Course Info: CSI-0240

From battles against oil pipelines and fracking on indigenous lands, to the fight for clean fish and traditional sustenance fishing rights, to the struggle for indigenous sovereignty, indigenous peoples around the globe are engaging in social and environmental activism. In this course, we considered how the histories of dispossession and settler colonialism inform indigenous approaches to environmental justice. We considered indigenous philosophies of the environment by examining indigenous creation stories and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). We also engaged the politics of indigenous environmental activism, which is haunted by the specter of the "ecologically noble Indian." This image of the ultimate environmental savior is a caricature of indigenous peoples that, while useful in gaining support from non-Indian allies for indigenous causes, can also undermine indigenous sovereignty. Students were evaluated on classroom participation, short assignments, a current events project, and a final project and presentation. This seminar required that students build a learning community, work independently and in groups to grapple with complex theory including settler colonialism, indigenous-settler relations, and environmental justice. The course required thoughtful reading, active participation, a group wiki, forum posts, and two essays. For the student-designed final, students collaborated to bring course learning to a public audience by designing a webpage.