ANTHROPOLOGY 15 – NATIVE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA

Course Syllabus

 

A detailed GENERAL SYLLABUS (applies to all my courses) and a detailed syllabus for each course is available at my website and at the Reserve Desk in the Library.

 

Required Readings

 

Oswalt, Wendell H.

2002  This Land Was Theirs: A study of Native Americans.

 

Garbarino, Merwyn S. & Sasso, Robert F.

Current Edition.  Native American Heritage.

 

A Selection of Highly Recommended Readings 

(Available in one or more of the following locations: Bookstore, Instructor, Library.

 

Bodley, John

Current Edition.  Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems.

Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing.

 

Bodley, John

Current Edition.  Cultural Anthropology; Tribes, States, and the Global System.

Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing.

 

Bodley, John

Current Edition.  Victims of Progress.

Mountain View, California, Mayfield Publishing.

 

Calloway, Colin

Current Edition.  First Peoples: A documentary survey of American Indian history.

New York: St. Martin’s/Beacon.

 

Diamond, Jared

Current Edition.  Guns, Germs, and Steel: The fates of human societies.  New York: Norton.

 

Heizer, Robert F. & Theodora Kroeber (Editors).

1979.  Ishi The Last Yahi: A documentary history.  Berkeley: UC Press.

 

Kottak, Conrad Phillip

Current Edition.  Mirror for Humanity: A concise introduction to Cultural Anthropology.

New York: McGraw Hill.

 

 Krech III, Shepard.

 1999  The Ecological Indian: Myth and history.  New York: Norton.

ANTHROPOLOGY 15 – NATIVE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA

 

Selected Video and Film Sources (some of these will be shown in part in class).

 

Film – Little Big Man, Dances With Wolves, Hiawatha, Cochise, Geronimo.

The Mission.

 

Video – Regional Studies (Northwest/Southwest/Eastern Woodlands)

The Way the West Was Lost.  A Documentary History of New York.  Myths and Moundbuilders.  Science and Sacrilege: Native Americans, Archaeology, & the Law.  Ishi – the last Yahi.

 

 

Examinations

 

There are three (3) examinations, including the final exam.  The first exam is scheduled approximately five weeks into the semester, the second exam is scheduled approximately 11 weeks into the semester and the final is due during finals week.  Outlines for examination questions are required and are due the week before the exam.

 

Grading

 

A = 90% or above.

B = 80 – 89%.

C = 70 – 79%.

D = 60 – 69%.

F = Below 60%.

 

If the student earns at least a 70% average on the first two exams, the final may improve course grade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANTHROPOLOGY 15 – NATIVE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS – EXAMINATION #1

Representative Questions.

 

1.      The idea or concept of `culture’ is basic to Anthropology.  Describe and demonstrate the application of this idea or concept to the earliest life ways of the Native Peoples of North America.  Graphically representing the centerpiece of your responses is highly recommended.

 

2.      Anthropology involves a number of sub-fields each using unique methods and perspectives.  List, describe, and critically evaluate the contributions of at least four of the sub-fields to our knowledge about NPNA.  Responses should include methods or procedures, the kinds of questions asked, the findings, and the dilemmas encountered by the selected sub-field.

 

3.      Many stereotypes and misconceptions are associated with the Native Peoples of North America.  List, describe, and critically evaluate the most significant of these, their sources, the realities, and their current status.

 

4.      One of the major goals of Anthropology has been to ask and try to respond to some of the `BIG’ questions about human societies via a comparative analysis of human societies in general.  List, describe, and critically evaluate the most significant of these `BIG’ questions as they relate to the NPNA.  Responses should clearly identify (1) the question (2) the comparative basis (3) the relative status of the NPNA.  Another way of thinking about this question is to consider it in the following way --- Anthropologists often say, `each man ( human) is in some ways like all other men, like some other men, and like no other men.

 

 

 

Rules and Guidelines for all examinations.

 

---Use/apply the `10 criteria’ in preparing responses.

