Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
NAIS D014.
Course Title (CB02)
Native American Religious Traditions
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This is a study of Native American religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, including an examination of spirit beings, prophecies, and renewals of the Indian way through their land-based religions, symbols, and ceremonies. Tribal religions are reviewed, including a focus on traditional beliefs and practices, religious movements, the effect of foreign influences and philosophies, and the continual struggle for religious freedom. Change and continuity of American Indian values and tribalism are examined as reflected through present-day spiritual issues in Indian America.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is UC and CSU transferable and meets a general education requirement for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSU GE, and IGETC. This course belongs on the Intercultural Studies AA degree. The course offers students insight into the spiritual and religious traditions of Native Americans and the importance of contemporary land issues and legal rights as they are connected to Native spiritual and religious beliefs.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Formerly Statement
(Formerly ICS D044.)

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GC2°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGC2CSU GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG3BIGETC Area 3B - HumanitiesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

Quiz and examination review performed in class

Homework and extended projects

In-class exploration of internet sites

Field observation and field trips

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects

Assignments

  1. Critical reading of journal/magazine, text and supplemental materials.
  2. Written Assignments
    1. Essay and short answer identification quizzes requiring summarization, and interpretation.
    2. Written assessments demonstrating insightful synthesis and integration of assigned readings.
    3. Evaluation (to determine ability to accurately summarize and synthesize information) of note-taking from primary and secondary American Indian Studies source materials.
  3. Oral Assignments: Participation in classroom discussions to examine key concepts, research project topics, assess student's skill in interpreting and analyzing key concepts and debating relevant issues and other timely topics.
  4. Visual Assignments: View videotapes and cultural activities demonstrating comprehension of the "message" and ability to analyze and critique quality of the media viewed.
  5. Evaluation (based on demonstrated comprehension, summary, and/or critique) of student reviews of experiential American Indian community cultural events.
  6. Research Project: Guided research project that assesses a topic central to American Indian worldviews.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Reading Activities: student mastery evaluated through written and oral activities requiring synthesis, analysis and interpretation of key concepts.
  2. Evaluation (to determine ability to accurately summarize and synthesize information) of note-taking using primary and secondary source materials for an individual research project to interpret a body of relevant information besides the required and recommended course texts.
  3. Quizzes: Essays assess student ability to compare and evaluate phenomena, synthesize and revise data.
  4. Oral Activities: Assessment of individual student contributions to class discussions, based on quality of synthesis, analysis and interpretation of key concepts of the course of study.
  5. Visual Activities: Written assessment, including short answer, short essay, quizzes, of activities viewed.
  6. Assessment of participation and contributions during classroom discussions and activities, based on quality of synthesis, analysis and interpretation of key concepts of the course of study.
  7. Research project: Research project demonstrates student growth in interpreting and synthesizing other than course required readings and the ability to critically appraise research data and evaluate for relevancy of research materials.
  8. Evaluation (based on demonstrated comprehension, summary, and/or critique) of student reviews of experiential American Indian community cultural events.
  9. Examinations: Essay and objective midterm and comprehensive final examination that evaluates retention and synthesis of the basic characteristics of tribal contexts of systems of knowledge, cultural continuity and current status of American Indian worldviews.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Conley, Robert J. "Cherokee Medicine Man: The Life and Work of a Modern-Day Healer." University of Oklahoma Press: 2005.
Crawford, Suzanne J. "Native American Religious Traditions." Pearson: 2007.
Irwin , Lee Philip J. Deloria. "Coming Down from Above: Prophecy, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions" (Civilization of the American Indian Series). University of Oklahoma Press: 2008.
Morman, Todd Allin. "Many Nations Under Many Gods: Public Land Management and American Indian Sacred Sites." University of Oklahoma Press: 2018.
Zimmerman, Larry. "The Sacred Wisdom of the Native Americans." Chartwell Books: 2016.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Brown, Joseph Epes and Michael Oren Fitzgerald, and Ake Hultkrant. "The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian: Commemorative Edition with Letters while Living with Black Elk." World Wisdom: 2007.
Brown, Joseph Epes. "Teaching Spirits: Understanding Native American Religious Traditions." University of Oxford Press: 2010.
Bruchac, Joseph. "Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture, & Values Through Storytelling." Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, Colorado: 2003.
Dooling, D. M. "I Become Part of It." Parabola Books: 2002.
Du Bois, Constance Goddard. "The Religion of the Luiseno Indians of Southern California." Dodo Press: 2010.
Feraca, Stephen E. "Wakinyan: Lakota Religion in the Twentieth Century." University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln: 2001.
Fixico, Donald Lee. "The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge." Routledge, New York: 2003.
Gulliford, Andrew. "Sacred Objects and Sacred Places: Preserving Tribal Traditions." University Press of Colorado: 2000.
Hunt, Norman Bancrof. "Shamanism in North America (Religion and Spirituality)." Firefly Books Ltd: 2003.
Jefferson, Warren. 'Reincarnation Beliefs of North American Indians: Soul Journey, Metamorphosis, and Near Death Experience." Native Voices: 2009.
LaDuke, Winona. "Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming." South End Press: 2005.
Lewis, David. "Creek Indian Medicine Ways: The Enduring Power of Mvskoke Religion" : University of New Mexico Press Subject, Albuquerque: 2002.
McCampbell, Harvest . "Sacred Smoke: The Ancient Art of Smudging for Modern Times." Book Publishing Company, TN: 2002.
Markstrom, Carol A. "Empowerment of North American Indian Girls: Ritual Expressions at Puberty." University of Nebraska Press: 2008.
Martin, Joel. "The Land Looks After Us. 2001." Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.: 2001.
Nabokov, Peter. "Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places." Penguin Books: 2006.
O'Brien, Suzanne J. Crawford and Dennis Francis Kelley. "American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia, 3 Volumes." ABC-CLIO: 2005.
Posthumus, David C. "All My Relatives: Exploring Lakota Ontology, Belief, and Ritual." University of Nebraska Press: 2018.
Pritchard, Evan T. "No Word for Time: the Way of the Algonquin People (Rev 01 Edition)." Council Oak Books: 2003.
Smoak, Gregory Ellis. "Ghost Dances and Identity: Prophetic Religion and American Indian Ethnogenesis in the Nineteenth Century." University of California Press: 2008.
Thomas, R. Murra. "Manitou and God: North-American Indian Religions and Christian Culture." Praeger: 2007.
Waters, Anne. "American Indian Thought." Blackwell Publishing: 2004.
Wenger, Tisa. "We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom." The University of North Carolina Press: 2009.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Engage in a critical analysis of the nature of the arts and the humanities (Western perspective) and Intercultural Studies (non-Western perspective) of the philosophical, cultural, and spiritual principles of the indigenous cultures of North America.
  • Examine and assess traditional concepts and characteristics of Native American religions and philosophies.
  • Assess various forms of spiritual expression and their on-going practice in contemporary settings.
  • Appraise and interpret the cultural principles of Native American civilizations' "ways of knowing."
  • Analyze and interpret contemporary spiritual issues of Native America, including effects of eurocentrism, colonialism, and assimilation on Native spiritual beliefs and practices, historically and today.

