The Indigenous, in Us All

Integrated Seminar ISEM 101 Section 3

Spring Semester 2014

Schedule of Topics, Exams, Important Dates,
and the Reading Assignments

A.  January 16 - 30 - Methodology: The Approach and Perspective (5 sessions)

• Topics:

  • Who are we going to be visiting: the Indigenous (an image and word definition);

  • How are we to Approach our Hosts, the Tin Shed and Sweat House;

  • Our Destination: What is an Educated Person? and a Review of the seminar Pilgrimage Edicts (Seminar Learning Outcomes and Activities, Grading Rubrics, and Seminar Skills);

  • The Methodology of "Huckleberrying" and "Eye Juggling"(ol) and Application and Interpretive Exercise: "Burnt Face" (ol);  

  • A Brief History of Euro-American Contact: the Coeur d'Alene and the Crow (ol).

• Becoming a Member of a Family and First Assignment

• Your First Reflective Write

• Discussion of the Common Read, Tomatoland. Discussion Questions  and  Essay Question  on Tuesday the 4th of Feb.

• Readings:  

  • Eye Juggling: a Seminar Methodology    pp. 1-9 and 11-26 (begin immediately - to discuss on the 23rd and 28th)

  • Stories That Make the World  - "Preface" and "Introduction" pp. xiii - 37, "Burnt Face" pp. 108-122 on the 28th ("Eye Juggle" this story text)

  • Landscape Traveled by Coyote and Crane - "Forward" and "Introduction" pp. ix - 22, "Winds of Change" pp. 50-108 on the 30th (Schitsu'umsh Contact History)

  • World of the Crow Indians - "Preface" pp. xv-xix, "Historical Sketch" pp. 8-39   (Apsáalooke History)

• Support Materials:

  • Lecture Outlines - Eye Juggling, Burnt Face, Contact History

• Web Text and Video Options:

• Overview of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe Lifelong Learning Online Module (Coeur d'Alene Tribe 2002)

• Story of "Mish Man" - a 10 year old Warm Springs young man

• What's In a Name?

• To access streaming video, for a free version, .

•  To access printable PDF files,

B.  The Indigenous Communities:  Apsáalooke (Crow) and Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene)    The Indigenous

1. February 4 - 13 - First Peoples Creating and Preparing the World for the Coming of the Human Peoples: Embedding the Landscape with the "Gifts" and Mi'yep - the "Bones."   An over-view of the Big Picture.   QUESTIONS: What is the ultimate nature and fabric of reality?  What are our quintessential goals in life, and means to achieve those goals?   (4 sessions)

• Topics:

  • "Heart Knowledge" and the Amo’tqen/Akbaatatdía or the Creator; First Peoples/Animal Peoples: Coyote, Salmon, Crane, Rabbit and Jack Rabbit, Chief Child of the Yellow Root, and "Preparing the world of the coming of Human Peoples"; Monsters are overcome and transformed, bringing forth the Mountains, Rivers and Lakes, all embedded with "gifts" of Camas and Deer, of Mi'yep or "Teachings" and of the Ontological Principles or "bones" – Ashammaléaxia or Unity, Unshat-qn Equality, Snq-hepi-wes or Spiritual Transcendence, Suumesh/Baaxpée or Life-force, Ammaakée or the Ethic of Sharing, and Isáahkawuattee or Ethic of Competition; Human People's Goal in Life and the Means to Realize that Goal (issues of responsibility, varied paths and a way of life); Walking many paths in our life and avoiding the "mutually exclusive" through the "medicine wheel/wagon wheel." (ol)

• Readings:  (all primary - pace yourself but complete ASAP to be able to engage in seminar discussions)

  • Landscape . . . - "Preparing the World" pp. 109-151 and "Teachings" pp. 182-186; "Coyote and the Rock Monster" (EJ) 

  • Stories  . . .  - "The Text" pp. 39-139

  • World . . . - "As Driftwood Lodges" pp. 3 -7, The Wagon Wheel" pp. 150-176

  • Salmon Always Goes Up River (EJ) and   Sedna (EJ),   and   Medicine Wheel

• Support Materials (some material referenced in class presentations by instructor):

  • Indigenous Ontological Principles and Teachings (summary synthesis of textbook materials) (pp. 1-10)

  • Karora and the Dreamtime (EJ) and Aboriginal Ceremony

  • Dogon Seed, Plato's Cave, Humanity Mirrors the Cosmos, Nimíipuu Landscape, and Inuit Art and Ritual

  • Lecture Outline

• Video Options:

  • The Living Stone (32 min., this 1958 National Film Board of Canada; YouTube).  These two classic films nicely illustrate Indigenous epistemology, and their underlying "bones."   Balinese Wayang Shadow Puppets (8 min., clip from Three Worlds of Bali), and  Crow Sun Dance (22 min., a 1989 taping of key segments of the Dance).   Coeur d'Alene Tribe Lifelong Learning Online Module  (Coeur d'Alene Tribe 2002) Web L3 Modules

