We are proud to offer numerous courses every semester that range in content and engage various departments across campus. If you are interested in how fields such as art, art history, archaeology, English, horticulture, law, linguistics, or natural resources engage Indigenous issues, we have a course for you.
Featured Courses
AIIS/LING 3325: Cayuga Language and Culture II
Jessica Martin (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ/Six Nations Cayuga)
Hybrid; Fridays, 2:40PM - 4:35PM
A continuation of LING 3324, with further exploration of Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ) language and culture. Language instruction continues in an immersive learning environment with a focus on plants and growing in the spring.
AIIS 4450: Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native
Professor Eric Cheyfitz
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:00PM - 2:15PM
Settler Colonialism And The Elimination of the Native: The course title is taken from Patrick Wolfe's generative essay, which analyzes the specific genre of colonialism in which the object is the replacement of the native (original) population by settlers, whose goal is the appropriation of native land through various forms of violence from genocide to forced assimilation. The particular focus of this course will be the forms settler colonialism takes in the United States against the American Indian population and in Israeli-dominated Palestine against the indigenous Palestinian population and the resistance to settler colonialism by these populations. The course, then, is comparative in method, beginning with analyzing the common biblical origin, that of the Chosen People, that generated the settler ideologies in both the U.S. and Israel.
AIIS 4670: The Indigenous Poetry of Resistance
Professor Eric Cheyfitz
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:45PM - 4:00PM
In this course, we will read poems of resistance from Indigenous people in Turtle Island (North America), Palestine, and Guåhan (Guam). Our purpose will be to understand how this poetry is both a description and an act of resistance to settler colonialism and to compare the forms resistance takes in these different settler locals.
AIIS 1110/AMST 1601: Indigenous Issues in Global Perspectives
Professor Karim-Aly Kassam
Mondays & Wednesdays, 9:05AM - 9:55AM, plus discussion section
This course attends to the contemporary issues, contexts and experiences of Indigenous peoples. Students will develop a substantive understanding of colonialism and engage in the parallels and differences of its histories, forms, and effects on Indigenous peoples globally. Contemporary Indigenous theorists, novelists, visual artists and historians have a prominent place in the course, highlighting sociocultural and environmental philosophies, critical responses to and forms of resistance toward neocolonial political and economic agendas and the fundamental concern for Indigenous self-determination, among other topics. We will not only examine the history of victimization of indigenous peoples through colonial oppression, but we will also study their response as agents of change in providing alternative paradigms and insights to humanity in the third millennium.
AIIS 4000/6000: Critical Approaches to AIIS: Intellectual History
Professor Troy Richardson (Saponi, Ska:rù:rę'/Tuscarora)
Tuesdays, 2:40 - 5:10PM
An interdisciplinary survey of the literature in Native American Studies. Readings engage themes of indigeneity, coloniality, power, and "resistance." The syllabus is formed from some "classic" and canonical works in Native American Studies but also requires an engagement with marginal writings and theoretical and historical contributions from scholars in other disciplines.
AIIS 3248: Finger Lakes and Beyond: Archaeology of the Native Northeast
AIIS/AMST/ANTHR/ARKEO 3248/6248
Dr. Samantha Sanft (Postdoctoral Associate in Anthropology)
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:45 - 4:00PM
This course provides a long-term overview of the indigenous peoples of Cornell's home region and their neighbors from an archaeological perspective. Cornell students live and work in the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations Iroquois, and this class will help residents to understand the deep history of this place. We will examine long-term changes in material culture, settlement, subsistence, and trade; the founding of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy; indigenous responses to European and American colonization; the practicalities of doing indigenous-site archaeology in New York State; and contemporary indigenous perspectives on archaeology. Visits to local archaeological sites and museum collections will supplement classroom instruction.
Explore the AIIS courses offered this semester
Taking a course in American Indian and Indigenous Studies enriches your educational experience while learning about Indigenous communities, experiences, and issues, historical and contemporary.
Courses with Indigenous content
These courses are not formally cross-listed, but may count towards the AIIS minor. Please contact aiisp [at] cornell.edu if you have questions.
