Indigenous Epistemologies and their Disruptions

Ethnic Studies 289                                                                               Ross Frank

Fall 2007                                                                                                Office:   SSB 227

Thursday 10:00AM – 12:50PM, SSB 253                                             Phone:   534-6646

                                                                                                               rfrank@weber.ucsd.edu

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WebCT Link for ETHN 289 Indigenous Epistemologies

Course Description

This seminar will explore indigenous epistemologies, their onological dimensions, the methodological issues surrounding related research, and their significance in relation to the production of knowledge and the histories, presents, and futures of Native American and Indigenous people.  The purpose of this course is to help equip participants to investigate the larger empirical and theoretical implications of alternative systems of knowledge that emerge from global indigeneity.

Successful consideration of the dimensions, complexities, and significance of this topic depend on the engaged, imaginative, and generous, participation in all seminar activities.  Students are encouraged to bring their interests, knowledge, experience, and other interpretive materials to the seminar.  Accordingly, course evaluation will be based upon the nature and quality of your participation, in oral and written forms equally.  Weekly assignments will involve weekly presentations and leading class discussions, as well as short written analyses that will be shared with the other seminar participants.

 


Texts ordered at Groundwork Bookstore (unless otherwise noted):

Battiste, Marie Ann, and James Youngblood Henderson. Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage : A Global Challenge. Saskatoon, Sask.: Purich Pub., 2000.

Carpenter, Roger M. The Renewed, the Destroyed, and the Remade : The Three Thought Worlds of the Huron and the Iroquois, 1609-1650. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2004.

Connolly Miskwish, Michael. Kumeyaay: A History Textbook. El Cajon: Sycuan Press, 2007.  (I have copies.)

Mbembe, J. A. On the Postcolony. Studies on the History of Society and Culture ; 41. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Available at:  http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt8g5024tt

Mignolo, Walter. Local Histories/Global Designs : Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges, and Border Thinking. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Niezen, Ronald. The Origins of Indigenism : Human Rights and the Politics of Identity. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2003. Available at:  http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt1j49q07g

Reynolds, Henry. Aboriginal Sovereignty : Reflections on Race, State, and Nation. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1996.

Sioui, Georges E., and trans. Jane Brierley. Huron-Wendat: The Heritage of the Circle. Vancouver, East Lansing: UBC Press, Michigan State University Press, 1999.

Vizenor, Gerald Robert. Fugitive Poses : Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence. The Abraham Lincoln Lecture Series. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Warrior, Robert Allen. The People and the Word : Reading Native Nonfiction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Wilson, Angela Cavender, Eli Taylor, and Carolynn I. Schommer. Remember This! : Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor Narratives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.

 


Syllabus

 

Readings are marked in the syllabus according to the following:

*readings from the Ethnic Studies Graduate Reading List

G         available at Groundwork Bookstore.

R         on reserve online at:  http:/reserves.ucsd.edu

W        available on course website:  http://weber.ucsd.edu/~rfrank

Remote access by proxy instructions: 
http://www-no.ucsd.edu/documentation/squid/

 

NOTE:  Please do the readings prior to each weekÕs meeting.


WEEK ONE:  September 27    Definitions, Indigeneity in the Academy, Methodology

 

Definitions

Battiste, Marie Ann, and James Youngblood Henderson. Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage : A Global Challenge. Saskatoon, Sask.: Purich Pub., 2000, Part I:  The Lodge of the Indigenous Knowledge in Modern Thought: 21-56.  G

Barnhard, Ray, and Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley. "Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing." Anthropology and Education Quarterly 36.1 (2005): 8-23. http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/pdfplus/10.1525/aeq.2005.36.1.008   R

Optional reading:

Ermine, Willie. "Aboriginal Epistemology."  First Nations Education in Canada : The Circle Unfolds. Eds. Marie Ann Battiste and Jean Barman. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995. 101-12.   R

Couture, Joseph. "Native Studies and the Academy."  Indigenous Knowledges in Global Contexts : Multiple Readings of Our World. Eds. Budd L. Hall, Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg and George J. Sefa Dei. Toronto ; Buffalo: OISE/UT, in association with University of Toronto Press, 2000. 157-67.

