Liberal Studies Committee Mitchell Klett, Chair Recommendations of the Committee

Liberal Studies Committee
Mitchell Klett, Chair
Recommendations of the Committee

November 30, 2010

The Liberal Studies Committee recommends the Senate take action to:

Recommendation 1: Add NAS 212, Michigan/Wisconsin: Tribes, Treaties and Current Issuesto courses meeting Division IV, Foundations of Social Sciences.

Rationale: NAS 212, Michigan/Wisconsin: Tribes, Treaties and Current Issues meet the goalsof Division IV, Foundations of Social Sciences.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to recognize and understand the principles of the scientific method as it applies to the social sciences and the study of the social universe?

Students will conduct research on current issues that are found in their review of tribal news sources. They will engage in analysis of treaties, tribal websites, and other materials that are focused on tribes in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. Students will have to discern ambiguous terms from non-ambiguous terms, and apply certain rules in the process. Finally, they will have to think about the modern day implications of such provisions.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to comprehend commonalities and differences among various social science disciplines?

By utilizing American Indian identity as a basis for a number of issues, the overlap and distinctions between biological, cultural, and legal/political aspects of tribes, treaties and current issues necessitate an interdisciplinary approach to the study of law and policy, language and culture, social justice, and natural resources are all included to some degree in this course.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to demonstrate an understanding of the role of social science theories and perspectives in investigating and explaining social phenomena?

Utilizing an American Indian standpoint will provide the students several opportunities to approach a wide range of social issues from multiple theoretical perspectives. For example a functionalist approach to the issue of American Indian blood-quantum will reveal how it has been used by our society to define Indian-ness, and a conflict perspective may show how contemporary tribes have begun to revitalize their communities, including the reconstruction of their own forms of traditional identity.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to distinguish between knowledge supported by social science scholarship and “common sense” assumptions and similar forms of “conventional wisdom”?

Students are required to utilize materials that have been published by tribes themselves, scholarly journal articles, primary legal documents, and other government documents to inform their analyses and online discussions. They will develop a digital portfolio of materials on the tribes in MI and WI, and will include a bibliography of resources that they find in their research.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to express an understanding of one’s place in society’s culture, history and political and economic systems?

Students in this course will consider their own personal identity in relation to American Indian tribes and individuals. They will see how their identity interfaces with the issues that are presented by tribes located in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Recommendation 2: Add NAS 212, Michigan/Wisconsin: Tribes, Treaties and Current Issues to courses meeting World Cultures Credit.

Rationale: NAS 212, Michigan/Wisconsin: Tribes, Treaties and Current Issues meet the goals for World Cultures.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to comprehend and articulate the distinctive worldview (e.g., values, norms and beliefs) of at least one culture that varies significantly from Anglo-American and Western European cultures?

Students will examine twenty-three federally recognized tribes in Michigan and Wisconsin prior to European contact as well as after. Issues surrounding identity and geography will be included to give students some perspective on tribal peoples and their traditional homelands. Each tribe has a unique culture and each tribe maintains its own uniqueness through both historical and contemporary cultures today.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to understand how culture is expressed in terms of artifacts, artistic accomplishments, technology, customs and/or texts?

Students will form “learning communities” to do group work and report on at least two specific tribes. A focus on regional cultural and social gatherings and events (pow wows, ricing, sugar bush, commemorations of massacres) will contextualize how tribal peoples have persevered as unique and distinct Nations and maintain their unique cultural ways.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to understand and respect social and cultural diversity and complexity in a global context?

Students will engage in the examination of treaties, tribal community structures, and contemporary issues. The treaties remain a significant part of the contemporary legal/political milieu that characterize the relationships between tribes and federal or state governments. Each tribe is unique in its structure and how it interacts with its citizens and the surrounding environment.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to understand how factors such as racial, ethnic, gender and class differences affect how groups within a culture relate to each other?

American Indian identity will serve as a basis for the examination of treaties, tribes, and contemporary issues throughout this course. Students will consider the biological, cultural, and legal/political dimensions of identity, and how these aspects played out in the treaty making process, the definition of tribes, and in a wide range of contemporary issues that tribal governments and individuals face in today’s world.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to articulate the important achievements and contributions of other cultures in such areas as the arts, literature, philosophy, ethical values, religion and science?

Through readings, films, class discussions and written assignments, students will be gain an understanding of how the very land that the states of Michigan and Wisconsin exist on are part of Indian Country. The cultural contributions of American Indian peoples include alternative forms of government that were considered in the formation of the United States.

Recommendation 3: Add NAS 342:Indigenous Environmental Movements to Division IV, Foundations of Social Science

Rationale: NAS 342:Indigenous Environmental Movementsmeets the goals in Division IV, Foundations of Social Science

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to recognize and understand the principles of the scientific method as it applies to the social sciences and the study of the social universe?

NAS 342 utilizes fieldwork studies conducted by Indigenous and non-Indigenous social theorists alike. Most of this fieldwork has been completed using non-industrial Indigenous societies and some with commercial societies. Students come to an understanding of how the scientific method can be applied even to areas of such seeming unpredictability as human societal interaction throughout history.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to comprehend commonalities and differences among various social science disciplines?

