The Minor in American Indian Studies

Course Requirements for the Minor: 21 units

The following courses, or their approved transfer equivalents, are required of all candidates for this minor.

Minor Core: 9 units

3 courses required:

SUBJ NUM	Title	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
AIST 170	Introduction to American Indian/US Native American Studies	3.0	FS	GE
Introduction to the field of American Indian/U.S. Native American Studies. Primarily analyzes contemporary issues and initiatives, providing some background for present-day conditions. Focused study on American Indian sovereignty, debates on racial/ethnic designations, indigeneity, and the complexities of California tribal systems. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (000375)
AIST 410	Contemporary North American Indian Issues and Identities	3.0	FA
Prerequisite: AIST 170. This course provides an in-depth exploration of current issues in contemporary American Indian communities, and focuses on relevance to local and regional tribes in Northern California. Topics might include ecology; traditional culture and linguistic revitalization; gender and sexuality; social and cultural movements; health and wellness; and education. 3 hours lecture. (021915)
MCGS 155	Introduction to Multicultural and Gender Studies	3.0	FS	GE
An introduction to the concepts, terminology, and issues in multicultural and gender studies, including exploration of America's multicultural history, gender as an element of culture, and contemporary issues in the field. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (002602)

Arts and Humanities: 3 units

1 course selected from:

SUBJ NUM	Title	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
AIST 203	Visual Sovereignty: American Indian Film	3.0	SP
This is an introduction course to American Indian and Indigenous film. We will center visual sovereignty and fourth world cinema by highlighting American Indian and Indigenous autonomy over representation. This course examines a range of cinematic genres such as documentaries, features, shorts, television, and independent films. Going beyond boundaries, this course looks at a global sampling of Indigenous films and genres. Through deep analysis of these genres, we investigate meaningful histories, contemporary responses to issues, debunking stereotypes, and moving toward finding the power within representing oneself and their community. This course critically examines how American Indian and Indigenous peoples use films as furthering projects of decolonization and where students can become informed about the articulations of aesthetic activism and accurate portrayals of lived realities. 3 hours lecture. (022187)
AIST 230	The American Indian	3.0	FA	GE USD
This course is also offered as HIST 230. A history of the Indian in North America, development of Indian culture, Indian-white relations, the disruption of the Indian way of life, wars, assimilation, and Indian culture in a Caucasian world. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (000382)
AIST 252	American Indian Literature	3.0	FS	GE USD
This course is also offered as ENGL 252. Study of the oral and written literature of the American Indian and of related historical and critical materials. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (000377)
ARTH 475W	American Indian Art (W)	3.0	INQ	W
Investigation of the traditional and contemporary arts and cultures of the Amerindian and Eskimo of the continental United States, Canada, and Alaska. Six major culture areas will be examined: the Arctic, Pacific Northwest, California, the Southwest, and Eastern Woodlands, and the florescent cultures of the Plains and Intermontane. Such problems as a definition of Indian Art, transoceanic contact, acculturation, and the moral and ethical questions posed by Indian Rights will be considered. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. (000852)
PHIL 336	American Indian Environmental Philosophies	3.0	FS	GE USD
An exploration of traditional and contemporary American Indian thought regarding people in relationship to the human and nonhuman worlds, with focus on land ethic, animal ethics, sustainability. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (020644)

Social Sciences: 3 units

1 course selected from:

SUBJ NUM	Title	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
AIST 261	Peoples and Cultures of Native North America	3.0	FA	GE USD
This course is also offered as ANTH 261. Survey of Native North America with an emphasis on U.S. indigenous peoples. Diverse traditional cultures, rituals, languages, interrelationships, and economic and social institutions are examined as informed by archaeological and ethnographic data, in addition to native perspectives. Culture continuity, adaptation, and change in a post-contact period are featured. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (000383)
AIST 362W	California Indians (W)	3.0	INQ	USD W
This course is also offered as ANTH 362W. Native peoples of California: their origin, prehistory, languages, and pre-contact cultural practices, such as subsistence, settlement, socio-political organization, and ceremony, with the local area highlighted. Interactions with Europeans are also discussed. Emphasis is placed on the archaeological and ethnographic records. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved Writing Course. This is an approved US Diversity course. (000519)
AIST 365	American Indian Storytelling/Oral Narrative	3.0	SP	GE
This course critically examines American Indian/Native American/Alaska Native/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples storytelling through an Indigenous theoretical lens. The course intentionally situates studies that place Native people in present tense while honoring our ancestors that walked before us and preparing for future generations. The course builds on oral traditions in storytelling and requires students to reflect on their own relationship with stories to understand and analyze major issues in diverse communities. Native issues regarding survivance, women, gender, and sexuality are woven into the fiber of the course content. This course requires students to participate in oral and written storytelling that honors ancestors and demonstrates scholarly work through a public storytelling presentation. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (022181)
AIST 425	American Indian Sovereignty and U.S. Federal Law	3.0	SP
Prerequisite: AIST 170 or instructor permission. This course explores the concept of inherent sovereignty, traces the development of U.S. Federal Indian Law through landmark cases, and analyze the Federal-Tribal relationship today - especially within the state of California. Topics may include settler colonialism, Citizenship/(Dis)Enrollment & Recognition; Land-Allotment, Reorganization, Tribal Property, Land Management, Land Use Rights and SEQA; Gaming; Cultural Sovereignty; and Gender and Sexuality. This course is a combination of lecture, film screenings, discussion, research, writing, and engagement with the community. Students are expected to attend and participate actively in class. 3 hours lecture. (021994)

