AMST 180D: "Indians" in American Culture
Spring 2008
Dr. Sharon Delmendo
Office: 123 Basil 385-8216
Office Hours: MWF 8:35-9:05 & 11:05-11:35 a.m. & by Appt.
e-mail: delmendo@sjfc.edu
COURSE GOALS: In this course we will examine U.S.' perceptions of, governmental policies concerning, and media
representations of "Indians" and vice versa. The course is organized chronologically, putting US-Native American
relations and interactions through significant historical periods: the Colonial Indian Wars; Indian Removal and the
impact of large-scale European 19th-century immigration; the early 20th Century, when Native Americans became
US citizens and US policy shifted to the allotment program; WWII; and the contemporary era, including the on-going
"Indian Mascot" controversy. We will conduct this historical and cultural investigation by examining fictional, nonfictional, visual, and film texts. In addition to building a historical understanding of US-Native American dynamics,
we will focus on the following SJFC Core Goals:
2. Students will be able to draw linguistic and/or cultural comparisons and contrasts between one’s own
and another’s culture
3. Students will be able to understand that there are cultural assumptions implicit in all aspects of
communication -- linguistic and behavioral.
ATTENDANCE: You can miss up to two weeks' worth of classes FOR ANY REASON (i.e., there are no
"excused" vs. "unexcused" absences). There will be a significant grade reduction for absences amounting to a
third week. After three weeks' worth of absences, you will automatically fail the course. If you are absent, it
is your responsibility to get any and all information regarding the class you missed, as well as turning in
assignments (i.e., turn in work through some alternative mechanism, e.g. have another student turn it in for
you). It is your responsibility, not mine, to keep track of your absences.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: In compliance with SJFC policy and applicable laws, appropriate academic
accommodations are available to you if you have a disability. All requests for accommodations must be
supported by appropriate documentation/ diagnosis and determined reasonable by SJFC. Students with
documented disabilities (physical, learning, psychological) are advised to make an appointment with the
Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities with Chris Hogan, Coordinator of Disability Services,
Office of Academic Affairs, Kearney 202, 385-8034, email: chogan@sjfc.edu. I am happy to make reasonable
accommodations for students with disabilities, but in order to do so must be informed in advance.
PARTICIPATION: Participation is critical for the success of the class a whole. My evaluation of your class
participation, both oral and written, will be both qualitative and quantitative. Mental presence rather than
physical presence counts. If you sleep in class or are obviously unprepared to participate (i.e., you have not
done the reading), I will ask you to leave the room and count that day as an absence.
PAPERS: Completed essays must be 5 FULL pages minimum, not counting Works Cited/Bibliography or
Turnitin.com submission info. Use 1" margins all the way around and an easy-to-read 10-12 point type.
You do not need a separate cover page; paste the Turnitin submission information, consisting of your name,
the assignment (i.e., Paper #1, Colonial/Indian Wars or Midterm Exam), and the paper ID#, at the top left or
right hand corner of the first page. You must put page numbers on each page (simply add by hand if you
don't know how to set headers/footers). Essays are due at the beginning of class or as indicated on the
syllabus. Late papers will be penalized by one grade per day.
Grammar, proofreading, and appearance of your final essays do count. Frequent mechanical/
grammatical problems will affect your grade. Proofread carefully before you turn the paper/exam in. If you
have questions about grammar, mechanics, or citation style, I'm happy to answer them.
There are extensive materials relating to mechanics, grammar, and how I grade student writing on my
faculty website, http://keep2.sjfc.edu/faculty/sdelmendo/ You can link to my website via the SJFC
homepage or via Blackboard. Select the "Guidelines & Procedures" from the menu on the left side of the
homepage. Materials include Notes on Writing (which includes detailed information on how I evaluate student
writing and includes sample student papers, and tips on paragraphs), a thesis worksheet, and grammar
explanations and worksheets for the usual suspects (fragments, apostrophes, comma splices, run-ons,
Singular/Plural Inconsistency, Passive Voice, etc.).
Assignments/papers are not complete without the Turnitin.com receipt, and late penalties will start to
accrue unless I receive BOTH the Turnitin.com receipt and your paper. If you turn your paper in by e-mail
attachment, the rule still applies. Keep a copy of your e-mail transmission in case your e-mail goes astray
("cc" it to yourself if your e-mail system doesn't automatically keep copies of all "sent mail"). Note that I
cannot open .wpd or .wps formats; you must send me .doc or .rtf formats. If you are working with .wpd or
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.wps format and need to turn your paper in electronically, simply copy your entire paper and paste it into the
body of your e-mail.
In most cases, I will check paper submissions on Turnitin.com before I return papers to students. On
rare occasions I may return papers before I have checked Turnitin.com. Paper grades are pending the
Turnitin.com results; if I find a problem after I have handed the paper/exam back to the student, I reserve the
right to retroactively invoke the academic honesty policy.
Turnitin.com Submission Instructions—No sweat, just follow these step-by-step instructions
1. After you've completed your paper/exam, submit it to Turnitin.com
2. As soon as you have submitted the paper/exam, Turnitin will immediately show you a receipt.
Copy the stuff in the box at the top of the receipt, including info like this:
Paper ID: 18687000
Author:
Mary Smith
Paper Title:
little women paper
E-mail:
mes1234@sjfc.edu
3. Go back into your paper document (on your computer) and paste the info you just copied from
the Turnitin.com receipt at the top of the first page
4. Save your paper/exam again, then print (when turning paper in during class) or send as e-mail
attachment. Remember to "cc" yourself if your e-mail account does not automatically keep copies
of your e-mail transmissions.
