BA Native American Studies

Native American Studies offers students the opportunity to pursue a program of study that will increase their understanding of the historical experiences, cultural traditions and innovations, and political aspirations of Indian peoples in the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada. Students explore the intersection of Indian and European histories and systems of knowledge. Students will learn essential information about Native American ways of living, organizing societies, and understanding the world, and about their relations with Euro-American colonizing powers. They will learn to appreciate how the value systems of different cultures function and to understand the dynamics of cultural change. They will examine contact and conflict between Native and non-Native societies and will appreciate the unique status of Indian peoples in the United States and Canada.