 

Indigeneity in the Academy

Weaver, Jace. "More Light Than Heat: The Current State of Native American Studies." American Indian Quarterly 31.2 (2007): 233-55. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v031/31.2weaver.pdf  R

Deloria, Philip Joseph. "American Indians, American Studies, and the ASA." American Quarterly 55.4 (2003): 669-80.  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/v055/55.4deloria.pdf   R

Warrior, Robert Allen. "A Room of OneÕs Own at the ASA:  An Indigenous Provocation." American Quarterly 55.4 (2003): 68-687.  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/v055/55.4warrior.pdf   R

Wilson, Angela Cavender. "Reclaiming Our Humanity:  Decolonization And Recovery of Indigenous Knowledge."  Indigenizing the Academy : Transforming Scholarship and Empowering Communities. Eds. Devon A. Mihesuah and Angela Cavender Wilson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. 69-87.   R

Optional readings:

Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth, et al. "First Panel: Reclaiming American Indian Studies." Wicazo Sa Review 20.1 (2005): 169-77.  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v020/20.1cook-lynn01.pdf   R

Medicine, Beatrice, and Sue-Ellen Jacobs. Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining Medicine, Beatrice. "Higher Education:  A New Arena for Native Americans."  Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining "Native" : Selected Writings. Eds. Beatrice Medicine and Sue-Ellen Jacobs. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. 83-90.   R

Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth. "Postcolonial Scholarship Defames the Naive Voice: Academic Genocide."  Anti-Indianism in Modern America : A Voice from Tatekeya's Earth. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. 196-210.   R

 

Methodology

Committee, Prepared by the Social Science Talk Force of the U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy. "Principles for the Conduct of Research in the Arctic." http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/IKS/conduct.html   W

Porsanger, Jelana. "An Essay About Indigenous Methodology." NORDLIT 15 (2004): 105-20.   W

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies : Research and Indigenous Peoples. London, New York, Dunedin: New York: Zed Books ;, University of Otago Press, 107-141.   R

Wood, Houston. "Three Competing Research Perspectives for Oceania." The Contemporary Pacific 18.1 (2006): 33-55.  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/contemporary_pacific/v018/18.1wood.pdf   R


WEEK TWO:  October 4    Alternative Histories I

Hau'ofa, Epeli, et al. . ŅOur Sea of Islands.Ó  A New Oceania : Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands. Suva, Fiji: School of Social and Economic Development The University of the South Pacific in association with Beake House, 1993, 2-16.   R

Choose one book:

Carpenter, Roger M. The Renewed, the Destroyed, and the Remade : The Three Thought Worlds of the Huron and the Iroquois, 1609-1650. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2004.  G

Sioui, Georges E., and trans. Jane Brierley. Huron-Wendat: The Heritage of the Circle. Vancouver, East Lansing: UBC Press, Michigan State University Press, 1999.  G
Binnema review and Sioui response.   W

Connolly Miskwish, Michael. Kumeyaay: A History Textbook. El Cajon: Sycuan Press, 2007.  (RF)

Silva, Noenoe K. Aloha Betrayed : Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004.  G

Optional reading:

Ackerman, Lillian A. "Gender Equality in a Contemporary Indian Community."  Many Faces of Gender : Roles and Relationships through Time in Indigenous Northern Communities. Eds. Lisa Frink, Rita S. Shepard and Gregory A. Reinhardt. Calgary, Boulder: University of Calgary Press, University Press of Colorado, 2002. 27-36.   R

 


WEEK THREE:  October 11    Alternative Histories II

Low, Denise. "Composite Indigenous Genre: Cheyenne Ledger Art as Literature." SAIL 18.2 (2006): 83-104.  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/studies_in_american_indian_literatures/v018/18.2low.pdf   R
Images for this article
Also, check out the Plains Indian Ledger Art Dgital Publishing Project at http://plainsledgerart.org

Choose one book:

Vizenor, Gerald Robert. Fugitive Poses : Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.  G

Warrior, Robert Allen. The People and the Word : Reading Native Nonfiction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.  G

Wilson, Angela Cavender, Eli Taylor, and Carolynn I. Schommer. Remember This! : Dakota Decolonization and the Eli Taylor Narratives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.  G

Optional reading:

Narokobi, Bernard. Concept of Ownership in Melanesia. Goroka, Papua New Guinea: Melanesian Institute, 1988.


 

WEEK FOUR:  October 18    Case Study:  The Midˇwiwin of the Ojibwe

Wallace, Anthony F. C. "New Religions among the Deleware, 1600-1900." Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 12.1 (1956): 1-21. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-4801%28195621%2912%3A1%3C1%3ANRATDA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7   R

Harkin, Michael Eugene. "Revitalization as History and Theory."  Reassessing Revitalization Movements : Perspectives from North America and the Pacific Islands. Ed. Michael Eugene Harkin. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. xv-xxxvi.   R

Hoffman, Walter James. The Midˇwiwin, Or "Grand Medicine Society" Of the Ojibway. Annual Report of the Bae. Vol. 7. Washington,: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1891. 149-196.   Please download the Mide scroll illustration discussed after page 164. R

