Tuesday, December 8 – PAPER DUE
Write a 3,000-word essay (5,000 words for graduate credit) documenting the process and outcome of your research project. Connect your insights to the assigned readings and to your colleagues’ presentations wherever possible. Support your narrative/argument with citations and bibliography in an appropriate style. Give your polished paper an original and fitting title.
Tuesday, December 1 – NO CLASS MEETING
Continue work on your research project.
Thursday, December 3 – PRESENTATION DUE
Prepare an oral presentation summarizing your research findings. Focus on those aspects of the project most relevant to your colleagues in the course. Practice your extemporaneous comments beforehand until they run about ten minutes in length. Supplement your talk with a one-sheet handout (4 copies) bearing your name and project title.
Tuesday, November 17 – NO CLASS MEETING
Continue work on your research project.
Thursday, November 19 – REPORT DUE
Write a 500-word essay recounting the progress of your research project over the past month. Speculate on the organization of your final paper, being as specific as possible. Append an annotated bibliography of sources you have consulted, cited in an appropriate bibliographic style. Give your polished report an original and fitting title.
Tuesday, November 10 –
Read pages 224-244, 256-271 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Sjoberg, “Rethinking indigenous religious traditions”
Yengoyan, “Mandaya myth, memory, and the heroic religious tradition”
Thursday, November 12 –
Read pages 314-324 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
MacDonald, “Thinking and teaching with the indigenous traditions of Melanesia”
Review Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to discuss how this book helped you understand indigenous traditions.
Tuesday, November 3 –
Read pages 128-148 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Carrasco, “Jaguar Christians in the contact zone”
Jocks, “Modernity, resistance, and the Iroquois Longhouse people”
Thursday, November 5 –
Read pages 149-163, 172-178 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Lincoln, “‘He, not they, best protected the village'”
McCarthy, “Assaulting California’s sacred mountains”
Tuesday, October 27 –
Read pages 37-70, 89-98 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Geertz, “Can we move beyond primitivism?”
Long, “A postcolonial meaning of religion”
Thursday, October 29 –
Read pages 111-127 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Mohawk, “Tribal religious traditions are constantly devalued in Western discourse on religion”
López Austin, “Guidelines for the study of Mesoamerican religious traditions”
Tuesday, October 20 –
Review Native American Spirituality; come prepared to discuss how this book helped you understand indigenous traditions.
Preview Beyond Primitivism (cover, front matter, back matter); come prepared to discuss your initial impressions of the book.
Read pages 1-19 of Beyond Primitivism; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Olupona, “Introduction”
Thursday, October 22 – PROPOSAL DUE
Write a 500-word essay detailing the focus, methodology, and significance of your project. Illustrate your exposition with specific references to the assigned readings and to your research sources. Append a preliminary bibliography of relevant books, articles, and websites, cited in an appropriate bibliographic style. Give your polished proposal an original and fitting title.
Tuesday, October 13 –
Read pages 157-192, 205-255 of Native American Spirituality; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Haly, “Nahuas and National Culture”
Churchill, “Purity and Pollution”
Kracht, “Kiowa Religion in Historical Perspective”
Thursday, October 15 –
Read pages 256-269, 295-316 of Native American Spirituality; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Buckley, “The Shaker Church and the Indian Way in Native Northwestern California”
Irwin, “Freedom, Law, and Prophecy”
Tuesday, October 6 –
Read pages 61-120 of Native American Spirituality; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Jocks, “Spirituality for Sale”
Grimes, “This May Be a Feud, but It Is Not a War”
Ridington, “Voice, Representation, and Dialogue”
Thursday, October 8 –
Read pages 121-156 of Native American Spirituality; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Pflug, “Pimadaziwin: Contemporary Rituals in Odawa Community”
Smith, “The Church of the Immaculate Conception”
Tuesday, September 29 –
Review Teachings from the American Earth; come prepared to discuss how this book helped you understand indigenous traditions.
Preview Native American Spirituality (cover, front matter, back matter); come prepared to discuss your initial impressions of the book.
Read pages 1-8 of Native American Spirituality; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Irwin, “Native American Spirituality: An Introduction”
Thursday, October 1 –
Read pages 11-60 of Native American Spirituality; come prepared to outline each chapter and to discuss passages you find interesting:
Hernández-Ávila, “Mediations of the Spirit”
Grim, “Cultural Identity, Authenticity, and Community Survival”
Indigenous Traditions 