Introductory description

This module will explore the experience of indigenous people from c.1600 to the present within the limits of the modern-day United States.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module will focus on key themes such as initial encounters with Europeans (in a variety of locations); involvement in proxy wars (particularly concentrating on the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War); responses to land appropriation (including the ‘Trail of Tears’ and the conflicts of the later 19thC); the fight for civil rights in the 20thC (e.g. the American Indian Movement) and modern-day issues facing indigenous communities in the United States (such as continued economic and political marginalisation, alcoholism, and lack of representation).

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the course of Indigenous North American history and culture.
• Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
• Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship about the relationship between European settlers and indigenous people
• Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
• To gain interpersonal and communication skills through the delivery of a presentation

Indicative reading list

K.Kupperman, Settling with the Indians: The meeting of English and Indian Cultures in America 1580-1640
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An indigenous history of the United States
Roger Carpenter, ‘Times are altered with us’: American Indians from contact to the New Republic.
John Lutz, Myth and memory: stories of indigenous-European contact
William Anderson, Cherokee Removal: Before and After
Paul Chaat Smith, Everything you know about Indians is wrong
Sherry Smith, Hippies, Indians, and the fight for red power
Stephen Cornell, The return of the native: American Indian political resurgence
James Axtell, The European and the Indian
H F Dobyns, Their numbers became thinned: Native American population dynamics in eastern North America
James Merrel, The Indians’ New World
James Axtell, After Columbus
Helen Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia
Colin Galloway, New Worlds for all: Indians, Europeans and the Remaking of Early America
Colin Galloway (ed), The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America
Peter Mancall, Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America
Kathleen J. Bragdon, Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650
Karen Kupperman, Indians and English: Facing off in Early America
Greg O'Brien Choctaws in the revolutionary age
Daniel K. Richter, Facing East from Indian country
Theda Perdue, Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in Early South
Alan Gallay, Indian Slavery: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717
Richard White, The Middle Ground: Indians, empires and republics in the Great Lakes region, 1650-1815

Interdisciplinary

The module is designed to provide the students with an understanding of relationships between the different disciplinary areas within the Humanities and Social Sciences, particularly History, Politics and Sociology. It also invites to the students to make connections with other disciplinary areas covered in their main study programme. It provides the students with a critical understanding of dominant traditions and methodologies associated with the main phenomena covered in the module and enables the students to transcend disciplinary boundaries. The interdisciplinary course cohort provides contact opportunities and learning to see from different perspectives is a core aspect of the learning experience.

International

The module draws on cases from different contexts and different geopolitical areas. The assessment involves students working in groups which will allow for a global and local outlook to be built into the module’s work. The international and diverse course cohort provides contact opportunities and learning to see from different perspectives is a core aspect of the learning experience.

Subject specific skills

see learning outcomes

Transferable skills

Work effectively with others in group tasks and in teams; Plan and manage time in projects; Develop strong analytical skills; Find, evaluate and use previous research at a level appropriate for a second year module. Use a range of tools and resources effectively in the preparation of course work. Use appropriate analytic methods to analyse research data on Indigenous America. Read academic papers effectively in the context of an intensive programme; Communicate clearly and effectively in discussions; Communicate ideas effectively in writing.