HISTORY 608 Native American History: Conquest, Colonialism, and Identity

Winter 2012 HISTORY 608 Native American History: Conquest, Colonialism, and Identity Professor Marsha Weisiger Office : 363 McKenzie Hall Telephone :...
Author: Paul Shelton
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Winter 2012 HISTORY 608

Native American History: Conquest, Colonialism, and Identity Professor Marsha Weisiger Office : 363 McKenzie Hall Telephone : 541-346-4824 email: [email protected] Office hours : Thursdays, 2-4 p.m., or by appt. Class Schedule : Meetings: Tuesdays 2:00-4:50 p.m., 375 McKenzie Hall

Introduction

This course on Native American history considers broader questions of interest to those studying colonialism, cultural identity, and transnational history. It will also consider the challenge of writing the history of non-literate people and how historians have creatively met that challenge. The history of Native Americans and the related history of borderlands is currently one of the most exciting fields of American history. Through a series of recently published, path-breaking books, we will consider the history of Native America as a history of colonialism, resistance, adaptation, resilience, and renewal. We will also explore the ways in which indigenous peoples shaped the broader patterns of North American history. For decades, scholars of American Indian history focused solely on the history of U.S. Indian policy and largely on the period from English contact through the nineteenth century. This survey course seeks to break that mold by focusing on the “meeting ground” or cultural border between Native Americans and Euro-Americans, emphasizing the multiplicity of Native American perspectives, drawing on the insights of ethnohistory (which blends anthropological and historical methods), and considering Indian history from the Spanish conquest of the sixteenth century to the present.

Readings (books)

Pekka Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire Juliana Barr, Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands Jill Lepore, The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity Brian DeLay, War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War Jeff Ostler, The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee Margaret Jacobs, White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940 Andrew Fisher , Shadow Tribe: The Making of Columbia River Indian Identity Malinda Lowery, Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation John W. Troutman, Indian Blues: American Indians and the Politics of Music, 1879-1934 In addition, journal articles and primary sources will be posted on Blackboard or available through JStor.

Grading

Below are the course requirements and their relative weights in determining your final grade. All

requirements must be completed to earn a final grade in the course. Discussion Participation Book Précis/Reviews Final Paper

30% 35% 35%

REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING: All requirements must be completed in order to earn a final grade in this course. • Book Précis. You will write a précis (1-2 page, single-spaced summary of the main issues and arguments) for 5 of the 9 books. Each précis should articulate the book’s argument, summarize the author’s main approaches and types of sources, and offer a brief critique. • Book Review. For 2 of the books of your choice (for which you will not write a précis), you will write a formal book review, approximately 1000 words in length. • Historiographical essay. You will select three books and two or three journal articles or chapters from an edited collection on a single indigenous history topic of your choice, in consultation with me. One of these should be a classic in the field, and the other two should be cutting-edge books written within the last 10 years or so. If applicable, you may include a fourth book from the class reading list. You will then write a 15-20 page historiographical essay. Please schedule a meeting with me by the end of the fourth week to discuss topics and your reading list. • Participation and discussion. This is a discussion-based course, and its success depends on your involvement and that of your classmates. Each week, we will expect you to have read all assignments for the day; be prepared to discuss and raise questions about them. Always bring each week’s readings to class. Each week, two of you will be asked to help lead the discussion by developing a two or three questions to help launch the conversation and by reading book reviews. Students who arrive late for class, who repeatedly leave early, or who miss more than two class meetings may be dropped from the course at my discretion, without consultation.

Discussion Participation (30%)

Your participation is the key to the success of the class. Think of our discussions as lively conversations about issues of mutual interest to all of us. Our purpose is to explore, analyze, and reflect on the arguments made in the readings, the evidence they use to support those arguments, and the wisdom the authors impart (or the lack thereof). Our other purpose is to explore your own ideas about the issues raised in the readings. Come prepared to express your ideas and have them challenged by others. I have four ground rules for discussion: (1) Come prepared for each class by reading critically all the assigned material. Always bring each week’s readings to class. (2) You must participate in our weekly conversations with thoughtful discussion. I value quality over quantity. I also value interaction over recitation. (3) Don’t try to lead the conversation astray in an effort to cover your lack of preparedness. (4) Show respect for your classmates’ ideas, even (or especially) when they’re different from your own. For each set of readings, two of you will be asked to help lead the discussion by meeting in advance and developing two or three questions to help launch the conversation. These should be broad

questions that will help us explore the readings’ main themes, arguments, and methods. Additionally, each week the discussion leaders will look up two book reviews in academic journals (such as American Historical Review, Reviews in American History, American Indian Quarterly, Ethnohistory, Wicazo Sa Review, or American Indian Culture and Research Journal); this may involve actual visits to the library. During the discussion, you will report briefly on the gist of the reviews you read, focusing on the reviewers’ comments on the value and significance of the work and on its major flaws, if any.

