Using lectures, classroom discussions, visual presentations and group projects, the course will explore the major events that altered the environment American Indians inhabited following the establishment of the United States as a continental power. The course will also examine the ways in which native peoples survived amidst the economic, political and social forces that were unleashed by the country's evolution into a modern nation state. Readings will include primary documents, Native American commentaries, historical fiction and secondary works. A member of the Confederated Salish tribe, McNickle grew up on the Flathead reservation and attended the University of Montana. The course investigates how U.S.-made films have employed racial and gender stereotyping narratively and cinematically, what historical and economic circumstances have yielded particular films, and what reception those films have found among different audiences at various times.
Students develop projects based on their own interests and course materials.
To understand the racial and gender unrest of our contemporary world, we first need to understand the conditions of its production. This course examines contestations over gender, race, class, and national identity, as they appear in theatre and performance. The question guiding classroom investigations will be how theatre and performance become engaged in contestation about Americanness and American values. This course examines the social construction of women and gender through representation, sexualities, identities, roles, and relationships, covering both traditional constructions of women and alternatives presented by different groups of women. The course includes a unit on Native women and colonization and integrates Native womens writing throughout the syllabus.