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Michael Horse, Ledger art style of trade |
Exhibiting Native American Cultures:
Points of Contact
(MSTD A460/560, ANTH 460/594, AMST 303)
Dr. Larry J. Zimmerman
(TR, 4:00-5:15 PM)
Cavanaugh Hall 435
Office: 434 Cavanaugh
Telephone: 317-274-2383; Fax: 317-279-5220; E-mail: Please use OnCourse e-mail for the duration of the class. If
you need to contact me at a later time, you may use larzimme@iupui.edu.
Office Hours: (MW 1-3 PM, TR 8-9 AM ) and immediately before and after class; Other hours by appointment. I am available many other times throughout the week, so if you are in CA, feel free to stop in. However, if you are making a special trip, it’s wise to call ahead.
Course Description
This is the first of three courses geared toward
reinstallation of the Native American galleries at the
Objectives
Although the objectives of this course are many, several are key:
1. You should recognize and understand the processes of contact as discussed by Native Americans, anthropologists, historians, and other scholars.
2. You should learn the basic culture history of Native North America from first habitation through the Contact period.
3. You should recognize that contact is on-going for contemporary Native Americans.
3. You should be able to analyze a representation of Native Americans, contextualize it, and assess its validity and utility.
4. If a representation is erroneous or inaccurate, you should be able to develop and execute a course of action to correct or counter it.
5. You should understand the importance of collaboration with Native Americans if you are in a position to develop or utilize representations of their lives and cultures.
Although undergraduates and graduate students have similar readings and schedules, graduate students are expected to perform at a higher level that undergraduates. Graduate students will have several different and more intensive activities than undergraduates. As now planned, this includes a weekly, one-hour, additional session and additional readings, as well as a longer paper.
Course Web Site
The web site that supports this course is located at http://www.iupui.edu/~mstd/exhibit1.
Please look at the site soon. You can link to it from the class pages on the
OnCourse system. On the site you’ll find the class announcements with
shifts in the schedule, a course syllabus with hot links, pages with additional
bibliographic materials, Quick Links pages of annotated web sites in support of
particular class topics, and assorted other materials. The web site is meant to
assist your learning in the class. Use it as much or as little as you choose.
Class Format
This class will use a variety of approaches to help you to learn about, assess, and understand issues surrounding the processes of contact, trade, and accompanying culture change. These include traditional lectures and discussions, a range of videos, and student presentations of readings, projects, and activities. The class format that I expect to use each week is listed in the schedule. I reserve the right to change the approach depending on my assessment of class needs. This is intentionally meant to be a small class, so we have lots of flexibility. This means that the schedule and grading structure are only an outline of my intentions. They will change as circumstances and opportunities warrant.
Grading
You will earn your grade in this class by completing four activities from the five below. Each activity is worth 100 points for 400 total points. Your final grade will be calculated on the accumulated total points according to the following scale:
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375 or above = A+ |
200-224 = C |
Activities: You will do four activities. Each is worth 100 points and will be graded according to the chart above. You must do Activities 1, 2, and 3 below, but may choose from Activities 4 & 5 for your fourth activity.
- Activity 1: You will build an annotated bibliography about one of the following Contact themes to be assigned upon selection of this activity:
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Disease & its impacts |
Intertribal, Pre-Contact trade |
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Warfare before/after Contact |
Other Pre-Columbian Contacts |
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Religious Change |
Shifting alliances & enemies |
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European Trade goods |
Early images of Whites |
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Early images of Indians Contemporary Contact Points |
Representations of Contact Education and Contact |
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Oral tradition vs. written history |
Other topics as developed |
Each item in the bibliography will follow the standards outlined on the class web site in terms of information and layout. Each will have a brief 2-3 sentence description of the source. You will receive 2 points for each item you submit up to 100 points. Points will be based on the mechanical aspects of your submission and on the appropriateness of the source and the quality of your annotation.
- Activity 2: Undergraduates will prepare a 10-15 page research paper on the theme of your annotated bibliography. Graduate students will do a 15-20 page paper. This paper is meant to be a critical analysis of the topic in relation to Native Americans, discussing the key issues that have been and are now being considered by scholars of American Indians, both Native and non-Native. We will discuss details in class; see the web site for additional details. Up to 20 points may be awarded for the mechanical aspects of the paper such as organization, spelling and grammar, and references. Up to 50 points may be awarded for the clarity of your logic, selection of arguments and thesis, and conclusions. Up to 30 points may be awarded for your selection and presentation of examples to support your ideas.