Book Précis and Book Reviews (35%)

For 5 of the 9 assigned books, write a brief précis (1-2 pages, single-spaced). This should have two sections: (1) A statement of the author’s thesis and a concise description of how the author develops the argument, the kind of evidence he or she uses, and any special methodologies the author uses. (2) A critical evaluation of the argument. A basic rule of thumb is to judge the book on its own terms. Pay attention to the author’s purpos and critically evaluate whether it meets the goal the author set. What are the book’s strengths and weaknesses? Did the author offer logical reasoning and sufficient evidence to support the thesis? Is the author’s argument persuasive? For 2 of the 9 books, of your choice, write a 1000-word book review (double-spaced). Guidance for the précis and book reviews will be posted on Blackboard. Final Paper (35%) The final paper (15-20 pages) will be a historiographical essay on the topic of your choosing, in consultation with me. Please schedule a meeting with me by the end of the fourth week to discuss possible topics. For guidelines on writing a historiographical essay, please consult the information posted on Blackboard. Class Policies • Honor. Absolutely no academic dishonesty will be tolerated in this course. If you feel you do not fully understand the issue of plagiarism, please consult with me. Any student discovered plagiarizing will receive an F for the course, end of story. If you submit work you have done for other courses for credit, that work will receive an F for the assignment. •

Attendance. Attendance is required. Students who arrive late for class, who repeatedly leave early, or who miss more than two class meetings may be dropped from the course at my discretion, without consultation. Please come see me if there is a reason for prolonged or repeated absences that I should know about.



Make-up. No make-up opportunities will be available, except in extreme circumstances such as a death in the immediate family or a major medical emergency. No extensions will be granted for papers, and no make-up opportunities for discussions will be offered. No extra credit opportunities will be offered. One exception: students who are passing the course and who are absent on documented university business (including attending professional conferences) have an automatic right to excused absences and to make up work.



Withdrawal. No incompletes will be given. It is the student’s responsibility to withdraw him- or herself from the course.

Accommodations: If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please arrange to see me soon. Request a letter from Disability Services that verifies your disability.

WEEKLY DISCUSSION TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS (readings marked with an asterisk (*) will be posted on Blackboard) January 10

Introduction Reading assignment: *Richard White, Introduction and “The Middle Ground,” The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 (1991) Jeremy Adelman and Stephen Aron, “From Borderlands to Borders: Empires, Nation-States, and the Peoples in Between in North American History.” American Historical Review 104 (1999): 814-41. Available through JStor. *Juliana Barr, “Geographies of Power: Mapping Indian Borders in the ‘Borderlands’ of the Early Southwest,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 68 (2011): 5-46. *Angela Cavender Wilson, “The Power of the Spoken Word: Native Oral Traditions in American Indian History.” In Donald Fixico, ed., Rethinking American Indian History (1997). *Richard White, “Indian Peoples and the Natural World: Asking the Right Questions.” In Al Hurtado and Peter Iverson, eds., Major Problems in American Indian History (2001). Sherry Smith, “Reconciliation and Restitution in the American West,” Western Historical Quarterly 41 (2010): 4-25. Available through JStor. (optional, but highly recommended)

January 17

Reading assignment: Pekka Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire

January 24

Reading assignment: Juliana Barr, Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands

January 31

Reading assignment: Jill Lepore, The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity

February 7

Reading assignment: Brian DeLay, War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War

February 14

Reading assignment: Jeff Ostler, The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee

February 21

Reading assignment: Margaret Jacobs, White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940

Reading assignment: Andrew Fisher , Shadow Tribe: The Making of Columbia River Indian Identity and Jeffrey P. Shepherd, “At the Crossroads of Hualapai History, Memory, and American Colonization: Contesting Space and Place,” American Indian Quarterly 32 (2008): 16-42. Available through Project Muse. Special guest: Jeff Shepherd February 28

March 6

Reading assignment: Malinda Lowery, Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation

March 13

Reading assignment: John W. Troutman, Indian Blues: American Indians and the Politics of Music, 1879-1934

Historiographical papers due by March 20, at 5 p.m.