Courses
Search for courses listed in this bulletin. To find a semester course schedule (including instructors, meeting times and locations), go to mynmu.nmu.edu.
- Offered: Fall
An introduction to Anishinaabemowin language including grammar, vocabulary, idioms and syllabics. Students will learn to read, write and speak basic Anishinaabemowin. This course also promotes the preservation of Anishinaabe culture by examining various facets of Anishinaabe everyday life and contemporary issues.
- Offered: Winter
- Prerequisites: NAS 101 or equivalent.
An in-depth study of Anishinaabemowin language. This course is a continuation of materials introduced in NAS 101. Students will focus on higher-level use of the language and will apply it in situations related to contemporary Anishinaabe cultural issues and community structures.
- Offered: Fall Winter Summer
- Offered: Fall Winter Summer
The skills necessary for speaking Anishinaabe through experiential opportunities, cultural outdoor activities as well as classroom activity and group work during fall, winter or spring experiences that emphasize indigenous traditional knowledge.
Notes:May be repeated once for each season. 207a – fall, 207b – winter, 207c –spring.
- Offered: Fall Winter of odd years and occasionally summer
An examination of the twenty-three federally recognized tribes of Michigan and Wisconsin and how treaties with the federal government shaped their history and contemporary political make-up. Treaty rights, sovereignty, urban communities and tribal enterprises will also be explored.
- Offered: Winter
An introductionto Native American beadwork styles from various regions and time periods. The course blends reading and lecture with practical application of Native American beadwork. Content includes American Indian arts and crafts law.
- Offered: Summer
Examine the relationship between humans and Indigenous foods of the Great Lakes Region. We will focus on Indigenous identity, food sovereignty, and decolonizing methodologies.
- Offered: Winter
- Offered: Winter
- Offered: Winter
- Offered: Contact department for information
- Offered: On demand
- Offered: Fall
- Prerequisites: NAS 101.
This course builds on the grammar, linguistic mechanics, vocabulary and cultural knowledge introduced in NAS 101. Where possible, the course will use Anishinaabemowin replacement terminology for linguistic concepts. This course will look at more advanced concepts of culture such as ancestral governance, narrative, health systems, decolonization and renewal of ancestral culture in contemporary contexts.
- Offered: Fall Winter
- Prerequisites: EN 211 with a grade of "C" or better or HON 101 and HON 111 and sophomore standing.
A focus on the relationship between American Indian tribes, the federal government and states. Emphasis is placed on examining the current state of tribal governments and tribal citizens within the State of Michigan. Students will examine the U.S. Constitution, treaties and tribals [tribes], federal and state laws and court cases.
- Offered: Winter
The history of the initiation, development, alteration and demise of the federally mandated Indian boarding school education experience in the U.S. and Canada. Intergenerational and contemporary repercussions, both positive and negative, within indigenous societies are considered.
- Offered: Fall alternate years
An analysis of the identity and images of American Indians portrayed within the historic and contemporary media. Perpetuation of stereotypes and appropriate or distorted cultural images, symbols, beliefs, stories and contributions by native people to the media will be explored.
- Offered: Winter
- Offered: Summer
Kinomaage, when translated, is "Earth shows us the way." Students will examine various plants of the Northwoods that have been traditionally used by the Anishinaabeg. Students will also examine the close relationship between Anishinaabeg [Anishinaabe] peoples, culture and the Earth while comparing that relationship to modern day society's view of the environment.
- Offered: Winter
- Offered: Fall
- Prerequisites: NAS 204 and NAS 310.
Indigenous critical analysis is rooted in place-based First Nations/Native American/Indigenous belief systems focusing on the interconnectedness of communities and culture, and confronts historic and contemporary acts of colonialism that has led to systematic marginalization. This course will explore Indigenous critical thought and Indigenous critical theory as independent and necessary scholarship through varied texts.
- Offered: Contact Department
Focus on issues, topics affecting first nations women of yesterday and today. Notable first nations women will be explored along with multiple concepts including: relationships within tribal communities, spiritual health and survival of tribal nations.
- Offered: Contact department
- Prerequisites: Junior standing, or instructor permission.
Through films, poems, lyrics, plays, political cartoons, memoirs, short stories, and emerging media, this course examines why humor is considered medicine and serves as a vital component of cultural expression to Indigenous peoples of North America. Native American humor naturally plays around a number of other important topics which you will re-encounter: topics such as images, logos, and stereotypes, along with opinions about gender and its roles, contemporary popular culture, and traditional oral narratives.
- Offered: Contact Department
- Prerequisites: Junior standing, or instructor permission.
Anishinaabe teachings tell us it was from Ma’iingan (Wolf) that humanity learned of our close relationship to the planet and other species. NAS 440 draws on this teaching to explore the lifeways, cultures, and perspectives of the Animal Nations through advanced forest immersion as well as the study of Native cultural expressions and various forms of traditional Indigenous science including Traditional Ecological Knowledge. According to Indigenous science, our animal relations are some of humanity’s greatest teachers. Rather than classifying the Animal Nations into categories of what they are, this course engages students in an experiential-based inquiry as to who are these beings we call our animal relations.
Notes:Recommended Prerequisites: NAS 101, NAS 201, NAS 340 or NAS 342.
- Offered: Fall
This course will challenge students’ preconceptions of what Native American inclusion means and provide methods and materials that will help them meet state standards while effectively including Native American cultural concepts across the curriculum. Emphasis is on State of Michigan standards and Anishinaabe language and cultural concepts.
- Offered: Winter
Students will explore significant Native American education policy from pre-colonial times to the present day. Students will investigate treaties with educational provisions, current U.S. federal Indian education law; standards-based reform and Native American inclusion. Through online chat rooms, students will discuss these issues with individuals from different parts of the world.