CSLOs

  • Discuss how and why beliefs, values, assumptions, communication and spiritual practices interact to shape ways of being and knowing within the American Indian/Alaskan native experience.

  • Identify and evaluate the elements of religious syncretism and its respective roles within American Indian/Alaskan native experience.

  • Think critically about the effects of race/ethnicity, racialization, ethnocentrism, and colonialism on Native American lived experiences, struggles for religious freedom, and resistance and accommodation as they pertain to the impact on historic and current concepts of identity and sovereignty.

  • Research local organizations that support the goals of Native American communities, and engage in community activities.

Outline

  1. Engage in a critical analysis of the nature of the arts and the humanities (Western perspective) and Intercultural Studies (non-Western perspective) of the philosophical, cultural, and spiritual principles of the indigenous cultures of North America.
    1. Nature of the arts and humanities
      1. as a medium through which human experience and values is expressed and viewed
      2. as the discipline reflects the interests, perspectives, gender and cultural biases of the reference group
      3. use of Western and American Indian primary sources
    2. Western and Intercultural study of the philosophical, cultural, and spiritual principles of indigenous cultures of the Americas religion and philosophical traditions
      1. development of the Western perspective
      2. development of Intercultural studies (non-Western) perspective
      3. major intercultural approaches to the study of indigenous cultures of the Americas
    3. American Indian centered study of indigenous cultures of the Americas.
      1. emic versus etic views of tribal cultures
      2. diachronic and synchronic views of tribal cultures
      3. "Indian perspectives" of Indian world view (religion and philosophical thought)
      4. development of American Indian Studies as an academic field of study
  2. Examine and assess traditional concepts and characteristics of Native American religions and philosophies.
    1. Mythic accounts explain cultural origins and development of American Indians as distinctive peoples
    2. Sense of the sacred centered in natural time and natural geography
    3. Calendrical rituals give social form to religious beliefs and experiential mythology
    4. Sacred practitioners (medicine men and medicine women) teach the conduct of ritual life
    5. Prescriptive and proscriptive (ethical) guidelines establish behaviors associated with the sacred
    6. Belief in a means of communication (dreams and visions) with sacred spirits and forces
    7. Dreams and visions as the principal sources of American Indian religious knowledge
    8. Harmony maintained with sacred through rituals and adherence to sacred prescriptions and proscriptions
    9. Certain times and geographical locations, together possess greater sacredness
    10. Major goal of religious life: gaining spiritual power and understandings necessary for successful life
  3. Assess various forms of spiritual expression and their on-going practice in contemporary settings.
    1. collective mindfulness and the elimination of ego
    2. extended families and strength of kinship ties
    3. respect for age and experience
    4. integrity of character versus role-set and status
    5. interdependency of all life: balance and harmony, especially in relationship to Mother Earth
    6. patience and non-competitiveness
    7. gift-giving, with no value in accumulation of material goods
    8. non-importance of time and living for today
    9. societal discipline through shame (not guilt) and Indian humor
    10. gender work and sex roles: role of the "third gender" or "two spirits"
    11. cultural tension, effects of assimilation and "Christian-ization" on American Indian value systems
  4. Appraise and interpret the cultural principles of Native American civilizations' "ways of knowing."
    1. Cultural diversity of American Indian religious traditions and philosophies by geographic cultural area, linguistic associations and history: representative groups, political and social structures, gender roles and status, dwellings, subsistence, religious practices and life cycle of the Southwest, Plains, Woodlands, California, Great Basin, Plateau, and Northwest Coast as relevant to tribal "world view."
    2. Shared cultural principles
    3. Relationship of cultural principles of American Indian civilizations with environmental determinism as evidenced through religious practices
  5. Analyze and interpret contemporary spiritual issues of Native America, including effects of eurocentrism, colonialism, and assimilation on Native spiritual beliefs and practices, historically and today.
    1. Continuity and change in American Indian belief systems—contributing factors, including religious/spiritual oppression.
    2. Religious freedom
    3. Religious revitalization
    4. Religious syncretism (traditional ways and Christianity): Dreamer Religion--California, Native American Church-Peyotism, Shaker Church--Northwest Coast, Ghost Dance, Handsome Lake Code
    5. Repatriation
    6. Cultural/spiritual appropriation by non-Indians
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