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Native Studies Research Colloquium—Allies, Not Subjects: Teaching Native Thinkers in Political Science

Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 3:30pm to 5:00pm

Many Nations Longhouse
1630 Columbia Street, Eugene, OR

Most political science programs in the United States teach a course called American Political Thought. Such courses examine key eras in American political history with a focus on primary sources and the analysis of political ideas. Unfortunately, there are few resources currently available on American Indian political thinkers that are aimed at teachers of these courses.

UO political scientist Burke Hendrix is writing a pedagogically oriented book focusing on a small number of American Indian political thinkers that is intended as such a resource. Chapters will be centered on explicating a single short, easily assignable primary text, and will be written on the expectation that readers have little knowledge of where this text fits historically and what its key arguments are. Although the book remains a work in progress, it is likely to include texts by at least the following: William Apess, Elias Boudinot, Sarah Winnemucca, Charles Eastman, Robert Yellowtail, and Zitkála-Šá. It will also include chapters focusing on records of negotiations between Native nations and the United States, one from 1775 and the second to be determined.

Feedback from the NAIS community on the strengths and weaknesses of the project so far will be very much appreciated!