Senior Experience: 6 units

2 courses required:

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
MCGS 389	Informed Activism and Internship		1.0 -3.0	FS
A seminar designed to complement the 120-hour fieldwork portion of your service/advocacy/activism internship in the area of multicultural, gender, and/or sexuality studies. Learn and practice the kinds of thinking, researching, and skill building that enhances any service and activism work you may choose to do in the future, as well as what you are engaged in during your internship. In order to pass this course you must receive a review of at least "satisfactory" from your fieldwork supervisor. No more than 3 units may be counted toward the major or minor. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 15.0 units. (005647)

MCGS 389 must be taken for 3 units. This is a letter-graded internship.

SUBJ NUM	Title	Sustainable	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
MCGS 495W	Senior Seminar in Multicultural and Gender Studies (W)		3.0	SP	GW W
Prerequisite: GE Written Communication (A2) requirement. Exploration of theory and extended research in the field of multicultural and gender studies leading to a public presentation. This course is designed as the capstone experience for multicultural and gender studies majors and minors. 3 hours seminar. This is an approved Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement course; a grade of C- or higher certifies writing proficiency for majors. This is an approved Writing Course. (002610)

Geography Majors

Geography majors may complete up to 3 units (one course) through an approved substitution. Speak to an AIST advisor to request substitution of one of the following courses, depending on the semester focus of the course.

SUBJ NUM	Title	Units	Semester Offered	Course Flags
GEOG 304	Sustainability Issues	3.0	FS	GE
Geographic analysis of humanity's interaction with the environment. Examines natural and human systems, resources, population, energy, and pollution. Develops an appreciation of the beauty, balance, and complexity of natural systems and human success in attaining harmony with them. Enhances awareness and perception of each individual's role in and with the environment. 3 hours lecture. This is an approved General Education course. (003873)
GEOG 405	Conservation, Restoration, and Stewardship	3.0	FA
Prerequisites: GEOG 101W, GEOG 102, and GEOG 390W or equivalents. Recommended: GEOG 343, GEOG 444, GEOG 445, or PSSC 330. An analysis of the complex interactions between humans, plants, and animals in the restoration process. Includes the use of maps and other graphic material as well as reading, lecture, and discussion. Emphasis on how human activities can affect the distribution and abundance of various plant and animal species in both negative and positive ways. Restoration work on the Butte Creek Ecological Reserves and other similar sites provide a focus for class projects and discussion. 3 hours lecture. (003930)
GEOG 426	Water Resource Policy and Planning	3.0	SP
Prerequisites: GEOG 101W or SCED 101 or equivalents. Recommended: GEOG 304, GEOG 343. Analysis of local, regional, national, and international water resource projects, distributions, and characteristics. 3 hours seminar. (003948)
GEOG 427	Environmental Impact Analysis	3.0	SP
Recommend: GEOG 320. Study of the legal antecedents to California environmental impact legislation; analysis of environmental review procedures, environmental research, preparation and evaluation of EIRs, and conditional negative declarations. 3 hours discussion. (003949)
GEOG 445	Pyrogeography	3.0	SP
Prerequisites: GEOG 101W; AGRI 331, BIOL 350W, BIOL 414, GEOG 343, GEOG 405S, or PSSC 330. Pyrogeography is a comprehensive study of the physical and cultural parameters of fire. Topics covered include the spacial and temporal relationships of fire as an integral landscape process with an emphasis on the maintenance of North American ecosystems; the interpretation of the cultural uses of fire by indigenous communities as well as the historic and contemporary implications of fire management and policies; and the ecological implications of fire on biotic and abiotic systems. 3 hours discussion. (020415)