INDG – Indigenous Studies
INDG 100
Introduction to Indigenous Studies
3 Credits Weekly (3-0-0)
Indigenous Studies 100 seeks to introduce students to various aspects of Indigenous Studies: historical, sociological, oral, and literary. Students develop critical thinking and writing skills applicable across the university curriculum through intensive reading and analysis of specifically Indigenous writers and various texts/documents related to Indigenous Studies. Students analyze works by Indigenous writers from various literary genres, genres which may include literary, historical, anthropological, and sociological texts. Additional cultural opportunities are built into the course, such as opportunities to meet with elders, participate in ceremonies, and so on. These opportunities expand the contextualization of the texts studied and give students a unique sense of the connection between community, its texts and traditions, its history, and its current context. This course is offered as a dual-credit course with Amiskwaciy Academy.
INDG 200
Indigenous Studies 200
3 Credits Weekly (3-0-0)
Indigenous Studies 200 provides a detailed examination into the historical and contemporary issues and circumstances of Indigenous Peoples. Students will critically explore their positioning in relation to Indigenous-Canadian history with a focus on policy, legislation, governance, Treaties and authenticity. The course will be grounded through an Indigenous lens, providing Indigenous narratives on identity, Indigenous feminism, sustainability, and the dismantling of common myths and stereotypes surrounding Indigenous peoples. These narratives will deepen the student’s understanding of the impacts of historical policy, highlight Indigenous ways of being and resilience. It is recommended to complete INDG 100 prior to taking this course.
INDG 260
Introduction to Treaty
3 Credits
In this course, students will engage in learning ABOUT treaties and learn what living WITH treaty is and can be. We will focus on the aboutness: What are the treaties? Where are the treaties? How were treaties agreed upon? We will later shift to a contemporary consciousness of the WITHness of treaty that gives insight to the true spirit and intent of the treaty making process in what is now known as Canada. Students will end the course with a practical understanding of what treaties are (named and numbered). This course is relational and focuses on land-centered pedagogies. Students should be prepared for some of your coursework or classroom time to be spent outdoors.
Prerequisites: A minimum grade of C- in one of INDG 100, ANTH 250, or INTD 250.
INDG 300
Reconciling Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Contemporary Social Contexts
3 Credits
This course examines Indigenous ways of knowing, worldviews and perspectives, knowledge systems, lived experience and relationships in historical and contemporary social, cultural, political, economic and ecological contexts in Canada. Learners will enhance personal and professional intercultural competency and capacity via active engagement in processes of reconciliation.
INDG 320
Indian Residential Schools
3 Credits
This course is designed for participants to intersect with the legacy of the Canadian Indian Residential School experiences. Participants will explore foundational knowledge these experiences have marked for not only First Nations, Métis and Inuit children but the long-lasting and intergenerational effects and affects. Students will consider the implications for language, culture and ceremonial loss, and understand the significance of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. This course helps participants unpack the legacy of fractured familial roles and current revitalization efforts and/or sustainability toward healthy relationships. This course is relational and focuses on land-centered pedagogies. Students should be prepared for some of your coursework or classroom time to be spent outdoors.
Prerequisites: A minimum grade of C- in ANTH 250 or INTD 250.
INDG 330
Métis Culture, Heritage, and History in Canada
3 Credits
This seminar course is designed for participants to intersect with Métis foundational knowledge/s through story, land-based exploration and/or arts-based practice. Participants are encouraged to nurture their processes of curiosity and learning within thematic-based exploration of topics such as Métis identity, Métis worldview, celebrations, contemporary Métis/Michif today, and Métis identity fraud. Students will come to understand the origins of Canada's Métis and explore and examine the complicated historical impacts of Canada's attempts of colonial erasure on a unique distinct national identity. This course is relational and focuses on land-centered pedagogies. Students should be prepared for some of your coursework or classroom time to be spent outdoors.
Prerequisites: A minimum grade of C- in ANTH 250 or INTD 250.
INDG 350
Critical Indigenous Methodologies
3 Credits
This course will introduce students to Critical Indigenous Studies. Understanding Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing will be the foundation of all theoretical and research methodologies that are examined.
Prerequisites: A minimum C- in ANTH 340.
INDG 355
Indigenous Land-Based Learning
3 Credits
This course provides students with opportunities to learn on and with the land through distinctly Indigenous relational ways of knowing, doing, and being. Students will read critical Indigenous theories on topics such as (but not limited to): Indigenous political thought and the politics of (mis)recognition, Indigenous women and sovereignty, grass-roots Indigenous movements such as LandBack and Idle No More, storytelling, kinship/relationality, and governance. Students will spend time on the land in a land-based camp where they will partake in seasonal harvesting, preserving, and usage of various plants, medicines, and/or tanning of hides or preparing of porcupine quills.
Prerequisites: A minimum grade of C- in ANTH 340.
INDG 398
Independent Study
3 Credits
This course permits an intermediate-level student to work with an instructor to explore a specific topic in Indigenous Studies through research or directed reading in primary and secondary sources. The student plans, executes and reports the results of their independent research or study project under the direction of a faculty supervisor. To be granted enrolment in the course, the student must have made prior arrangements with a faculty member willing to supervise the student’s project. Department Consent.
INDG 460
Treaty Relationships
3 Credits
In this course, we move past treaties from just a legal agreement and shift to a contemporary consciousness of treaty from an Indigenous perspective. Students will explore various stories that give light to the true spirit and intent of treaty-making in what is now known as Canada. The class will be exposed to artifacts and languages of treaty that breathe spirit into our understanding of treaty agreements. This course will end with further wonderings of what a treaty can be if we all put intention into our existing relationships (human and more-than-human). This course is relational and focuses on land-centered pedagogies. Students should be prepared for some of the coursework or classroom time to be spent outdoors.
Prerequisites: A minimum grade of C- in INDG 260.
INDG 485
Beaded Sexualities
3 Credits
In this course, students will engage with critical Indigenous, ecofeminist, queer, IndigiQueer, research-creation, and anticolonial theories through ongoing discussion and beading practice. Students will complete several smaller and one larger beaded project that speaks to Indigenous sexual and reproductive justice.
Prerequisites: Minimum grades of C- in any 300-level INDG or ANTH course, and one of ANTH 250 or INTD 250.
INDG 497
Topics in Indigenous Studies
3 Credits
This is a seminar course for students interested in advanced study of specialized areas of Indigenous studies. This course is devoted to the detailed study of a single theme - particularly themes of contemporary relevance or debate - and it rotates among the subfields in Indigenous Studies.
Prerequisites: Minimum grades of C- in any 300-level INDG course and one of ANTH 250 or INTD 250.
INDG 498
Advanced Independent Study
3 Credits
This course permits a senior-level student to work with an instructor to explore a specific topic in Indigenous Studies through research or directed reading in primary and secondary sources. The student plans, executes and reports the results of their independent research or study project under the direction of a faculty supervisor. To be granted enrolment in the course, the student must have made prior arrangements with a faculty member willing to supervise the student’s project. Department Consent.