NAIS 30.13 History of the Indigenous Peoples of the Southwest
In this course, we will study the Indigenous Southwest as a historical object made possible by multiple, intersecting sociocultural, economic and political projects. Rather than conceptualizing Indigenous and colonial history as separate phenomena, we will consider them as relational elements in an unequal process of creating the Southwest, as we know it today. We will begin by identifying common historical narratives of the Indigenous Southwest before moving chronologically through the processes of Spanish conquest to present-day issues of Native American self-determination. Along the way, we will focus on specific Indigenous groups - including the Apache, Navajo, Pascua Yaqui, Hopi, and Tohono O'odham - and their experiences of colonialism's many forms. Themes to be highlighted include the major differences between Spanish, Mexican, and American colonial practices; sociocultural, economic, and political transformations of Native communities; gender dynamics, and ethnogenesis.