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Department: ANTH
Course No: 263W
Credits: 3
Title: Ethnohistory of Native New England
Contact: Kevin McBride
Content Area: CA4 Diversity and Multiculturalism
Diversity: CA4 Non-International
WQ: W
Catalog Copy: 263W. Ethnohistory of Native New England Either semester. Three credits. McBride
Combines archaeological and ethnohistorical data to reconstruct the lifeways of the Native Americans of New England from the prehistoric period to the present.
Course Information:
a. Course description: The Ethnohistory of Native New England will examine the history of Native people in New England with an emphasis on southern New England from the Prehistoric Period (ca. 12,000-400 years ago) through the Historic Period (ca. 1600-2000 A.D.). Course content will be drawn from archaeology, primary written records, oral tradition/history and folklore. The first half of the course will outline the prehistory of New England from the Paleo-Indian through Late Woodland Periods. The second half of the course will focus on Native interaction with and responses to the arrival of the Europeans in the early seventeenth century through the Historic Period and the establishment of reservations.Students can not pass the course without passing the writing component.
b. Course Format: lectures expand on issues in assigned readings, chosen to provide relevant historical and cultural contexts to the weekly topic. Assigned readings complement lectures. Course requirements: Students will take a mid-term and a final exam which will be based on assigned readings, lectures and discussions. Students will submit three 5-page research papers on various topics related to Native prehistory, history and contemporary issues. The exams will count for 50% of the grade (25% each) and the research papers will constitute 50% of the grade (16% each).
c. Major Themes: Peopling of the Americas, History of Hunters and gatherers and Horticulturalists in New England, Contemporary issues in Indian Country (NAGPRA, Federal recognition, Gaming), Ethnohistory, Methods of Reconstructing Native Histories.
Meets Goals of Gen Ed.:
1. Become articulate: This course introduces students to current issues in the prehistory and history of Native New England. Through readings, discussions and research papers students will be asked to form opinions, integrate and analyze archaeological, historical and cultural data, and present their findings orally and in writing. Students will present the results of their final research paper in a formal setting to students who will have an opportunity to provide comments and ask questions.
2. Acquire intellectual breadth and versatility: The process of archaeological interpretation and cultural reconstruction will require students to integrate data and information from a variety of disciplines including Archaeology, Biology, Ecology, History and Geology in archaeology. Students will learn the value of interdisciplinary approaches to reconstructing past lifeways and problem solving.
3. Acquire moral sensitivity: This course will help students empathize with peoples from cultures other than their own, reflect on cultural stereotypes in general and marginalized peoples such as Native Americans and African Americans. Through a comparative and historical approach students can understand how the recent (and sometimes more distant past) affects historically marginalized peoples in contemporary society. Readings, lectures and discussions will inform students of contemporary issues that affect archaeologists in the analysis and interpretation of native American sites including federal recognition, NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) and perspectives of contemporary native peoples.
CA4 Criteria: Emphasize that there are varieties of human experiences thoughts, values, and/or modes of creativity: The course will introduce students to Native American responses to the arrival of Europeans during the contact (ca. 1600-1675) and historic periods (1675-1800). Students will explore strategies of native peoples to retain their beliefs, mortuary ritual, foodways and cultural traditions through selective adoption of specific elements of Euro-American cultural traditions such as Christianity, technology, architecture and subsistence strategies. Through comparative analysis of contemporaneous sites, students will examine differences (and later similarities) in Native American and Euro-American cultural values as expressed in the archaeological and historical records.
W Criteria :
1. Describe how the writing assignments will enable and enhance learning the content of the course. Describe the page requirements of the assignments, and the relative weighting of the “W” component of the course grade: Students are required to submit three 5-page research papers on assigned topics. The content of the research papers will draw from assigned readings, lectures, films and class discussions. In all of the papers, students will e expected to integrate a variety of data and information sources and critically assess the information and how it relates to their research topic/question.
2. Describe the primary modes of writing instruction in the class (e.g. individual conferences, written commentary, formal instruction to the class, and so on): Formal instruction will be given to the class on what a research paper is, the various components and how it should be structured. Individual conferences will be used to help students formulate their research questions, organize data and other information, structure their arguments and present conclusions.
3. Explain how opportunities for revision will be structured into the writing assignments in the course: Students will submit a first draft of each writing assignment for comments and editorial changes by the instructor. Each student will then be required to re-submit the paper for additional comments which will be incorporated into the final draft.