2. February 20 - March 4 -  Perpetuating the Gifts: How Human Peoples assist in Sustaining the World (Oral Traditions and Acts of Storytelling and Ritual)   QUESTION: How to reality created and perpetuated? (4 sessions)

• Topics:

  • Techniques of Storytelling; Orality and Literacy; Power in Words; Purposes of the Traditions and Coyote Re-considered: Integrative, Educate, Entertain, Creative/Perpetuate, but not Explanatory;  Aligning the "bones," experiencing the hierophany, and "talking to and swirling with the Coyote." (ol)

• Readings:    (all primary - pace yourself but complete ASAP to be able to engage in seminar discussions)

  • Landscape . . . . "Sharing the Gifts" pp. 187-204  and "Coyote" and "Chief Child of the Yellow Root" pp. 117-151 (review)

  • Stories . . . .  - "The Texture" pp. 141-167 and "The Context" pp. 169-216

  • Muskrat Man (EJ)  and  Salmon Always Goes Up River (revisit in light of this discussion)

  • Dine Creation and Speaking the World into Being (EJ)

  • Eye Juggling:  Spiritual Symbols    pp. 9-10

• Support Materials (some materials referenced in class presentations by instructor):

  • Indigenous Ontological Principles and Teachings  (pp. 11-13)

  • Narrative Bibliography

  • Deictics and Muskrat

  • The Vital Act is the Act of Participation

  • Lecture Outline

•  Video Options:

  • Contemporary texts and storytellings from the Coeur d'Alene and Nez Perce Lifelong Learning Online.  For texts and further discussion of the oral traditions along with many "great stories" in the Coeur d'Alene Tribe Lifelong Learning Online Module (Coeur d'Alene Tribe 2002) Web L3 Module.

3. March 6 - 13 - Acquiring the Gifts: Rites of Passage - Acquiring the Mi'yep and Suumesh  QUESTIONS: What is a "healthy person" and how do we become one?   How are our self-identities formed and meaningfully transformed through our life stages?   What is the process by which the "individual" is integrated within the larger fabric of his or her society and ecology?  How are social groups solidified and made strong? (3 sessions)

• Topics:

  • Initiation rites and rites of passage, and the effect on the "individual" and the "collective."  The means to "discover" the mi'yep, to acquire the suumesh/baaxpée, and of being attentive to the "bones"?  Applying the Humanities and Social Sciences to an understanding of rites of passage. (ol)

• Readings:    (all primary - pace yourself but complete ASAP to be able to engage in seminar discussions)

  • Stories . . . .  - "Orphan Quest" pp. 66-71

  • Landscape . . . . - "Puberty Ritual" and "The Memorial Give Away"  pp. 31-36 and 240-251

  • World . . . . - "Acquisition of Xapáaliia - Fasting and Sundance" pp.77-125

  • Rites of Passage and Diagram

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Disciplines 

• Support Materials (some materials referenced in class presentations by instructor):

• Indigenous Ontological Principles and Teachings  (p. 10)

• Crow Fasting, Crow Vision, Crow Sundance, and Medicine Wheel

• Aboriginal Rites of Passage

• Pilgrimage (summary outlines)

• Lecture Outline

• Video Options:

  • Weyewa Identity (EJ - 17 min., notes on Weyewa Identity),  Dogon Death (15 min.), Huichol Pilgrimage (EJ - 33 min., notes on Huichol Pilgrimage) are part of David Maybury-Lewis' Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World series (PBS 1992).  Maybury-Lewis was a former professor of anthropology from Harvard University.   Crow Sundance (EJ - 22 min.).    Kinaalda: A Navajo Rite of Passage (EJ - 56 min. Film allows viewers access to one of the oldest and most sacred of all Navajo ceremonies.  It also illustrates the complexity of living in two worlds. Film by Lena Carr).

4.  March 25 - April 8 - Sharing the Gifts: Relations with the Spirit Peoples  QUESTION: What is the nature of and our relationship with the Divine, and how can it be applied to our lives?     (4 sessions)      (check-in reflective write)

• Topics:

  • Suumesh and Baaxpée: Its context and nature;  How and in what ways is it applied: Pow Wow (song, dance and regalia), Sweat House, Jump Dance and the Spirit Dance, Health, Healing and the Medicine Man; Efficacy- how does it work; Death, Wake and Memorial Give Away, and Preparing the Camp.    Experiencing the hierophany and "To run and swirl with the Coyote."   (ol)     (reflective write)

• Readings:     (all primary - pace yourself but complete ASAP to be able to engage in seminar discussions)

