Fall 2017  |  ANTH 3601 Section 001: Archaeology and Native Americans (35165)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Meets With:
ANTH 5601 Section 001
AMIN 3602 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
09/05/2017 - 12/13/2017
Fri 11:15AM - 01:10PM
UMTC, West Bank
Anderson Hall 230
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Historical, political, legal, and ethical dimensions of the relationship of American archaeology to American Indian people. Case studies of how representational narratives about Native people are created through archaeology; responses by Native communities; and the frameworks for collaborative and equitable archaeological practice. Professional ethics in archaeology/heritage studies in American contexts.
Class Notes:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?kathayes+ANTH3601+Fall2017
Class Description:
American archaeologists and Native Americans have long had a difficult and conflicted relationship. Archaeology and anthropology, as disciplines, have their roots in colonial practices: establishing control through naming, defining, and categorizing Native cultures, framing them within the epistemology of Western scientific practice. To do so, however, archaeologists have, from a Native perspective, desecrated sacred grounds and robbed Native communities of their past. A Western scientific framework has often presumed objectivity and value-free construction of knowledge; but today we acknowledge that scientific practice is always undertaken within a social and political environment, that impacts the interpretations scientists make. Indigenous archaeology is an approach with increasing acceptance, which recognizes multiple historical epistemologies, and places the archaeologist's voice as one among many in producing historical knowledge. How is history constructed differently through these frameworks? What is the impact for contemporary Native communities? And what is at stake if we reshape archaeological practice in this way? In this course we will consider examples of archaeological investigations which take Native American cultures as their objective focus; the foundations of a scientific epistemology and philosophy which underwrite that focus; the reaction and resistance of Native communities to this kind of archaeology, and the epistemological differences informing their positions; and examples of how archaeology might integrate both Native and scientific epistemological stances, for a more ethically equitable approach to the past. The course will consist of both lecture and open discussion of the cases. These are politically contentious issues, and the goal of this course is to (a) foster an open dialogue, and (b) introduce students to scholarly and literary resources which bring opposing viewpoints into conversation with one another.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/35165/1179
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
28 August 2013

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