MnTC #07-136R
October 5, 2007
October 27, 2007
Normandale Community College
Common Course Outline
Effective date: October 2007
Anthropology 1150: Native Americans: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Catalog Description: 3 CR FALL, SPR North American prehistory; selected traditional Native American cultures; Native American cultures and their responses to historical change; intercultural conflict between Native Americans and others. Prerequisites: none MnTC: Goals 2, 5, and 7
Course Description: This is a broad, inter-disciplinary survey of Native American cultures and culture history. First we introduce students to basic anthropological concepts and to issues that are important in understanding the place of Native American people in our nation’s history and in contemporary society. The course briefly summarizes the prehistory of Native Americans, then proceeds to survey selected traditional cultures and the legacy of these cultures. Finally, it gives an historical overview of government policy toward Native American societies and looks both at the problems and triumphs of Native Americans today. Questions of ethnocentrism and ethnic conflict are themes of this course.
Texts: At the discretion of the instructor, typically a general text supplemented by one or two case studies and/or a set of shorter readings.
Major Topic Areas:
1. The nature and scope of anthropology
2. Definitions: Who is Native American? What is a tribe?
3. Pleistocene origins and prehistory of Native Americans
4. overview of culture areas: the relationship between environment, history and culture
5 In depth study of selected cultures and/or selected Native American institutions
6. Explanations and interpretations of cultures and their histories
7. Overview of American history, stressing the history of intercultural interactions between Native Americans and Euroamericans and the history of government policy toward Native American societies
8. Contemporary issues: problems and triumphs
9. Legacy of Native American cultures
10. The continuing history of ethnocentrism
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes:
In this course students will
1. analyze ignorance, misconceptions, and stereotypes of Native Americans and demonstrate awareness of ethnocentrism in American history. (MnTC 2d, 5d, 7ace)
2. develop and use concepts, terms, and intellectual frameworks necessary for understanding and discussing Native American cultures and their histories. (MnTC 5ac, 7e)
3. demonstrate knowledge of major trends in North American prehistory, and develop explanations for the cultural and ecological adaptations of these peoples. (MnTC 2cd, 5abc, 7d)
4. describe the varied ecological and cultural adaptations of Native American societies in the historical period and evaluate various hypotheses used to explain and interpret them. (MnTC 2cd, 5abc, 7d)
5. describe and interpret selected Native American cultures and institutions in depth by working with some case material in depth. (MnTC 2cd, 5abc, 7de)
6. compare and contrast various Euroamerican and Native American perspectives and analyze their impact on Euroamerican and Native American interactions. (MnTC 2cd, 5ac, 7abc)
7. outline and analyze the government policies that divested Native American peoples of their economic well-being and their political autonomy; analyze the outcome of these policies. (MnTC 2cd, 5abcd, 7abcd)
8. describe and analyze a variety of contemporary issues, both problems and triumphs, in the Native American community and in society at large. (MnTC 2bcd, 5d, 7abcd)
9. describe and evaluate the legacy of Native American cultures. (MnTC 7cd)
Evaluation system:
Objective and/or essay exams will be used to evaluate students.
Other graded assignments or projects will be given as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
Individual instructors devise their own specific methods and weighting systems.