Angel, Michael. Preserving the Sacred : Historical Perspectives on the Ojibwa Midewiwin. Manitoba Studies in Native History ; 13. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2002, 46-76.  W

Dewdney, Selwyn H., and Glenbow-Alberta Institute. The Sacred Scrolls of the Southern Ojibway. Toronto ; Buffalo: Published for the Glenbow-Alberta Institute by University of Toronto Press, 1975, 57-80.   R

Gross, Lawrence William. "Cultural Sovereignty and Native American Hermeneutics in the Interpretation of the Sacred Stories of the Anishinaabe." Wicazo Sa Review 18.2 (2003): 127-34.  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v018/18.2gross.html   R

Hickerson, Harold. "Notes on the Post-Contact Origin of the Midewiwin." Ethnohistory 9.4 (1962): 404-23. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0014-1801%28196223%299%3A4%3C404%3ANOTPOO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9   R

---. "The Sociohistorical Significance of Two Chippewa Ceremonials." American Anthroplogist 65.1 (1963): 67-85. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-7294%28196302%292%3A65%3A1%3C67%3ATSSOTC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0   R

Kohl, J. G. Kitchi-Gami : Life among the Lake Superior Ojibway. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1985, 137-166, 210-220.   R

Konkle, Maureen. "Traditionary History in Ojibwe Writing."  Writing Indian Nations : Native Intellectuals and the Politics of Historiography, 1827-1863. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. 160-223.   R

Warren, William W. History of the Ojibway People. Reprint ed. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1984, 67-112.   R

WEEK FIVE:  October 25    Colonial, Neo-colonial, and Indigenous Legal Frameworks

Riding In, James. "The United States V. Yellow Sun Et. Al. (the Pawnee People):  A Case Study of Institutional and Societal Racism and U.S. Justice in Nebraska from 1850s to 1870s." Wicazo Sa Review 17.1 (2002): 13-41. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v017/17.1in.pdf   R

Wilkins, David E., and K. Tsianina Lomawaima. ""Such an Outrage": The Doctrine of Plenary Power."  Uneven Ground : American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law. Eds. David E. Wilkins and K. Tsianina Lomawaima. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. 98-116.   R

Behrendt, Larissa. "Cultural Conflict in Colonial Legal Systems: An Australian Perspective."  Intercultural Dispute Resolution in Aboriginal Contexts. Eds. Catherine Bell and David Kahane. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 2004. 116-27.   R

Amet, The Hon. Justice Arnold. "Severing the Umbilical Cord from the Common Law."  Custom at the Crossroads. Eds. Jonathan Aleck and Jackson Rannells. Papua New Guinea: Faculty of Law University of Papua New Guinea, 1995. 62-67.   R

Nonggorr, John. "The Development of An "Indigenous Jurisprudence" In Papua New Guinea: The Past Record and Future Prospects."  Custom at the Crossroads. Eds. Jonathan Aleck and Jackson Rannells. Papua New Guinea: Faculty of Law University of Papua New Guinea, 1995. 68-83.   R

Yazzie, Chief Justice Robert "Navajo Peacemaking and Intercultural Dispute Resolution."  Intercultural Dispute Resolution in Aboriginal Contexts. Eds. Catherine Bell and David Kahane. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia Press, 2004. 107-15.   R

Rohrer, Judy. ""Got Race?" The Production of Haole and the Distortion of Indigeneity in the Rice Decision." The Contemporary Pacific 18.1 (2006): 1-31. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/contemporary_pacific/v018/18.1rohrer.pdf   R

Lemont, Eric D. "Overcoming the Politics of Reform: The Story of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Constitutional Convention."  American Indian Constitutional Reform and the Rebuilding of Native Nations. Ed. Eric D. Lemont.  Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2006. 287-332.   R


WEEK SIX and SEVEN:  November 1 & 8    Sovereignty (and its discontent)

Mbembe, J. A. " Provisional Notes on the Postcolony" Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 62. 1 (1992): 3-37.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0001-9720%281992%2962%3A1%3C3%3APNOTP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N (ADDED - due to fires)

Mbembe, J. A. On the Postcolony. Studies on the History of Society and Culture; 41. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt8g5024tt   W, G (DELETE - due to fires)

Alfred, Taiaiake. "Sovereignty."  Sovereignty Matters : Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination. Ed. Joanne Barker. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. 33-50.   R

Simpson, Audra. "Paths Towards a Mohawk Nation: Narratives of Citizenship and Nationhood in Kahnawake."  Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Eds. Duncan Ivison, Paul Patton and Will Sanders. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.   R

