FEDERAL INDIAN POLICY AN33005BA 12
Time: Friday
Place: Studio 111
Instructor: Szathmári Judit (Office: 108/1; szathmarijudit@gmail.com
)
Office Hours: Thursday, 10.30-11.30; Friday, 8.30-9.30, or by appointment
DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
The course is designed to provide a historical overview of the United States’s Indian policy.
Course material and in-class discussions will introduce and analyze attempts by the federal and state governments to “solve the Indian problem.” Representative acts are selected to demonstrate the changes in the federal approach to the Indian communities of the US. The reading material compiled for the classes includes primary sources to enhance the understanding of Indigenous and non-Indian relations.
ATTENDANCE AND GRADING POLICY:
Students are expected to come to sessions prepared for in-class discussions. In accordance with university regulations missing more than three sessions will result in a failing grade .
GRADING
Final grades will be based on informed class attendance and contributions to discussion:
(20%) mid-term (25%), and end-term test (25%) (NO MAKE-UP OPTION)
10-minute oral presentations (30%) (NO MAKE-UP OPTION): see details below.
0-60% = fail (1); 61-70% = satisfactory (2); 71-80% = average (3); 81-90% = good (4); 91-
100% = excellent (5).
PRESENTATION:
Oral presentations are offered by the instructor. In addition to issues discussed in class, topics may include analyses of relevant (and preferably contemporary) questions related to
Indigenous communities (for example: mascot debates, drilling projects, environmental issues, music). A typed handout not longer than one page should be approved by the instructor
ONE WEEK prior to the presentation scheduled. Handouts and ppt should serve as a guideline and assistance to fellow students. The content of your talk, the lay-out of the handout and ppt, your performance and presentation skills will be evaluated. NOTE: The end-term test will include questions pertaining to the presentations. Students are requested to inform the instructor of their inability to attend the class their presentation is scheduled for a day before the session. .
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND PLAGIARISM (FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE
SOURCES) WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT BE TOLERATED AND WILL RESULT IN A
FAILING GRADE.
READINGS
There is no single textbook available for this course. The syllabus includes a list of suggested readings. PDF reading assignments unless otherwise available will be provided by the instructor.
NOTE : when preparing for presentation you may use Wikipedia as a starting point but you are required to do research by utilizing printed material as well as more specific (and scholarly) websites.

Date Assignment
02.
20
Orientation, Introduction to Indian Country
02.
27
Teminology, History (Treuer 7-38)
“Speckled Snake’s (Cherokee) Reply to
President Jackson” (Hurtado)
03.
06
Religion, Culture, and Identity (Treuer 38-67)
General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) (Prucha)
03.
13
03.
20
Politics (Treuer 86-127)
Economics, Education (128-145)
Gates, Merill E. “Land and Law as Agents in
Educating Indians (Prucha)
Mid-term test 03.
27
04.
03
04.
10
04.
17
04.
24
Presentation
Indian Removal
Religious freedom (rituals, rites, ceremonies)
American Indian cuisine
The boarding school experience
Indian humor
“Lewis Meriam Summarizes the Problems
Facing American Indians” (Hurtado)
“Citizenship for WWI Veterans” (Prucha)
“the Indian Citizenship Act” (Prucha)
“Lewis Meriam Summarizes the Problems
Facing American Indians” (Hurtado)
“Rupert Costo (Cahuilla) Condemns the Indian
New Deal” (Hurtado)
CONSULTATION WEEK
Mascot debates
American Indian Music
------------------------------------
“Compensation, Termination, Relocation”
(Olson and Wilson)
Sovereignty issues
05.
01
05.
08
NO CLASS
End-term test
-----------------------------
---------------------------------
SUGGESTED READINGS:
Clifton, James A. Being and Becoming Indian: Biographical Studies of North American
Frontiers . Prospect Hights: Waveland P, 1989. Print.
---, ed. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology . Boston: Houghton, 1968. Print.
Deloria, Vine Jr., ed. American Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century . Norman: U of
Oklahoma P, 1985. Print.
---. Custer Died for your Sins . New York: Avon, 1969. Print.

Garbarino, Merwyn S., and Robert F. Sasso. Native American Heritage . Prospect Heights:
Waveland, 1994. Print.
Levine, Stuart, and Nancy Oestreich Lurie, eds. The American Indian Today . Baltimore:
Penguin, 1965. Print.
Lurie, Nancy O., ed. Mountain Wolf Woman 1884-1960: Sister of Crashing Thunder: The
Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian . Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1961. Print.
---. Wisconsin Indians . Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1980, 2002. Print.
Olson James S., and Raymond Wilson. Native Americans in the Twentieth Century . Urbana and Chicago: U of Illinois P, 1986. Print.
Pevar, Stephen L. The Rights of Indians and Tribes: The Basic ACLU Guide to Indian and
Tribal Rights . Carbondale: Southern Illinois U P, 1992. Print.
Prucha, Francis Paul, ed. Documents of United States Indian Policy . Lincoln and London: U of Nebraska P, 2000. Print.
Sturtevant, William, et. al. Handbook of North American Indians . Washington: Smithsonian
Institution, 1978.
Treuer, Anton. Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but were Afraid to Ask . St.
Paul: Borealis, 2012.