  • Landscape . . . . - "The Shamans" pp. 45-49, "Fasting, Songs and Suumesh" pp. 176-186, "The Powwow Ceremony" 211-220, "Songs of Healing and Prayer" pp. 220-240, "It's Home" pp. 257-268

  • World . . . . - "Medicine" pp. 59-76, "Application of Xapáaliia" pp. 126-149

  • A Healing Journey

• Support Materials (some materials referenced in class presentations by instructor):

• Indigenous Ontological Principles and Teachings (pp. 11 - 14)

• Crow Fasting, Crow Vision, Crow Sundance, Medicine Wheel

• Hopi Ceremonialism: Katcinas and Kiva Symbolism     Hopi Ceremonialism: Snake-Antelope Ceremony

• Dine Landscape Dry Paintings and Healing

• Northwest Coast Ceremonial Arts

• Lecture Outline

• Videos:

  • A Curing Ceremony and N/um Tchai: Medicine Dance (EJ - 8 min. and 20 min., these two short films by John Marshall illustrate key elements of !Kung San ceremonial life).  Billy Yellow (EJ - 18 min., on Navajo healing ceremony; notes on Billy Yellow), Huichol Healing (EJ - 17 min.) are from David Maybury-Lewis' 1992 Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World PBS series.)    Pow Wow pages in the Web L3 modules: Coeur d'Alene Tribe Lifelong Learning Online Module (Coeur d'Alene Tribe 2002) and Selected L3 Video on Powwow and Song. 

5.  April 10 - 22 -  Sharing the Gifts: Relations with the Animal, Fish and Plant Peoples (Seasonal Round and Ecological Relations)  QUESTION: What is our relationship with the "natural" world?  (4 sessions) 

• Topics:

  • Living by the "consent" of other kinsmen; Digging the Camas, Fishing the Salmon, Gathering the Huckleberries, Hunting the Deer, Collecting the Cedar and Tule Reeds, and the Associated Ceremonials.  Spring: subsistence (gathering and roots), intertribal relations (language, trade and warfare) — Summer: subsistence (fishing and salmon, and buffalo); home territory and travel with horse; clothing, housing and tules, and canoes; religion (vision quest, shamans and healing) — Fall and Winter: subsistence (animals and hunting); social organization (villages, marriage, band leaders, peace and war leaders, and councils; arts, stick game and entertainment; storytelling Creation Stories and the Oral Traditions, e.g., the Coyote Cycle from Celilo Falls to the Heart of the Monster. The "Original Affluent Society" and American Affluence; The "Walls" and "Tower" of Jericho and the Abrahamic Creation Story  (ol)

• Readings:    (all primary - pace yourself but complete ASAP to be able to engage in seminar discussions)

  • Landscape . . .  - "Since Time Immemorial" pp. 25-42 (review), "Receiving the Gifts"  pp. 152-176, and "Plant and Animal Rituals" pp. 204-211 

  • Original Affluent Society,   Nimíipuu Seasonal Round, and  Schitsu'umsh Landscape, 

  • Jericho and Domestication and  American Affluence 

• Support Materials (some materials referenced in class presentations by instructor):

  •  Aboriginal Ecology,    Tipi Photo Gallery; printable enlargements of Crow Style Tipi and Blackfoot Style Tipi

  •  the Abrahamic Creation Story (EJ)

  • Lecture Outline

• Video Options: 

• The !Kung San: Traditional Life (26 min., This John Marshall 1987 video depicts traditional Ju/'hoan life by using vignettes from longer films in the !Kung San series. Footage selected shows tool-making technology, hunting and gathering, social life and children at play, and gives the viewer a feel for the vastness and beauty of the Nyae Nyae region of the Kalahari Desert).  Rites of Passage (14 min., on !Kung boys first wildebeest kill and "marking" ceremony.)  Makuna Consent (EJ - 23 min., notes on Makuna Consent) and Gabra Finn (EJ - 15 min., notes on Gabra Finn) are part of the Millennium series.  Coeur d'Alene Tribe Lifelong Learning Online Module (Coeur d'Alene Tribe 2002, Web L3 Modules).   Nanook of the North (79 min. YouTube) this Robert Flaherty 1920 classic of one family's seasonal round, wonderfully depicts the indigenous knowledge needed to survive in a frozen desert.

