History/American Studies/American Indian Studies 266, Spring 2009
Introduction to Native American History, Pre-Contact to the Present
MWF, 9:05am-9:55pm, White Hall 106
Professor Jon Parmenter (jwp35@cornell.edu; 5-1876 [office])
304 McGraw Hall (office hours, Tues., 2:15-4:15pm or by appointment)
Introduction
With the abandonment of earlier perspectives grounded in romantic and evolutionary
stereotypes, Native American history represents today one of the most exciting, dynamic,
and contentious fields of inquiry into America's past. This course introduces students to
the key themes and trends of the history of North America's indigenous peoples by taking
an issues-oriented approach. The course stresses the ongoing complexity and change in
Native American societies and will emphasize the theme of Native peoples' creative
adaptations to historical change. Additionally, the course will provide numerous
opportunities for students to develop their critical thinking and reading skills.
Course Learning Goals
Upon successfully completing this course, you will be able to:
• appreciate what is special and distinctive about Native American history and
better understand the significant role of indigenous people in North American
history
• debunk popular myths about Native Americans and speak from an informed
standpoint on the general course and key debates of Native American history
• understand the depth of Native cultural traditions that have mediated social
interactions between Native Americans and Europeans/Americans of European
descent from the contact era to the present day
• assess the agency exercised by Native Americans in their creative adaptations to
the presence of settler societies in North America
• compose convincing critical interpretations of primary documents, visual sources,
and secondary scholarship
Requirements:
Weekly readings will average ~150pp. The final grade will be based on:
-attendance/class participation
(15%)
-in-class prelim
(15%)
-2 document analysis papers +1 film review
(25%)
-one research essay (8-10pp.)
(20%)
-final exam
(25%)
Please note: the date for the final exam will be determined by the College of Arts &
Sciences after the add/drop period for the semester ends; there will be no exceptions
made to this date once it is scheduled. Please consult the university calendar to determine
the latest possible date for final exams and arrange your schedule accordingly. I will
announce the exact date and time of the final exam immediately upon notification from
the College.
Readings (available for purchase in the Cornell bookstore and at Kraftee's; please ensure
that you acquire appropriate editions, noted in bold):
Calloway, First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History (3rd ed.)
Perdue/Green, The Cherokee Removal (2nd ed.)
Hoxie, Talking Back to Civilization
DeLoria, Indians in Unexpected Places
Lobo/Talbot, Native American Voices: A Reader (2nd ed.)
Course Policies:
Participation is evaluated on the basis of the degree to which a student makes meaningful
contributions to class discussions and activities. This requires regular attendance at class
meetings, and completion of required readings. While lectures constitute the primary
instructional form in this course, each class meeting has opportunities (and expectations)
for student discussion and engagement with course content. Attendance will be taken at
each class meeting, and participation will also be assessed at each class meeting.
Students with more than four unexcused absences from class over the course of the
semester will receive a participation grade of ZERO. Chronic lateness (i.e. more than
four times during the course of the semester) will result in the same penalty. Excused
absences are typically granted in cases of documented medical and/or family
emergencies. Extensions on written assignments can be negotiated with the professor
provided the initial request is made no less than 48 hours in advance of the due date.
Grades on late papers and assignments will be reduced by 1/3 grade for every 24 hours
(unless arrangements have been made no less than 48 hours prior to the due date). No
assignments/papers more than 3 (three) days late will be accepted for grading in lieu of
documented medical reasons or prior arrangements.
Key to Readings:
[web] = link accessible under "External Links" button in BlackBoard site
[e-res] = electronic version of reading via Course Reserves (also BlackBoard)
