slight changes
First Peoples: Chp 1 and 2
Strangers Chap 1
A Study Guide will be posted on the rockhilllearning.com web site by the second week of
class.