Overview

This 10-week course will help participants develop their understanding of American Indian history, culture, policy, and contemporary issues in Indian Country.

The course will incorporate reading/viewing and reflection questions. Recorded webinars included guest speakers. Most readings will be accessed via the course shell hosted on Thinkific. 

This course is self-paced. This means there are no set meeting times or dates, so you can access it at your convenience. Modules open a week at a time.

No college credit or educator renewal units will be offered for this course.

Schedule

This topical approach incorporates three perspectives on each topic: cultural information, history/policy, contemporary context. 

Module 1: LandBack: cultural significance of land; treaties/reservations/allotments; today’s #landback movement

Module 2: Tribal sovereignty & jurisdiction: inherent sovereignty; reservations; tribal law enforcement

Guest speaker: Bill Swaney (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes)

Module 3: Language revitalization: language as part of cultural beliefs; boarding schools; current efforts to revitalize Indigenous languages 

Guest speakers: Kevin Kicking Woman (Amskapi Pikuni); Lark Real Bird (Crow); Panel: Michelle Mitchell (Salish); Jordann Lankford (Aaniiih/Anishinaabe); Chris La Tray (Little Shell Chippewa).

Module 4: Tribal governance and the Native vote: Contemporary and historical tribal governance models and participation in democracy 

Module 5: Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Case Study

Guest speaker: Chris La Tray (Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians & Métis)

Module 6: Tribal enrollment and blood quantum: traditional tribal membership; reservations; blood quantum today 

Module 7: Food sovereignty & health disparities: traditional land use, plant & animal harvest, traditional ecological knowledge; today’s food sovereignty efforts

Guest speaker: Sidney U. Fellows (Shoshone-Bannock & Chippewa-Cree) and Mike Geboe (Chippewa Cree)

Module 8: MMIW and Termination/Relocation: MMIW crisis, official US policy toward reservations & reversal; urban Indians today

Guest speaker: Matt Bell (Nakoda-Aaniiih)

Module 9: Cultural Preservation: sacred/cultural significance of objects; NAGPRA meaning and implementation; 2023 update; ceremony (this will be covered in a general way, no protected information to be shared); today’s practices

Guest speaker: Aaron Brien (Crow)

Guest speaker: Dr. Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke)

Module 10: Contemporary Influences from Indian Country

Guest speaker: Matt Bell (Nakoda-Aaniiih)

Bonus Module: Western vs. Indigenous education & Indian Education theory

Guest speaker: Julie Cajune (Salish)

Guest speaker: Denise Juneau (Citizen of the Mandan Hidatsa Tribes and Blackfeet Tribe)

Guest speaker list:

Denise Juneau (Citizen of the Mandan Hidatsa Tribes and Blackfeet Tribe), former Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction

Chris La Tray (Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Métis), 2023-2025 Montana Poet Laureate

Kevin Kicking Woman (Amskapi Pikuni), 2024 Montana Teacher of the Year & BNAS Educator 

Mike Jetty (Spirit Lake Dakota), OPI Indian Education Specialist 

Michelle Mitchell (Salish and Chippewa Cree), CSKT Tribal Education Director

Dr. Shane Doyle, (Apsáalooke), Scholar and community advocate

Julie Cajune (Salish), Tribal historian

Lark Real Bird (Crow), Language educator

Bill Swaney (Salish), Former CSKT Tribal Education Director

Mike Geboe (Chippewa Cree), Language educator and wellness specialist

Jordann Lankford (A’aniiih and Anishinaabe), MACIE Chair; educator

Aaron Brien (Crow), Tribal Historic Preservation Officer

Sidney U. Fellows (Shoshone-Bannock & Chippewa-Cree), Tribal food access advocate

Matt Bell (Nakoda-Aaniiih), OPI Language and Culture Specialist

Course Materials/Readings

Anton Treuer: Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask, Revised and Expanded edition (2023). ISBN 1681342464

MAKE SURE YOU ORDER THE CORRECT VERSION!

If you get the kindle or the audio book, you may have trouble finding the right pages, as we do not read the book straight through, but skip around. 

All other materials will be provided in the course shell, hosted on Thinkific.