The course seeks to highlight the diversity of environmental zones and shifting strategies of resource utilization seen in the region that date from prehistoric times to the end of the 19th Century. Museology Combines theory, practice and critique to present the history of museums, the development of curation and conservation practices, and the theory of exhibition design. Incorporates a hands-on approach using the resources of USD's David W. May Indian Artifacts Collections. Field trips to local museums are a requisite of the course. Artisans of the American Southwest Examines the artistic production of the indigenous people of the American Southwest before and after contact with Europeans.
Emphasis is placed on the important technologies of ceramic, weaving, and metallurgical traditions.
Attention also focuses on clan and lineage ownership of styles and techniques. Mary Hotz Read and study novels written by Native Americans about Native American experiences. Authors to be read include D'Arcy McNickle, N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdich, and Michael Dorris. The frontier West to 1850, with emphasis on the conquest of the West by Europeans and Americans, and the implications thereof for Indians, Mexicans, and other western peoples. A thematic study of the West as both frontier and region since 1850, with special emphasis on the exercise of power and the processes of violence that accompanied it.