- Activity
3: Collaborative project analyzing American Indian
(including Eskimo/Inuit) materials in the
- Activity 4: An examination of documentaries and movies dealing with issues of Contact. You will be assigned 4 documentaries or movies and write a report and review of each. The reports will contain essential information about production, cast/interviewees, and plot/theme. The review will consist of your assessment of the Contact issues within it. Each report-review will be worth 25 points. Up to 10 points will be assigned for presentation of the production and other technical information, and up to 15 will be assigned for the review. Each report-review will be 2-3 pages in length, but quality, not length, is the key issue.
- Activity 5: Take home final exam. This exam will consist of a choice of 5 out of 7 questions. You will receive the exam before the last class period and turn it in by the end of the scheduled final exam period on (date/time). Each question will be worth 20 points. Up to 5 points will be given for the technical aspects of your paper such as organization, spelling, and grammar. Up to 5 points will be assigned for the nature and logic of your arguments. Up to 10 points will be assigned for your selection and use of examples from class reading materials in support of your arguments.
Graduate Students: Weekly Session with the Instructor
Besides your normal class periods, you are required to have a weekly meeting with Dr. Zimmerman. Meetings will last as long as necessary to cover materials at hand. In the meetings, come prepared to discuss the assigned weekly readings, in-class materials, and issues associated with your paper. Although meetings can be changed by mutual agreement, unexcused absences will be assessed at the same level (i.e., 15 points each) as absences from class meetings (see below).
Possible Deductions based on attendance: See the attendance policy below, but in brief, for each unexcused absence, you will lose 15 points from your earned total.
Required texts: You can find copies at the Jags Bookstore, or you may wish to buy copies online from Amazon or a similar bookseller. They are:
- The
Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures
by W. Richard West.
- Natives
and Newcomers by James Axtell.
- Native
Recommended Books: The following books are recommended, not required. You can order them from many online sources such as Amazon.
Going Native: Indians in the American Cultural
Imagination
by
Ancient
Collecting Native
by Shepard Krech, Barbara A. Hail, and Shepard Krech III (eds.) Smithsonian
Books ISBN: 1560988150
Skull Wars:
Drawing Back Culture: The Makah Struggle for Repatriation
by Ann Tweedie, 2002.
Voices of a Thousand People:
The Makah Cultural and
You will receive additional reading assignments from articles, book chapters and web sites each week. These will be available in the Anthropology Office and/or will be made available online. You will discuss these in your additional sessions with Dr. Zimmerman.
Schedule and Topics
This schedule is considered to be tentative. I reserve the right to make changes in dates or topics based on class needs or opportunities for learning experiences as might arise. You will be given at least a week’s notice if changes affect timing of submissions of graded materials. You will find with each week a topic or topics, the class format, any videos we might be seeing, audios from the Native America Calling (there is intro and break material to get by so be patient!).
Assigned readings are keyed by the words below; additional readings will also be assigned from online sources.
Changing = The Changing
Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures
Native = Native
Week 1 Introduction of the course; Topic: The Concept of Contact Format: Lecture/Discussion
Week 2
Topic: The nature of Native American Diversity:
A brief overview of Native America.
Format: Lecture Readings
Week 3 Topic: The Archaeological Past vs. Oral
Tradition Format: Discussion Video: Who Owns the Past?)
Week 4 Topic:
The first settlement of the
Week 5 Topic: Native to Native Contact Format:
Lecture/Discussion Video: Ancient
Week 6 Topic: Was there contact before
Week 7 Topic: America
at 1491: A year Before Columbus
Week 8 Topic: The First White Men Format:
Lecture/Discussion
Week 9: Topic: Who’s the Savage? Format: Lecture/Discussion
Week 10
Topic: Disease and its impacts. Format:
Lecture/Demonstration;
Week 11 Topic: Changes in Material Culture Format: Eiteljorg
visit
Week 12
Topic: The Sword and the Cross
Week 13
Topic: Indians on Display Format:
Lecture/Discussion Listen: Indian In
the Spotlight: Richard West (Listen in
RealAudio…) Reading:
Changing Chapters 2-4
Week 14 Topic: Representations of Contact in Museums Format: Lecture/Discussion Video: Dances for the New Generation
Week 15 Topic: Scholars of Contact in Native
Take Home Final Due: 16 December, 5:30 PM
Academic Misconduct
All work in the course is conducted in accordance with the University’s academic misconduct policy. Cheating includes dishonesty of any kind with respect to exams or assignments. Plagiarism is the offering of someone else’s work as your own: this includes taking material from books, web pages, or other students, turning in the same or substantially similar work as other students, or failing to properly cite other research. Please consult the University Bulletin’s academic misconduct policy if you have any questions about what constitutes academic dishonesty. If academic misconduct is discovered, you will lose all credit for that Activity.