PLAGIARISM & ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Everything you say in a paper should be your own idea, or be
cited appropriately. It is plagiarism to turn in a paper written by another student or to copy or paraphrase
any portion of your text from another source (whether published or unpublished, or from the Internet)
without proper acknowledgment. For guidelines on plagiarism, see the St. John Fisher Student Handbook
(colored section at the end of the Handbook). If you use ANY material from an Internet source in your papers,
you must cite the website. Academic dishonesty will result in failure for the course.
TURNITIN.COM: www.turnitin.com link on SJFC homepage and Blackboard. If you haven't already used
Turnitin for another class, you have to register yourself. Go to www.turnitin.com and click on the "create a
user profile" in the upper right hand corner. Follow the prompts; it's not difficult, and once you are all set up,
submitting papers works pretty much like submitting papers to the Blackboard Digital Drop Box. If you are
already registered because you have used the service for another class, DO NOT CREATE A NEW USER
PROFILE; simply add the class using your previously established user id. If you forget your password, do not
create a new account; several people have tried this and it creates untold havoc and confusion. Ask OIT to
help you resolve the problem. Fairly early in the semester I will assign an open book "reading quiz" for you to
do through Turnitin.com just to make sure everything is working, so that we don't get to the paper due date
and then have problems crop up. If you have problems with Turnitin, get help from OIT. Once we've had the
reading quiz as practice, I will assume you know how to use the service, so having problems with the service
will not excuse you from the paper deadline.
GRADES: Your grade will be based on the following format:
75% 3 Papers (20% each)
25% Participation (class discussion & reading quizzes)
WHEN YOU E-MAIL ME: When you e-mail me with questions about the course, always include your name
and some kind of basic info in the e-mail's "subject line" so that I will know what your e-mail is about (e.g.
"John Smith, question about Bernstein Paper"). Also, since I am teaching two sections of this course this
semester, please identify which section you are in ("MWF" or "Monday night"). I need you to identify yourself
because many students use either their SJFC accounts with their initials, and I am probably not going to
know right off the bat who "lmj1234" is, or, if using an off-campus account, who "redpepper3@aol.com" is.
Moreover, some students use BOTH off-campus and SJFC e-mail accounts-- or their parents'/spouses'/
girlfriend or boyfriend's accounts-- so do me a favor and let me know who you are and what you need to
know. For instance, if I get an e-mail from "lmj1234@sjfc.edu" saying "I need to know what the deadline for
our paper is," I need to know which class you are in since my classes have different deadlines. Also, during
Jan.-early April I'm out of town and off-line every weekend, so I will respond to weekend e-mails ASAP Sunday
night/Monday morning.
Turnitin.com Registration information for this course:
class name: Indians in America
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class ID #: 2135028
enrollment password: AMST2007 (must appear exactly like this, with no spaces between letters and
numbers)
Note: Check SJFC Blackboard regularly for announcements and course updates. Blackboard only
sends e-mails to SJFC accounts, so if you use an off-campus account, e.g. yahoo or aol, check Blackboard
regularly.
AMST 180D: "Indians" in America
Dr. Sharon Delmendo
Spring 2008 MWF 9:05-10:00
sdelmendo@sjfc.edu
Office Hours: MWF 8:35-9:05 & 11:05-11:35 a.m. & by Appt. Office/Voice Mail 385-8216
Note: ND= Negotiating Difference
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
1/14 Introduction
1/16 Bradford, History of Plymouth
Due by 1/21: Turnitin Quiz: What is
Plantation (ND 23-33, 35-42)
the first word of the Bradford reading?
1/18 Image Analysis:
Indian Village (Blackboard)
1/21 Rowlandson, Captivity Narrative 1/23 Image Analysis: Pequot War,
(ND 67-83, dense)
Indian Warrior (Blackboard)
1/25 Gardner, Relation of
Pequot Wars (ND 85-91)
1/28 Discuss Paper #1
1/30 Thesis Workshop
Intro Paragraph with underlined
thesis due via e-mail by 5 p.m. 1/29
2/1 RECESS DAY
2/4 Easton, A Relation of the
Indian War (ND 93-100)
2/8 Jackson on Indian Removal*
Speckled Snake's Reply*
2/6 Paper #1 Due
Intro to Indian Removal
2/11 Begin The Searchers
2/13 The Searchers
2/15 Discuss The Searchers
read Apess: Indian's Looking Glass read Boudinot: Address to Whites*
for the White Man*
2/18 Discuss Apess & Boudinot
Cherokee Nation v. GA*
2/20 Zitkala-Sa: Impressions of
Indian Childhood, Schooldays
of an Indian Girl*
2/22 Image Analysis: 1904
St. Louis World's Fair
2/25
2/27 SPRING BREAK
2/29 SPRING BREAK
SPRING BREAK
3/3 Film: Far & Away
3/5 Film: Far & Away
read Erdrich, Where I Ought to Be"* read Tracks Ch. 3-4
& Tracks Ch. 1-2
3/7 Film: Far & Away
read Tracks Ch. 5-6
3/10 Discuss Tracks
finish reading Tracks
3/13 Discuss Erdrich readings
and Far & Away
3/13 Paper #2 Due
3/17
Easter Break
3/19 Easter Break
3/21 Easter Break
3/24
Navajo Code Talkers
3/26 Film: Windtalkers
3/28 Film: Windtalkers
p. 4
3/31
Discuss Windtalkers
4/2 Kingsolver: Pigs in Heaven
4/4 Pigs in Heaven
4/7
Pigs in Heaven
4/8 Film: Thunderheart
4/11 Film: Thunderheart
4/16 Cherokee Oust Freedmen*
4/18 Film: In Whose Honor?
4/14 Thunderheart
4/21 Discuss In Whose Honor?
4/23 Paper #3 Due
Conclusion
4/25 Class does not meet
Turnitin.com class: Indians in America, class # 2135028 enrollment password: AMST2007