NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURES
Spring 2005
Jace Weaver: 542-1492 jweaver@uga. edu
Introduction: This course is designed to give a brief overview of the history, experiences, and religious traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, focusing on the territory we now call the United States. Because of the tremendous diversity of cultures and religious traditions in North America, coupled with a more than 500-year history of colonialism, no single semester course can cover the topic exhaustively. The survey provided, however, should give you a sufficient knowledge base upon which to build further study and will familiarize you with basic patterns and issues in the study of Native religious traditions.
WEEK I: Introduction
Session 1 (Jan. 11)
Film: "In the Land of the Head-Hunters"
Session 2 (Jan. 13)
Reading: Charles Hudson, Conversations with the High Priest of Coosa, pp. 1-37
WEEK II: The "Prehistory" of Georgia
Session 1 (Jan. 18)
Reading: Hudson, pp. 38-85
Session 2 (Jan. 20)
Film: "Man of Lightning," "Voices in the Wind" Reading: Hudson, pp. 86-133
WEEK III: "Prehistory" II
Session 1 (Jan. 25)
Reading: Hudson, pp. 134-188
Session 2 (Jan. 27)
Reading: Wallum Plum Film: "Cahokia Lost"
WEEK IV: Pre-Contact
Session 1 (Feb. 1)
Reading: Ella Cara Deloria, Waterlily, pp. 3-113
Session 2 (Feb. 3)
Reading: Finish Waterlily
WEEK V: Contact, Encounter, Conquest?
Session 1 (Feb. 8)
Reading: Bartolome de Las Casas, The Destruction of the Indies, pp. 3-70
Session 2 (Feb. 10)
Reading: Finish The Destruction of the Indies
WEEK VI: Traditional Religions I
Session 1 (Feb. 15)
Reading: Merwyn S. Garbarino and Robert Sasso, Native American Heritage, pp. 2-138
Session 2 (Feb. 17)
Reading: Garbarino and Sasso, pp. 140-214
WEEK VII: Traditional Religions II
Session 1 (Feb. 22)
Film: "Natural Born Americans" Reading: Garbarino and Sasso, pp. 216-340
Session 2 (Feb. 24)
Reading: Garbarino and Sasso, pp. 342-417
WEEK VIII: Traditional Religions III Session 1 (March 1)
Session 2 (March 3)
MID-TERM EXAM
WEEK IX: Conflicting Worldviews
Session 1 (March 8)
Film: "Strangers in Their Own Land" Reading: Vine Deloria, Jr., God Is Red, pp. 1-148
Session 2 (March 10)
Reading: Finish God Is Red
WEEK X: Trickster
Session 1 (March 22)
Reading: Peggy Beck, et al.. The Sacred, pp. 291-316 Jace Weaver, Other Words, pp. 246-257
Session 2 (March 24)
Film: "Medicine River" (Pt. 1)
WEEK XI: Trickster II
Session 1 (March 29)
Film: "Medicine River" (Pt. 2)
Session 2 (March 31)
Library work session
WEEK XII: Eschatology
Session 1 (Apr. 5)
Reading: Jace Weaver, Fixing the World (manuscript)
Session 2 (Apr. 7)
Library work session
WEEK XIII: Syncretic Religions
Session 1 (Apr. 12)
Reading: James Mooney, The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890.pp.653-776
Session 2 (Apr. 14)
Film: "The Good Mind" Reading: Mooney, pp. 777-927
WEEK XIV: Cultures in Conflict
Session 1 (Apr. 19)
Louis Jackson, Our Caughnawagas in Egypt Weaver. Other Words, pp. 117-129
Session 2 (Apr. 21)
Film: "Dakota Conflict"
WEEK XV: Christianity and Native Americans
Session 1 (Apr. 26)
Reading: Homer Noley, First White Frost
Session 2 (Apr. 28)
Reading: Weaver, Other Words, pp. 237-245, 280-304
REQUIREMENTS: This course is designed primarily as a seminar. Although I will lecture periodically (particularly at the beginning), it is primarily driven by discussion. Attendance and participation in discussion are therefore mandatory and will form 25% of your final grade. An in-class mid-term exam, covering the materials up to that point will be given on Mar. 3 and will account for 25% of your grade. A final paper, on a topic selected in consultation with the instructor is due on May 6 and accounts for 50% of your grade.
TEXTS:
BOOKS:
Charles Hudson, Conversations with the High Priest of Coosa
Ella Cara Deloria, Waterlily
Bartolome de Las Casas, Destruction of the Indies
Merwyn Garbarino and Robert Sasso, Native American Heritage
Vine Deloria, Jr., God Is Red (2d ed.)
James Mooney, The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890
Homer Noley, First White Frost
Jace Weaver, Other Words
In addition, there is a course reader, containing readings for the course. It is avilable at Bel-Jean.