Spring 2025 Classes

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 2:30 p.m.-3:45 p.m. | 201 Snow Hall | Taught by Dr. Ward Lyles

Is the future Indigenous? This course especially suits students beginning or early in the journey of understanding about Indigenous pasts, presents and futures. Students will learn basic terminology and concepts of Indigenous Studies to understand American history, current events and future possibilities. Students will gain familiarity with Indigenous resilience in the face of oppression, displacement, misrepresentation and erasure. They also will engage in critical thinking about their own relationship to Indigenous peoples before, during and after their experiences at the University of Kansas, including their careers.

Mondays, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 114 Blake Hall | Taught by Dr. Melinda Adams

This course explores various perspectives of Indigenous Knowledge systems in regions such as the Pacific, Arctic and Americas, with topical references to sustainability, ecology, environmental stewardship and language as cultural landscapes. Students will engage with Indigenous peoples' science as the epistemological underpinnings to understanding a deeper sense of place.

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 1 p.m.-2:15 p.m. | 506 Summerfield Hall | Taught by Dr. Kent Blansett

This course examines American Indian/White relations from reconstruction to the present. It surveys the impact of westward expansion and cultural changes brought about by the Civil War, forced education, intermarriage, the Dawes Act, the New Deal, the World Wars, termination, relocation, and stereotypical literature and movies. The class also addresses the Red Power and AIM movements, as well as Indigenous efforts to decolonize and to recover and retain Indigenous Knowledge. After learning about the past from both Native and non-Native source materials, students will gain multiple perspectives about historical events and gain understandings of diverse world views, values and responses to adversity.

Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 204 Blake Hall | Taught by Dr. Melinda Adams

This class offers an introduction to wildland fire and its role across the landscape spatially and temporally. Topics include an overview of fire fundamentals, fire ecology, human impacts and management practices. Focusing on Indigenous Knowledge systems, discussion will center Indigenous ecological knowledge, Indigenous governance and place-based specifics of past and current Indigenous fire stewardship practices, or “cultural fire."

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 4 p.m.-5:15 p.m. | Tuesdays: 407 Summerfield Hall; Thursdays: Haskell Indian Nations University | Taught by Dr. Melissa Peterson

What IS grad school? What's it like? How do I apply? Why should I? Juniors and seniors: Join us if you're curious about grad school! We'll explore career opportunities related to different types of grad school degrees and the skills various programs emphasize; practice graduate-level communication skills through writing, presentations, citation management, research and professional networking; and produce a complete grad school application tailored to your program and institution of choice.

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | 2025 Haworth Hall | Taught by Dr. Sarah Deer

This course examines the foundation of Native feminist scholarship and the history of Native feminist activism. The class will begin by considering whether feminist theory can support contemporary Native women Native Two-Spirit (LGBTQ+) in their struggles against settler colonialism and heteropatriarchy. While the course begins by examining the North American experience, the course will also cover a range of international indigenous contexts, with a focus on the Global South and the Indigenous Pacific. Topics explored include the history of settler-colonialism, cultural revitalization and gender roles, change and continuity under cycles of settler-colonialism, the connection between colonialism and sexual violence in Native communities, debates over citizenship and sovereignty, and contemporary Native gender roles and identities. During the conclusion of the course, students will learn to identity how Native feminism informs activism and practice.

Mondays, 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m. | ONLINE COURSE | Taught by Dr. Alex Red Corn

This course is intended to raise student awareness of the systems, policies, laws and institutional structures surrounding them and their own leadership interests as it relates to Indigenous peoples and Nations. Additionally, students will consider how Indigenous leadership theories and systems change scholarship might be applied to navigate and change systems to better respond the needs of Indigenous peoples, communities and Nations while working across multiple institutions and governments.

Tuesdays/Thursdays, 9:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m. | 506 Summerfield Hall | Taught by Dr. Kent Blansett

This course surveys the history of the first peoples to inhabit North America from prehistory to present. Commonly and collectively referred to as American Indians, Indigenous peoples include a diverse array of nations, chiefdoms, confederacies, tribes and bands, each of which has its own unique cultures, economies and experiences in dealing with colonial and neocolonial powers. This class seeks to demonstrate this diversity while at the same time providing an understanding of the common struggle for political and cultural sovereignty that all Indigenous Nations face. Indigenous Nations that have developed a relationship with the United States will receive primary focus, but comparative reference will be made to First Nations of Canada.