[e-journal] = electronically-subscribed journal via Cornell Library Gateway
[doc] = available under "Course Documents" button on Blackboard site
Course Schedule
Week 1
1. Monday 1/19
Welcome
2. Wednesday 1/21 What is Native American History?
-Calloway, First Peoples, 1-13
- DeLoria, Indians in Unexpected Places, 136-82
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 2-28, 53-55, 125-30
3. Friday 1/23
The Kennewick Man Controversy
-Calloway, First Peoples, 14-20
-Ann Fabian, "Bones of Contention" [web]
-Owsley/Jantz, "Archaeological Politics and Public Interest in Paleoamerican
Studies," American Antiquity 66.4 (2001): 565-75 [e-journal]
-Fish, "Indigenous Bodies in Colonial Courts," Wicazo Sa Review 21.1 (2006):
77-95 [e-journal]
Week 2
4. Monday 1/26
Native American Origin Traditions
-Calloway, First Peoples, 37-51
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 74-83, 284-97
-Jervis et al, "Historical Consciousness among Two Native American Tribes,"
American Behavioral Scientist 50.4 (2006): 526-49 [e-journal]
5. Wednesday 1/28 Native America Before the Europeans
-Calloway, First Peoples, 21-36, 63-70
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 193-203
-Diamond, Collapse [e-res]
6. Friday 1/30
First Contacts I: The Depopulation Question
-Calloway, First Peoples, 76-82, 140-45
-Jones, "Virgin Soils Revisited," William and Mary Quarterly 60 (2003): 703-42
[e-journal]
-Axtell, After Columbus [e-res]
Week 3
7. Monday 2/2
First Contacts II: The Spanish in the Southeast
-Calloway, First Peoples, 82-92, 108-19
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 152-62
-Ewen, "Continuity and Change: De Soto and the Apalachee" [e-res]
8. Wednesday 2/4
First Contacts III: The French in Canada
-Calloway, First Peoples, 92-98, 119-30
-Jesuit Relations (excerpts) [doc]
9. Friday 2/6
First Contacts IV: The English at Jamestown
-Calloway, First Peoples, 98-101
-Smith, Generall Historie [doc]
-Potter, "Early English Effects on Virginia Algonquian Exchange" [e-res]
Week 4
10. Monday 2/9
Native Women Confront Colonization
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 203-11
-Rountree, "Powhatan Indian Women, the People Captain John Smith Barely
Saw," Ethnohistory 45 (1998): 1-29 [e-journal]
-Schwarz, "Native American Barbie" [e-res]
11. Wednesday 2/11 The Indian Slave Trade in the Southeast
-Stanwood, "Captives and Slaves" [e-res]
-William L. Ramsey, "'Something Cloudy in Their Looks': The Origins of the
Yamasee War Reconsidered," Journal of American History 90 (2003): 44-75
[e-journal]
12. Friday 2/13
King Philip's War: Cataclysm in the Northeast
-Calloway, First Peoples, 101-7, 130-39
-Freeman, "Not So Distant Relations" [web]
-Pulsipher,"Our Sages are Sageles: A Letter on Massachusetts Indian Policy after
King Philip’s War,” William and Mary Quarterly 58 (2001): 431-48 [e-journal]
Week 5
13. Monday 2/16
Eighteenth-Century Warfare and Diplomacy
-Calloway, First Peoples, 162-75, 181-97
-Camenzind, "Violence, Race, and the Paxton Boys" [e-res]
-Lockridge, "Overcoming Nausea" [web]
14. Wednesday 2/18 The American Revolution in Indian Country
-Calloway, First Peoples, 175-80, 197-205
-Tiro, "A 'Civil War'?" [e-res]
-1778 USA Treaty with Delawares [doc]
15. Friday 2/20
Haudenosaunee Influence on the U.S. Constitution
-Calloway, First Peoples, 52-62
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 84-95
-Mann, 1491 [e-res]
Week 6
16. Monday 2/23
Native Americans and the New American Nation
-Calloway, First Peoples, 206-10, 218-28, 244-54
-Pasley, "Midget on Horseback" [web]
-"Documents of Early American Indian Policy" [doc]
17. Wednesday 2/25 IN-CLASS PRELIM
18. Friday 2/27
Origins of the Removal Policy
-Calloway, First Peoples, 228-33
-Perdue/Green, Cherokee Removal, 1-24 (skim), 25-70
Week 7
19. Monday 3/2
Cherokee Removal: A Case Study I
-Perdue/Green, Cherokee Removal, 71-128
20. Wednesday 3/3 Cherokee Removal: A Case Study II
- Perdue/Green, Cherokee Removal, 129-86
-Calloway, First Peoples, 233-43, 275
21. Friday 3/5
Lewis and Clark Among the Indians
-Calloway, First Peoples, 254-67, 290-96
-Jefferson’s Plan [doc]
-Howe, "Lewis and Clark among the Tetons: Smoking out What Really
Happened," Wicazo Sa Review 19.1 (2004): 47-72 [e-journal]
Week 8
22. Monday 3/9
Plains Indian Lifestyles and Settler Conflicts to 1865
-Calloway, First Peoples, 276-82, 296-305, 324-27
-"White Man's Rationale for Killing Indians" [doc]
-Hämäläinen, "Rise and Fall of Plains Indian Horse Cultures," Journal of
American History 90.3 (2003): 833-62 [e-journal]
23. Wednesday 3/11 American Military Conquest of the Plains, 1865-1890
-Calloway, First Peoples, 305-23, 327-63, 426-31
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 132-40
-DeLoria, Indians in Unexpected Places, 3-14 (skim), 15-51
-Two Moons "Battle of the Little Bighorn" [doc]
-"Massacre at Wounded Knee" [doc]
24. Friday 3/13