---Graphic presentations are always strongly recommended.

---Essay breakdown should approximate the following: one-third each – reading/class dialogue/original thinking (not opinion).

 

Practice Learned Resourcefulness.  Avoid procrastination, develop appropriate help-seeking behaviors, ask questions, learn to recognize & utilize resources [e.g. other students, the instructor, the library, the AAC, study groups].

 

 

ANTHROPOLOGY 15 – NATIVE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA

 

EXAMINATION #2 – Representative Questions

Contact between Native Peoples and Non-Natives, Motivations for & Expressions of Colonization and Domination, Indigenous Responses.

 

  1. Jared Diamond has suggested that ‘guns, germs and steel,’ explain the differences between the least and most successful societies in the world today.  Select at least four Native Peoples to demonstrate both more and less success.  Were there viable alternatives at the time of contact to the outcomes we observe today/how might an Anthropologist explain this? 
  2. Is organization an important ingredient in success?  Other experts have suggested that `God, greed, and guns,’ were the most significant forces in shaping the most and least successful societies we see in the world today.  Select at least four Native Peoples and assess the validity of this perspective or point of view.  What, if any, were the alternatives at the time of contact/how might Anthropologist explain this?
  3. Anthropologists describe universal characteristics of domination (See Kottack/MFH) in terms of `ecocide, ethnocide, and genocide.’  Select four groups and assess the validity of this explanation. 
  4. Long term domination appears to involve a number of common responses on the part of subordinated groups.  Drawing upon at least three groups of Native Peoples, list, describe, and critically evaluate their responses to domination with the universal pattern.  What appears to account for unique responses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rules and Guidelines for all examinations.

 

---Use/apply the `10 criteria’ in preparing responses.

---Graphic presentations are always strongly recommended.

---Essay breakdown should approximate the following: one-third each – reading/class dialogue/original thinking (not opinion).

 

Practice Learned Resourcefulness.  Avoid procrastination, develop appropriate help-seeking behaviors, ask questions, learn to recognize & utilize resources [e.g. other students, the instructor, the library, the AAC, study groups].

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANTHROPOLOGY 15 – NATIVE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA.

EXAMINATION #3 (Final).  Representative Questions.

Ishi As A Case Study, Current Trends Among Native Peoples in North America and the World, Changing Relationships With Science, and the Demands of a Changing World Order on Native Peoples.

 

  1. The fascinating story of the man we have come to know as `Ishi’ is in many respects a story reflecting many of the more significant aspects of Native American History.  List, describe, and critically evaluate this point of view  - How is the story of `Ishi – this one man – also the story of many of other men very much like him.

 

  1. Describe and demonstrate the most significant social and psychological trends among NPNA.  How are these influencing the people themselves and how are they influencing other peoples and other institutions?

 

  1. There are a number of significant barriers to assimilation for Native Peoples of North America today?  Describe, demonstrate and critically evaluate those most closely associated with NP themselves and those associated with others.

 

  1. According to Anthropologist, David Maybury-Lewis* `serious multiculturalism’ is one possible response to many of the ethnic dilemmas in the contemporary world, including those linked to formerly and/or currently colonized peoples. Maybury-Lewis believes that such a responses would be equally demanding for both the more and less powerful in the world………………………………            Describe and demonstrate the most significant reasons why Maybury-Lewis believes that this response is perhaps the only viable one for this particular moment in history? What specific areas of challenge are involved (from an Anthropologists point of view) for the minorities who feel they have been wronged and the majority that is accused of wronging them.

 

 

 

Rules and Guidelines for all examinations.

 

---Use/apply the `10 criteria’ in preparing responses.

---Graphic presentations are always strongly recommended.

---Essay breakdown should approximate the following: one-third each – reading/class dialogue/original thinking (not opinion).

 

Practice Learned Resourcefulness.  Avoid procrastination, develop appropriate help-seeking behaviors, ask questions, learn to recognize & utilize resources [e.g. other students, the instructor, the library, the AAC, study groups].