Reynolds, Henry. Aboriginal Sovereignty : Reflections on Race, State, and Nation. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1996.  G

Biolsi, Thomas. "Imagined Geographies: Sovereignty, Indigenous Space, and American Indian Struggle." American Ethnologist 32.2 (2005): 239-59. http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/pdfplus/10.1525/ae.2005.32.2.239 R

Holm, Tom, J. Diane Pearson, and Ben Chavez. "Peoplehood: A Model for the Extension of Sovereignty in American Indian Studies." Wicazo Sa Review 18.1 (2003): 7-23. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v018/18.1holm.pdf R (OPTIONAL - due to fires)

 


WEEK EIGHT:  November 15    The Global Indigenous

Mignolo, Walter. Local Histories/Global Designs : Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges, and Border Thinking.  Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.  G

"Zapatistas!  Documents of the New Mexican Revolution." http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/Zapatistas/ .  Beginning through Chapter 2.   R

Chidi, Oguamanamm. "Localizing Intellectual Property in the Globalization Epoch: The Integration of Indigenous Knowledge." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 11.2 (2004): 135-69.   W

Dei, George J. Sefa. "African Development: The Relevance and Implications of 'Indigenousness'."  Indigenous Knowledges in Global Contexts : Multiple Readings of Our World. Eds. Budd L. Hall, Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg and George J. Sefa Dei. Toronto ; Buffalo: OISE/UT, University of Toronto Press, 2000. 70-86.   R

Morphy, Howard. "Elite Art for Cultural Elites:  Adding Value to Indigenous Arts."  Indigenous Cultures in an Interconnected World. Eds. Graeme Ward and Claire Smith. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2000. 129-43.   R

 

WEEK NINE:  November 29    Global Indigenous Rights

Niezen, Ronald. The Origins of Indigenism : Human Rights and the Politics of Identity. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2003. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt1j49q07g   W, G

Radcliffe, Sarah A., Nina Laurie, and Robert Andolina. "The Transnationalization of Gender and Reimagining Andean Indigenous Development." SIGNS 29.2 (2003): 387-416. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/SIGNS/journal/issues/v29n2/290202/290202.web.pdf   R

Smith, Claire, Heather Burke, and Graeme K. Ward. "Globalisation and Indigenous Peoples: Threat or Empowerment?"  Indigenous Cultures in an Interconnected World. Eds. Graeme Ward and Claire Smith. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2000. 1-24.   R

Battiste, Marie Ann, and James Youngblood Henderson. Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage : A Global Challenge. Saskatoon, Sask.: Purich Pub., 2000, Part II Towards and Understanding of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Their Knowledge and Heritage: 57-168.  G

 

 

WEEK TEN:  December 6    Indigenous Possibilities

Alfred, Gerald R. Wasa*Se : Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2005.   G

Grande, Sandy. "Better Red Than Dead."  Red Pedagogy : Native American Social and Political Thought. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2004. 159-77.   R

Smith, Grahm Hingangaroa. "Protecting and Respecting Indigenous Knowledge."  Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. Ed. Marie Ann Battiste. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000. 209-24.   R

UN Human Rights Council  - Resolution 2006/2.  ŅWorking group of the Commission on Human Rights to elaborate a draft declaration in accordance with paragraph 5 of the General Assembly resolution 49/214 of 23 December, 1994Ó.   W

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai Te Rina. "Kaupapa Maori Research."  Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. Ed. Marie Ann Battiste. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000. 225-47.   R

Walker, Polly O. "Decolonizing Conflict Resolution:  Addressing the Ontological Violence of Westernization." American Indian Quarterly 28.3&4 (2004): 527-49. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_indian_quarterly/v028/28.3walker.pdf   R

Williams, Robert A., Jr. "Encounters on the Frontiers of International Human Rights Law: Redefining the Terms of Indigenous Peoples' Survival in the World." Duke Law Journal 1990.4 (1990): 660-704. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0012-7086%28199009%292%3A1990%3A4%3C660%3AEOTFOI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4   R

Henderson, James (S‡kˇj) Youngblood. "Postcolonial Ledger Drawing: Legal Reform."  Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision. Ed. Marie Ann Battiste. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000. 161-71.   R

Optional readings:

Battiste, Marie Ann, and James Youngblood Henderson. Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage : A Global Challenge. Saskatoon, Sask.: Purich Pub., 2000, Part IV The Need for Legal and Policy Reforms to Protect Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: 239-270.  G

Wilson, Angela Cavender, and Michael Yellow Bird. For Indigenous Eyes Only : A Decolonization Handbook. Santa Fe: School of American Research, 2005.