Boarding Schools and Allotment: Cultural Assault
-Calloway, First Peoples, 372-93, 404-10, 413-25
-Hoxie, Talking Back, 1-65
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 254-62
[NO CLASSES 3/16-3/20: WINTER BREAK]
Week 9
25. Monday 3/23
Adapting to Conditions at the Turn of the 20th Century
-Calloway, First Peoples, 393-403, 410-12
-Hoxie, Talking Back, 87-138
- DeLoria, Indians in Unexpected Places, 52-134
26. Wednesday 3/25 Key Concepts in 20th Century Indian Policy and Law
-Hoxie, Talking Back, 139-74
-"Documents. of Early 20th Century Indian Policy” [doc]
27. Friday 3/28
The Indians' New Deal: The Indian Reorganization Act
-Calloway, First Peoples, 438-45, 473-83
Week 10
28. Monday 3/30
Fighting World War II: Successes and Setbacks
-Calloway, First Peoples, 445-46
-Holm, "Fighting a White Man's War" [e-res]
-Vogt, "Between Two Worlds" [e-res]
-Corman, “9/11 and Acoma Pueblo” [web]
29. Wednesday 4/1 The Push for Termination in the Postwar Era
-Calloway, First Peoples, 447-51
-Hassrick, "Indian in Tomorrow's America" [e-res]
-Mekeel, "American Indian as a Minority Group Problem" [e-res]
-"HCR 108 and PL 280" [doc]
30. Friday 4/3
Beginnings of Urbanization
-Calloway, First Peoples, 451-55, 483-89, 507-12
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 48-52, 56-66, 262-66
-Weltfish, "Indian Comes to the City" [e-res]
Week 11
31. Monday 4/6
Red Power: Militant Activism, 1960-1974
-Calloway, First Peoples, 455-69, 490-506
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 173-81, 219-25, 507-18
-"Documents of 1960s-era Indian Policy" [doc]
32. Wednesday 4/8 Efforts to Retain Control Over Natural Resources
-Calloway, First Peoples, 470-72, 538-43
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 344-68, 388-92
-Crisca Bierwert, "Remembering Chief Seattle," American Indian Quarterly 22.3
(1998): 288-304 [e-journal]
-Smith, "Rape of the Land" [e-res]
33. Friday 4/10
NAGPRA: Skeletons in the Closet
-Calloway, First Peoples, 557-58
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 303-18
-Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act [doc]
-Pensley, "The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act," Wicazo
Sa Review 20.2 (2005): 37-64 [e-journal]
Week 12
34. Monday 4/13
Tribe-State Relations and the Issue of Land Claims
-Alyosha Goldstein, "Where the Nation Takes Place: Proprietary Regimes,
Antistatism, and U.S. Settler Colonialism," South Atlantic Quarterly 107.4 (Fall
2008): 833-61 [e-journal]
35. Wednesday 4/15 Economic Development and the Rise of Casino Gaming
-Calloway, First Peoples, 544-50
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 369-87
-Indian Gaming Regulatory Act [doc]
-Cattelino, "Tribal Gaming and Indigenous Sovereignty" [e-res]
36. Friday 4/17
Languages Endangered and Maintained
-Whitely, "Do ‘Language Rights’ Serve Indigenous Interests?" American
Anthropologist 105 (2003): 712-22 [e-journal]
-Gansworth, "Thinking in Subversion," American Indian Quarterly 30 (1-2)
(2006): 153-65 [e-journal]
-Stevens, "Iah Enionkwatewennahton’ Se’" [e-res]
Week 13
37. Monday 4/20
Who Counts? Blood Quantum and Federal Recognition
-Calloway, First Peoples, 531-38
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 31-47
-BIA Recognition of Indian Tribes [doc]
-Miller, "Who Are Indigenes?" American Behavioral Scientist 50.4 (2006): 46277 [e-journal]
38. Wednesday 4/22 Fakes, Frauds, and Wannabes
-Calloway, First Peoples, 566-72, 582-90
- DeLoria, Indians in Unexpected Places, 183-240
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 330-41
-Smith, "Spiritual Appropriation" [e-res]
39. Friday 4/24
Appropriations of Native Identity
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 217-19
-Calloway, First Peoples, 495-96, 582-90
-NCAA Mascot Policy [web]
-King/Springwood, Team Spirits [e-res]
Week 14
40. Monday 4/27
Current Issues Concerning Indigenous Hawai'ians
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 141-52, 393-401, 520-531
-Trask, "Settlers of Color and 'Immigrant' Hegemony: 'Locals' in Hawaii," [e-res]
-Akaka Bill [web]
41. Wednesday 4/29 Prospects for Native Americans in the New Millenium
-Calloway, First Peoples, 520-30, 550-57, 559-65, 572-81
-Lobo/Talbot, Native Voices, 173-81, 466-83, 487-503, 548-50
-S.R.1200, sec.301 (Congressional "Apology" Resolution) [doc]
42. Friday 5/1 Review for Final Exam
-Calloway, First Peoples, 590-95
-Rand, "Why I Can't Visit the National Museum of the American Indian"
[web]
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS AND DUE DATES
*all assignments are due IN CLASS on the dates below (with the exception of the final
examination)
MON 2/9
-Document Analysis Paper No.1
WED 2/25
-In-Class Prelim
MON 3/9
-Document Analysis Paper No.2
MON 3/30
-Research Essay Proposal
MON 4/6
-Film Review
MON 4/21
-Research Essay Draft (optional)
FRI 5/1
-Research Essay
+ Final Examination (date/time/location TBA)