History 490: Introduction to American Indian History
Ned Blackhawk
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Course Description
Ignored for generations, American Indian history has recently become one of the most exciting and prolific fields of historical inquiry. As scholars now recognize, Indian peoples have fundamentally shaped and defined our nation’s past. From the founding of the first European settlements in North America to continuing debates over the meaning of American democracy, Indian history remains integral to understandings of American history and culture. This course introduces this complex and long-ignored field of study.
Course Readings
Six primary texts are required for this course. We will read these texts in conjunction with additional chapters, articles, and documents from a course reader available at the Humanities Copy Center. These additional readings are central to the class. The required and recommended texts and the reader are available also on reserve at College Library.
Books
Required
- Colin G. Calloway, ed., First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, 2nd ed. (2004)
- Matthew Dennis, Cultivating a Landscape of Peace: Iroquois-European Encounters in Seventeenth-Century America (1993)
- Patty Loew, Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal (2001)
- Charles Wilkinson, Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (2005)
- Vine Deloria, Jr., Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (1969)
- Sherman Alexie, Ten Little Indians (2003)
Course Requirements
Students are responsible for all materials covered in lecture and in the readings. Failure to complete any of the required assignments and examinations will constitute a failed grade. The final course grade will be determined as follows.
- Midterm Exam (25%)
- Section Participation and Attendance (10%)
- Short Paper (3 pages) (15%)
- Individual Book Review and Presentation (5 pages) (25%)
- Final Exam (25%)
Exams
Both exams will include short answer identifications (ID’s) drawn from class lectures and readings as well as essay questions. The final exam will cover materials from mainly the second half of the course. Lists of exam study questions, one or two of which will appear on the actual exam, are in the course reader. Final Exam, December 20th, 2:45pm
Short Paper
A comprehension essay on one of Week 5’s readings will be due on October 3rd in class. All papers should be double-spaced, typed, and handed in on time. No late papers will be accepted. Topic questions along with writing guidelines are in the course reader.
Individual Book Review and Section Presentation
Starting Week 7, two students per section will review individual books and will offer 10-minute section presentations (either individually or in tandem), detailing how each title intersects with and extends class materials. A book review will also be handed in and will comprise 25% of the course grade. Students are encouraged to attend Wednesday office hours—the first hour of which after Week 7 will be devoted strictly to book review/section discussions. Papers must be typed, double-spaced, properly formatted and referenced, and handed in on time. Both the review and the presentation are mandatory.
Weekly Discussion Sections and Attendance
Attendance and participation in weekly discussion sections are essential to the class and comprise (10%) of the final grade.
Credits and Additional Notes to Students
This is an advanced undergraduate survey course in history. Students without prior exposure to American history or American Indian Studies have sometimes faced initial challenges, though dedicated and engaged students from all disciplines have done well in the course. This is also a 4-credit course. Students enrolled through the American Indian Studies Program can take the course for either 3 or 4 credits, though the course is designed for 4 credits of work, and no recalibrations of the requirements will be made.
Course Schedule
Week 1
September 5 Course Goals and Purposes: What is Indian History?
September 7 Native North American before 1492: the Bering Strait vs. Native Oral Traditions
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 1–62; Charles C. Mann, “1491”
Week 2
September 12 The Columbian Encounter, Exchange, and Conquest
September 14 The First Global Empire: Spain in Mexico and North America
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 63–78, 96–108; Crosby, 165–207
Week 3
September 19 New Worlds for All: American Indian Holocaust and Survival
2nd-Half Tour of Campus Indian Landmarks (weather permitting)
September 21 The Iroquois Confederacy and the Making of “the Middle Ground”
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 78–86, 109–119; Dennis, 1–85, 257–271
Week 4
September 26 Indians & Englishmen: New England, Virginia, and the Southeast
September 28 Red, White, and Black: Indians and the Atlantic World
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 86–95, 121–136; Taylor, 118–137, 188–203
Week 5
October 3 Horses, Empires, Warfare: The Indian West before Lewis & Clark
(Short paper due in class)
October 5 After 1701: Realignment and the Imperial “Playoff System”
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 137–180; White, “Winning the West;” Loew, ix-23 http://www.jstor.org/view/00218723/di952393/95p0003d/0
Week 6
October 10 The Imperial Wars of the 18th Century: Revolution and Crisis in Indian Country
October 12 Midterm Exam
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 225–239; Wallace, 111–148
Week 7
October 17 Indians and the Origins of the American Republic
October 19 From Allies to Exiles: the Formation of US Indian Policy
Group A Book Reports, Philip J. Deloria, Playing Indian (1998)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 193–209; Meinig, 78–103; Loew, 24–54
Week 8
October 24 Indian Removal and the Marshall Trilogy: Crisis in Federalism, Crisis in Community
October 26 Territorial Expansion and Native Resistance, to 1860
Group B Book Reports, Lucy Murphy, A Gathering of Rivers (2000)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 209–224; 240–258; Murphy, 101–133; Loew, 54–99
Week 9
October 31 The Indian Wars to 1870
November 2 War, Peace, and Confinement: Treaties and Reservations
Group C Book Reports, Jeffrey Ostler, The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee (2004)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 259–301; Ostler, 1–9, 313–369; Loew, 100–124
Week 10
November 7 Institutions of US Colonialism: Education, Land, and Family
November 9 Resisting Assimilation: Cultural, Religious, and Political Change
Group D Book Reports, Frederick E. Hoxie, Parading Through History (1995)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 335–396; Wilkinson, ix-26
Week 11
November 14 Indians and the Making of 20th-Century American Popular Culture
November 16 The Enduring Challenges of Impoverishment: the Traumatic and Personal Effects of Federal Indian Policy
Guest Lecture: Aaron Bird Bear, UW Indian Retention Office
Group E Book Reports, Noenoe Silva, Aloha Betrayed (2004)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 327–334; Kaplan, 51–91; Wilkinson, 27–86
Week 12
November 21 The Indian New Deal and After: Indian Policy in Crisis & Reform
November 23 Thanksgiving (NO CLASS)
Group F Book Reports, Paige Raibmon, Authentic Indians (2005)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 397–403; Wilkinson, 89–128; Alexie, 1–52
Week 13
November 28 The Roots and Rise of American Indian Activism
November 30 The American Indian Renaissance in Literature, Art, & Education
Group G Book Reports, Paul Chaat Smith and Rovert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane (1996)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 403–425, 438–463; Deloria, vii-77; Wilkinson, 129–173
Week 14
December 5 Environmental and Legal Crises in Indian Country: 1970s and 80s
December 7 A Decade of Achievement: Native North America in the 1990s
Group H Book Reports, Theda Perdue, ed., Sifters: Native American Women’s Lives (2001)
Weekly Readings: Calloway, 464–509, 533–548; Wilkinson, 177–303
Week 15
December 12 Facing the 21st Century: Contemporary Issues and Challenges
December 14 The Contested Nature of American Indian History and Identity
Group I Book Reports, Ian Frazier’s On the Rez (2000) and Alexie’s Response
Weekly Readings: Deloria, 78–100; Alexie, 53–149; Wilkinson, 304–383