Native American & Indigenous Studies

Native American and Indigenous Studies is an interdisciplinary program grounded in a partnership between students, faculty, staff and local communities, with a global Indigenous focus centered in local and regional contexts. We empower students to recognize, honor and value Indigenous ways of knowing, so that they can work in collaboration with Indigenous communities and all their relations.

Minor

22 semester hours

Core courses in Native American and Indigenous studies
6 semester hours

Students must take the following core courses that introduce the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies and explore key approaches and issues within it.

• NAIS 111: Interconnections (1)
• NAIS 112: Interconnections (1)
• NAIS 250: Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies (4)

Northwest Language and Worldview
8 semester hours

Students select two from among these three courses exploring Indigenous language and worldviews of the Pacific Northwest. Equivalent coursework in other Indigenous languages may be substituted for SOLU 101 and/or 102.

• SOLU 101: Southern Lushootseed: Introduction to Oral Language (4)
• SOLU 102: Southern Lushootseed: Oral Language Dialogue (4)
• ANTH 190/192: Practicing Anthropology: Makah Culture Past and Present (4)

Electives
8 semester hours

Students select 8 semester hours from the following courses that study Indigenous topics and perspectives. These courses must each be from a different department or program.

• ANTH 190/192: Practicing Anthropology: Makah Culture Past and Present (4)
  (if not used to satisfy the Northwest Language and Worldview requirement above)
• ANTH 225: Past Cultures of Washington State (2)
• ANTH 330: Cultures and People of Native North America (4)
• ENGL 288: Special Topics in English (4)
  (when the topic is ‘Indigenous Literature of North America’)
• HIST 348: Lewis and Clark: History and Memory (4)
• HIST 351: History of Western and Pacific Northwestern U.S. (4)
• IHON 258: Self, Culture & Society (4)
  (when the topic is ‘Colonization in the Americas’)
• NAIS 230: Indigenous Creation Narratives of the Americas (4)
• NORD 286 Sámi Culture in Global Indigenous Contexts (4)
• RELI 227: Christian Theology (4)
  (when the topic is ‘Native American Theologies’)
• RELI 236: Native American Religious Traditions (4)
• RELI 393: Topics in Comparative Religion (4)
  (when the topic is ‘Native Traditions of the Pacific Northwest’)