Attendance Policy
As Woody Allen says, “Eighty percent of success is just showing up!” This class is the same: to do well, you have to be there. Because we only have 15 weeks of class, there is a great deal to accomplish. Also, because the class is small, your absence will be obvious. Fifteen (15) points will be deducted from your point total for each unexcused absence. Excused absences are the usual: documented illness, emergencies, participation in sanctioned university events, extreme weather that would endanger you. If at all possible, please send me an e-mail or phone if you know you won’t be attending. Note well: the one major attendance sin is not to show up when you have a presentation due in class. Better to show up and not have it done than just not to show up.
Other Matters
- Note
Well: For any written assignment you may turn in drafts to me so long
as they are ahead of the due date. At your request, I will quickly read
the draft and make suggestions regarding content, organization, or
writing. You can then take my suggestions and rewrite if you wish. You can
turn drafts in any number of times so long as it is before the due date.
Plan ahead, however, in that if I am deluged by many papers at one time, I
won’t have time to get through them before the due date.
- Contact me as soon as possible if you cannot complete
an assignment on time. E-mail is a good way to do this. I check my email
several times, almost everyday. Please use
- Please do NOT wait until after a deadline to talk to me. Do
NOT postpone talking to me if you are having any difficulty completing an
assignment or if you are having difficulty with the class.
- Late assignments will be penalized a letter grade for every
class they are late if you do not negotiate an extension with me
beforehand or discuss the delay immediately afterward.
- Where appropriate, you may email assignments to me as attachments,
or you can leave assignments in my mailbox in 413 Cavanaugh Hall. In fact,
I prefer e-mailed assignments. However, do not erase
your assignment until you have a response from me that I have received and
can read it.
- It is your responsibility to know when assignments are
scheduled.
- Classroom
courtesies: These should go without saying, but please try to observe
usual classroom courtesies: 1. Pay attention while others are speaking or
giving presentations. You certainly want them to pay attention to you! 2.
If you arrive late, try to be as inconspicuous as possible as you enter.
3. Turn off cells phones before you come to class; they may interfere with
the instructor’s navigation system if you don’t. If you are
awaiting an emergency call (birth, death, etc., or an event of that
level), set your phone to vibrate, then go outside the classroom to answer
it.
Need Special Assistance?
If you have learning problems that might require special accommodation for completion of class assignments, please notify me of these matters within the first two or three class periods. I’ll make every effort to make things work for you. You may wish to contact Adaptive Educational Services (AES), Cavanaugh Hall, Suite 001E , 425 University Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46202–5140, Tel: (317) 274–3241, TDD/TTY: (317) 278–2050, Fax: (317) 278–2051, Email: aes@iupui.edu. Staff there can provide a range of assistance.
Student Advocate Office
Do you have a problem you don't know how to solve?
Is there information you cannot find?
Do you have a question that needs an answer or a problem that is affecting your class attendance?
The Student Advocate Office is here to help! I will answer your questions, direct you to the appropriate departments and people, familiarize you with university policies and procedures, and give you guidance as you look at ways to solve problems and make choices.
The Student Advocate Office is located in UC002 and can be contacted by phone at 278-7594 or email at stuadvoc@iupui.edu. For more information, see the Student Advocate website at: http://www.life.iupui.edu/advocate/
General
Comments
Within reason, I
will do everything I can to facilitate your learning, but I can only do so
much. Ultimately, learning the course material is your responsibility. Please
feel free to contact me if you have concerns or issues, but try to remember
that I can only bend so far without depriving others students of equal
opportunities. My response to
missed classes, exams, or assignments is covered under Other Matters above,
but I understand that family emergencies can be out of the ordinary. However, if
you do ask for special treatment, it will normally come at some additional cost
to you in terms of expected amounts of work.
As well, this
class will study issues that are socially controversial. Expect that! If
something angers you or disturbs you, raise the issue immediately, and
hopefully, in class for discussion. The worst thing to do is to internalize
your anger to the level that it prevents you from learning. If you need help
with this issue, please see me about it.
Home | Syllabus
| Schedule
| Annotated Bibliography
| Papers and Projects
| Video Guides
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