6. April 24 - May 8 -  Sharing the Gifts: Relations with the Human Peoples (the Family)  QUESTIONS:  How are we to relate to a perfect stranger?   What defines "family"?  What defines a "rich person"?  What is "love" and why do we "hate"?  (5 sessions)  (reflective write 2nd discussion)

• Topics:

  • Family, marriage, kinship, gender, leadership, power, "individualism," and the objectification of the species.  Intertribal Relations; Chiefs and Kinsmen: headmen, bands, family, gender, elders, and giveaways;  roles of women; our capacities for "love" and "hate" and warfare.    (ol)

• Readings:    (all primary - pace yourself but complete ASAP to be able to engage in seminar discussions)

  • Landscape . . . . - "Friend and Foe" pp. 22-25, "Bands and Families" and "The Chiefs" and 42-45, "Home Territories, Families and the Seasonal Round" pp. 168-172, and "Give It To Them" pp. 251-256

  • World . . . .  - "Clan Uncle and Aunt" pp. 40-57 and Crow Matrilineal Kinship  "Four Brothers" (EJ)

  • Descent Systems,    Coeur d'Alene Bilateral Kinship,    Loves (based on C.S. Lewis),   American Individualism,   Women's Roles,   and   Hatred and Warfare

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Disciplines  

• Support Materials:

  • Lecture Outline

• Your Final Reflective Write    and   Ahókaash

• Video Options:

  • Gifts (3 min., considers the power of gift giving), Weyewa Stone (EJ - 21 min., notes on Weyewa Stone), Gabra Stranger (EJ - 23 min., notes on Gabra Strange), Wodaabe Love (EJ - 17 min., notes on Wodaabe Love), and Beatrice (EJ - 13 min., followers the life of a Navajo woman), are all part of the Millennium series.   Preparing for Battle (EJ - 16 min., clip from Dead Birds 1964) and Beach Party (EJ - 18 min., from Apocalypse Now 1978).

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Important Dates relative to the Learning Activities:

• January 21 - Tomatoland Discussion

• January 23 - First Reflective Write Due

• February 4 - Tomatoland Essay due (e-mail file to instructor)

• February 4 - Results of First Family Meeting due - (a family head person is to e-mail the results to the instructor)

• February 17 - Food Court of the Commons at 5:00 to 6:30   Review Session prior to exam #1 -  Early Warning Grades also Posted.

• February 18 - First Exam (Learning Activity A)  In-class essay exam.  An evening review session will be held prior to the exam.  Study Guide (topics include: A and B1)

• February 25 -What is Black History Month? Civil Rights & Black History in the Northwest at 6:00 pm in the University of Idaho Law School Courtroom (just west of the Library and Agricultural Science buildings).

• March 4 - Title of your individual story to be re-told during the Oral Recitation is DUE (Learning Activity A - Exam #2)    Submit as hard-copy in class or email to me.

• March 17 - Midterm Grades Posted

• March 27 - Library Visit with Diane Prorak (in room 212A of the Library; bring your laptops)

• March 27 - Presentation by Chad Hamill, Northern Arizona University, author of Songs of Power and Prayer in the Columbia Plateau,  in the Crest Room of the Commons

• March 28 and 29 - Sapatq'ayn Cinema: UI's Native American Film Festival at 7 pm, Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, 508 South Main Street in downtown Moscow, Free and open to all.   On the 28th Language Healers (40 min).   Presentations/discussion with Indigenous linguists/teachers Dr. Neyooxet Greymorning, University of Montana, and Phil Cash Cash, University of Arizona. Reception to follow.  On the 29th “The Making of Tim'néepe,” documentary film by Patricia Keith on Nez Perce language teacher/UI Masters graduate Angel Sobotta’s staging of the Nez Perce creation story in the Nez Perce language, Nimipuutimt. Language consultants, directors, cast and crew will talk about this experience.

• March 31 - Farmworker Awareness Week and a follow-up for our Common Read, keynote address by Gerardo Reyes, from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, at 7:00 pm in the SUB Ballroom.    You might remember that Reyes and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers were a central topic of Tomatoland.    This will be great opportunity for a critical follow-up for you, learning further on the conditions of migrant workers and an update on initiatives addressing their situation and “our most alluring fruit.”  Gerardo Reyes’ talk with be preceded by music by Mariachi Huenachi.   Sponsored by CAMP and the Office of Diversity and Human Rights.  The event is free and open to all.

• April 1 - Participatory Project Proposal Due (Learning Activity C),  if not before

• April 8 - Study Session prior to 2nd exam - Food court of the Commons - 5:00 to 7:00

• April 9 - 16 - Second Exam (Learning Activity A)  In-the-Round-Oral-Recitation.  Schedule time and place agreeable with family members and instructor between these dates.  An evening review session will be held prior to this exam period.  Study Guide (topics include: B2 - B4, and share your "remembered" story)

• April 19 and 20 - Tutxinmepu Powwow  Memorial Gym  - Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday afternoon.

• May 8 - Family Participatory Project Due Date  by 4:00 pm (Learning Activity C),   if not before

• Course Evaluation is due by end of semester

• May 13 - Final Exam Due (by 4:00 p.m.) (Learning Activity A)      Take Home Exam  (posted on May 8, 7:50 am)     Study Guide  (topics include: B5 - B6)      Grading Criteria

  
  
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