The course integrates the disciplines of political science, anthropology, history, human ecology and eco-cultural geography while also treating each discipline as a separate tool for studying Indigenous environmental movements. The course not only integrates the social science disciplines so they complement each other in the common goal of furthering student understanding of the subject, but the course also uses the fields’ distinct differences to shed light on the course subject area from multiple sociological facets.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to demonstrate an understanding of the role of social science theories and perspectives in investigating and explaining social phenomena?

One of the essential tenets of NAS 342 is the examination of the writings of social scientists theorizing on such social phenomena as Indigenous definitions and perceptions of community, cultural variations in the human-land relationship, the political and economic structure of colonialism, the ramifications and buttresses of economic globalization, and the cultural and ecological impact of commercial development on small-scale societies. Students gain an overview of the history of social sciences’ interactions with Indigenous peoples

Students will use quantitative and qualitative social analysis to discuss the development and globalization on Indigenous communities by examination of writings by social theorists, such as John Bodley, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, and John Mohawk, who question these “common sense” assumptions.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to express an understanding of one’s place in society’s culture, history and political and economic systems?

Students study various theories on society, history, and today’s political and economic systems all of which help them develop their own idea of where they stand in society. Examining Indigenous perspectives on the history of colonialism, colonialism’s overt and subvert intents and purposes, and the impacts of today’s commercial development and economic globalization allows students to hone their abilities in understanding the roles they can play in the global economic systems of today. Students express their thoughts on the above subjects is expected as part of the course through class discussions as well as a requisite research paper and public presentation.

Recommendation 4: Add NAS 342:Indigenous Environmental Movements to courses meeting World Cultures Credit.

Rationale: NAS 342: Indigenous Environmental Movementsmeets the goals for courses meeting World Cultures Credit.

The course examines, in specific, case studies of Indigenous environmental concerns and the Indigenous societies involved – this includes a study of cultural values and beliefs. Additionally, we study the means by which Euro-colonial values have and continue to conflict with Indigenous land values. In both instances, this study provides students with the tools for understanding and articulating the distinctive worldviews of the cultures analyzed. Finally, students are also required to complete a research project (paper and presentation) describing an Indigenous environmental issue and why it is a concern for the Indigenous culture involved. This assists students in coming to a more in-depth understanding of the culture they choose to research.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to understand how culture is expressed in terms of artifacts, artistic accomplishments, technology, customs and/or texts?

Students learn cultural expressions of various Indigenous societies studied by examining the cultural context for environmental actions taken by each Indigenous society studied. Another means students learn of the distinctive cultural expressions of the Indigenous societies studied is by learning what cultural practices related to living on the land were and are targeted by Euro-colonial powers for elimination. Finally, in an end of course survey of the similarities shared by Indigenous groups and oppressed land-based sub-cultures within European/Euro-American society, students learn to identify general key cultural elements shared by cultures living on land desired for its resources by Euro-industrial society.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to understand and respect social and cultural diversity and complexity in a global context?

As NAS 342 is global in scope, students come to an understanding of several key aspects about the global nature of Indigenous peoples:

1. Indigenous societies exist today and are present on all continents (with the exception of Antarctica).

2. Indigenous peoples share many similarities, particularly when it comes to experiences with colonialism and cultural values about the earth.

3. Although Indigenous peoples share many traits as mentioned above, Indigenous societies around the world have evolved different modes of living, customs, and cultural expressions that make each society a distinctive cultural group.

Further, in studying how Euro-colonial powers attempted (and continue to attempt) to assimilate Indigenous peoples into an “acceptable” version of Euro-culture, students learn that different cultures resist assimilation and, if they are to be assimilated, force is often used. This demonstrates that not everyone wants to be European, that, in fact, many societies greatly prefer their own way of life. This helps students to contextualize European/Euro-American culture and give due credence to the validity of the non-Euro-based cultures that flourish around the globe.

How does this course enhance the students’ ability to understand how factors such as racial, ethnic, gender and class differences affect how groups within a culture relate to each other?

Students examine the manner in which groups within Indigenous cultures respond to the environmental issues in question. The dynamics of Indigenous government allying with the colonial power can include a discussion of economic class differences and the degrees of cultural assimilation that produce such conflicts.

Students examine aspects of land-based knowledge, earth-centered paradigms, land tenure systems, spiritually-based land values and various modes of economic production found in the Indigenous societies studied as well as the cultural expressions of all of the above found in the environmental activism of the various Indigenous societies studied. This examination brings students to an understanding of the diversity found in the forms of scientific knowledge, economic and political systems, cultural philosophies, and other similar cultural elements of the world’s human cultures

Summary

Division / Course / Title / Professor / World Cultures / Lab / LSC Approval
Division IV / NAS 212 / MI & WI Tribes, Treaties & Current Issues / Martin Reinhardt / Yes / No / Yes
Division IV / NAS 342 / Indigenous Environmental Issues / Aimée Cree Dunn / Yes / No / Yes

Cost

There is no cost attached to the passage of these recommendations.

Implementation of the Recommendations

All recommendations would be effective for the next academic year.