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Academics Academic Experience > Majors, Programs, and Departments > Native American/Indigenous Studies (NAIS)

Native American/Indigenous Studies (NAIS)

Native American/Indigenous Studies is an interdisciplinary minor that aims to introduce students to topics related to Native Americans and Indigenous peoples from around the world, with special focus on settler colonialism, Indigenous history, contemporary communities, and Indigenous ways of thinking. Minors take courses from a variety of disciplines including history, anthropology, art history, science, ethnic studies, among others. In addition, students may take multidisciplinary courses that draw from a variety of disciplines. The multidisciplinary nature of this course of study allows students to select this minor regardless of major, while also giving students many options when considering career choices or graduate study.

Learning Outcomes

NAIS Science Minor Goals and Objectives

  • Understand the history and cultural production of Indigenous peoples in the United States and globally, within both multiracial American and transnational contexts.
  • Effectively evaluate how race is socially constructed, how racism has been embedded in social structures and institutions and how these structures affect people’s everyday lives.
  • Understand how race intersects with gender, sexualities, and socio-economic class in the world.
  • Understand ethical implications of research, creative projects, or community-based projects in Native American and Indigenous communities.

NAIS Minor Student Learning Outcomes

SLO1: Students will demonstrate knowledge of Indigenous histories and cultures.
SLO2: Students show comprehension of commonly used methodologies in NAIS.
SLO3: Students are able to analyze evidence.
SLO5: Students will be able to communicate effectively in written form.
SLO6: Students will be able to communicate effectively in oral form.

Requirements for the Minor

A minor in Native American/Indigenous Studies consists of six courses. If possible, at least half of
these courses should be taken at Scripps, although exceptions may be made when specific
courses required for the minor are only available off campus.

  • ANTH127 SC Settler Colonialism or ASAM 094 PZ Community Health
  • Five additional Native American/ Indigenous Studies approved courses selected in
    consultation with the student’s minor adviser.

Three study abroad courses maximum can be used as elective courses. Selection of study abroad courses for inclusion in the NAIS minor should be done in consultation with a minor adviser.

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COURSES IN NAIS MINOR

Course descriptions

  • ANTH012 PZ – Native Americans and Environment
  • ANTH103 PZ – Museums: Behind the Glass
  • ANTH114 SC – Science, Medicine, and Colonialism
  • ANTH127 SC – Settler Colonialism
  • ANTH142 SC – Culture and Politics in Latin America
  • ANTH160 PZ – Native American Womenʻs Art
  • AMST128 SC – Race, Space, and Difference
  • ARHI137 PZ – Trad/Trans Native N American Art
  • ARHI138 PZ – Native American Art Collections Research
  • ARHI139 PZ – Seminar Topics: Native American Art History
  • ARHI160 SC – Art & the British Empire
  • ARHI162 SC – Art of the Pacific Voyage
  • ASAM094 PZ – Community Health
  • ASAM126 HM – Intro to Pacific Islander History
  • CHST066 CH – Fandango as a Decolonial Tool
  • EA050 PZ – Native American Environmental Law
  • EA060 PZ – Indigenous Land Use Planning
  • EA090 PZ – Protecting the Sacred
  • ENGL056 PO – Contemporary Native American Lit
  • ENGL058 PO – Native American Women Writers
  • ENGL181 PZ – Decolonial Futures
  • FGSS184 SC – Intersectional Feminist Theories
  • GWS162 PO – Decolonizing Gen/Sex Asian/Am
  • HIST031 CH – Colonial Latin America
  • HIST114 CM – Race/Racism in Colonial Americas
  • HIST120 CM – Native American History
  • HIST331 CGU – Environment and Indigeneity
  • HIST342 CGU- Studies in Global History: Pacific Borderlands
  • MS194 PZ – Media Arts for Social Justice
  • MUS121 SC – Music of the Spirits
  • SOC074 PZ – Unsettling Settler Histories, Making Space for Indigenous Histories
  • SOC075 PZ – American Settler Colonialism
  • SOC078 PZ – Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Colonization, Identity, Resistance
  • SPAN139 SC – Plants, Magic, and Race
  • SPAN183 SC – Intercultural & Bilingualism in Andes

Current courses offered can be found tagged under NAIS in the course search catalog.