Native American and Indigenous Studies

Chair: N.B. Duthu

Professors C. G. Calloway (History and NAIS), N. B. Duthu (NAIS), M. B. Taylor (NAIS and English);  Assistant Professor: M. Hooley (NAIS), Senior Lecturer, J. L. Powell (Hood Museum), M. Muru-Lanning; Lecturer, M. B. Ferguson; Faculty Fellow/Research Associates D. Lucero; E. Ornelas; Fellows: K. James, A. Joseph.

To view Native American Studies courses, click here. 

Native American and Indigenous Studies offers students the opportunity to pursue a program of study that will increase their understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political aspirations of Indigenous peoples in the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), Canada and other regions of the world. Students explore the intersection of Indigenous and European histories and systems of knowledge. Students will learn essential information about Indigenous ways of living, organizing societies, and understanding the world, and about their relations with Euro-American colonizing powers. They will learn to appreciate how the value systems of different cultures function and to understand the dynamics of cultural change. They will examine contact and conflict between Indigenous and non-Indigenous  societies and will appreciate the unique status of Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada, and other regions of the world.

Students who elect to take a major or minor in Native American and Indigenous Studies will take a number of core courses and will explore interdisciplinary approaches within the field. Courses in our department are open to all students. Indeed, the mission of the Department of Native American and Indigenous Studies depends upon attracting a varied student body who bring their own perspectives and build upon their individual experiences and understandings.

Major Requirements

Students pursue their own interests and develop an individual program, but they also take certain required courses, to ensure that they acquire a common body of substantive knowledge, gain exposure to crucial ways of critical thinking, and explore several essential approaches to Native American and Indigenous Studies.

In order to qualify for a major in Native American and Indigenous Studies, a student must take ten courses, to be selected as follows:

One Prerequisite:

NAIS 8: Perspectives in Native American Studies

One Class in Literature and Languages:

NAIS 30.xx, NAIS 31, NAIS 32, NAIS 34, NAIS 35, NAIS 40, NAIS 41, or NAIS 47

One Class in History and Culture:

NAIS 14, NAIS 15, NAIS 16, NAIS 18, NAIS 19, NAIS 20, NAIS 42, NAIS 51, or NAIS 55

One Class in Governance and Sovereignty:

NAIS 25, NAIS 36, NAIS 44, or NAIS 50

A Culminating Experience course:

NAIS 80 or 81 or NAIS 86/87 (thesis)

Five Electives:

NAIS 11, NAIS 13, NAIS 14, NAIS 15, NAIS 18, NAIS 19, NAIS 20, NAIS 22, NAIS 25, NAIS 28

NAIS 30, NAIS 31, NAIS 32, NAIS 34, NAIS 35, NAIS 36, NAIS 38, NAIS 39, NAIS 40, NAIS 41, NAIS 42, NAIS 45, NAIS 47, , NAIS 50, NAIS 51, NAIS 55,  or NAIS 56

NAIS 85 (permission required)

NAIS 86 (permission required)

NAIS 87 (see Honors Program)

All required courses and most electives are usually offered on an annual basis. However, students should consult the Department for current course offerings and special course offerings for each term.

NAIS Modifed Major
We allow students to earn a modified major in NAIS (i.e. NAIS modified with another department or program's courses). We follow the basic model of the college in requiring 6 NAIS courses coupled with 4 courses from another other department or program that, all combined, represent a coherent whole. Furthermore, there will always be one course prerequisite (NAIS 8) in addition to the 6 required courses.

Students must submit a written statement to the chair of NAIS and to the Registrar describing their rational for the modified major as a unified, coherent whole, and detailing the relevance of each planned course to the overall program of study.

Students should also consult the college's general guidelines and procedures for modified majors:

http://dartmouth.smartcatalogiq.com/en/current/orc/Regulations/Undergraduate-Study/Requirements-for-the-
Degree-of-Bachelor-of-Arts/Modified-Major