The approach is interdisciplinary and will include history, folklore, music, art and literature. Contemporary issues such as those related to grazing policies, image of the cowboy, and rodeo will also be included. Classes are supplemented by archival work in the Center of Southwest Studies. This course uses interactive listening to provide an understanding of the theory and practice of producing oral histories. It will benefit a budding historian, anthropologist, folklorist, sociologist, or archivist, and anyone wanting to improve listening skills and desiring to preserve an otherwise undocumented aspect of our past.
Participants practice oral history interviewing and transcription.
The final product is a transcribed oral history interview of sufficient historical research value to warrant inclusion in the Center of Southwest Studies collection. This course is designed to prepare students in the interpretation of cultural resources and to create awareness of Native American perspectives regarding cultural resources. This course traces the development of United States policy towards the American Indians. Beginning with the policies inherited from European colonizers, the federal government developed expedient policies to balance the desires of its own citizens with the Indian peoples legal rights and hopes for continued tribal survival. The course documents the opposing concepts of assimilation and segregation which have led to the present philosophy of pluralism and self-determination in United States Indian policy.