Photography of a young woman standing with a white and purple striped stole over her shoulders

Undergraduate Minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies

Apply to the American Indian & Indigenous Studies Minor

Why you should minor in American Indian & Indigenous Studies

While earning an American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) undergraduate minor, you'll explore the complex histories and contemporary situations of Indigenous communities in North America and across the globe. Our faculty teach AIIS courses in diverse range of topics, including art, art history, anthropology, archaeology, education, fiber science and apparel design, law, linguistics, literature, natural resources, performing and media arts, and more. With an undergraduate minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies, you are uniquely competitive as a multidisciplinary and extra-disciplinary thinker. Complete the AIIS Minor Application to get started! 

Undergraduate Requirements

Our academic minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) is available to undergraduate students in any area of study at Cornell. The undergraduate minor is earned upon the completion of five courses (a minimum of 15 credits), which must include:

  • Two required courses, AIIS 1100 - Indigenous North America (AMST 1600, ANTHR 1700) and AIIS 1110 - Indigenous Issues in Global Perspectives (AMST 1601)
  • Three additional courses:
    • One must be from Arts & Humanities and another from Social & Natural Sciences
    • One must be at the 3000 or 4000 level. These courses include for example: AIIS 4000 - Critical Approaches to AIIS: Intellectual History, ARTH 4774 Indigenous Spaces and materiality, AIIS 3330 - Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge, AIIS 3248 - Finger Lakes and Beyond: Archaeology of the Native Northeast and others.
    • Only one Independent Study (AIIS 4970) with a AIIS faculty supervisor worth 3 or more credits may count towards the minor
  • Courses must be completed with a letter grade of "C" or above
  • Course taken for S/U and First-Year Writing Seminars do not count towards the minor

Connect with our staff for any questions about the AIIS minor. 

Courses

  • AIIS 1100 (AMST 1600, ANTHR 1700) - Indigenous North America
  • AIIS 1110 (AMST 1601) - Indigenous Issues in Global Perspectives
  • HIST 1950 (LATA 1950) - The Invention of the Americas
  • AIIS 2420 (LING 2248) - Native American Languages
  • AIIS 2600 (AMST 2600, ENGL 2600) - Introduction to Native American Literature
  • AIIS 2660 (HIST 2660, AMST 2660) - Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong: Unlearning Native American History
  • AIIS 3324 (LING 3324) - Cayuga Language and Culture
  • AIIS 3325 (LING 3325) - Cayuga Language and Culture II
  • AIIS 3560 (AMST 3562, ENGL 3560) - Thinking from a Different Place: Indigenous Philosophies
  • AIIS 4000 - Critical Approaches to American Indian and Indigenous Studies: Intellectual History
  • AIIS 4200 (AMST 4220, PHIL 4941) - Locke and the Philosophies of Dispossession: Indigenous America's Interruptions and Resistances
  • AIIS 4300 - Indigenous Peoples and Decolonial Philosophies
  • AIIS 4450 - Settler Colonialism And The Elimination of the Native
  • AIIS 4625 (ENGL 4625, AMST 4627) - Contemporary Native American Fiction
  • AIIS 4670 - The Indigenous Poetry of Resistance
  • ARTH 4556 (LSP 4556, AMST 4556, ENGL 4556, VISST 4556) - Decolonial Poetics and Aesthetics: Arts of Resistance in the Americas
  • ENGL 4630 (AAS 4630, AMST 4632) - Rethinking Asian American Literature: Indigeneity, Diaspora, Settler Colonialism
  • ANTHR 1200 (ARKEO 1200) - Ancient Peoples and Places
  • AIIS 2350 (ANTHR 2235, AMST 2350, ARKEO 2235) - Archaeology of Indigenous North America
  • AIIS 2420 (ANTHR 2420, BSOC 2420) - Nature-Culture: Ethnographic Approaches to Human Environment Relations
  • AIIS 2720 (ANTHR 2720, ARKEO 2720, AMST 2729) - From the Swampy Land: Indigenous People of the Ithaca Area
  • ANTHR 3245 (ARKEO 3245) - Across the Seas: Contacts between the Americas and the Old World Before Columbus
  • ANTHR 3255 (ARKEO 3255, LATA 3550) - Ancient Mexico and Central America
  • ANTHR 3256 (ARKEO 3256, LATA 3256) - Ancient Civilizations of the Andes
  • AIIS 3330 (NTRES 3330, AMST 3330) - Ways of Knowing: Indigenous and Place-Based Ecological Knowledge
  • AIIS 3422 (ANTHR 3422) - Culture, Politics, and Environment in the Circumpolar North
  • ANTHR 4216 (ARKEO 4216, LATA 4215) - Maya History
  • ANTHR 4268 (ARKEO 4268, LATA 4268) - Aztecs and Their Empire: Myth, History, and Politics
  • ANTHR (AMST 4725) - American Indian Lands and Sovereignties

 

  • AIIS 4970 - Independent Study (taken with an AIIS faculty supervisor)

Undergraduate AIIS Minors in Action - Student Spotlight

Meet Students in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) Minor.
 
AIIS minors come from across the university—and the globe—bringing diverse academic interests to the program. Through courses in Indigenous governance, environmental justice, literature, and more, students connect their studies to Indigenous knowledges, histories, and futures.
Adiitsai wears a black suit and smiles for the camera.

Adiits’ai Kinyaa’ aanii Nelson '26 (Navajo/Diné)

Major: Environment & Sustainability (CALS)

Minor: American Indian & Indigenous Studies; Marine Biology

"The AIIS minor has allowed me to bridge Traditional Ecological Knowledge  (TEK) with my Environmental and Sustainability Studies major, shaping a unique perspective that parallels Western thought. I plan to carry this knowledge forward to inform and enrich my professional work after college."
Charlie stands on a wooded path facing the camera.

Charlie Hernandez '26 (Mixtec/Ñuu Savi)

Major: Plant Science, Sustainable Indigenous Agriculture Concentration

Minor: American Indian & Indigenous Studies

"To me the AIIS minor means feeling connected to the countless people who advocate for the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, not only in the United States but across the world. It is a reminder of my commitment to continue to center Indigenous peoples, principles of reciprocity, and community in botanical gardens and agricultural production."
Joey stands in front of a harbor and smiles for the camera.

Joey Mahinekura Misailidis '27

Major: Environmental Engineering

Minor: American Indian and Indigenous Studies; Environment and Sustainability

"The AIIS minor has helped me to understand the interconnectedness of Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty globally, and the path to decolonial futures. After graduating from Cornell, I hope to utilize my education to support Pasifika sovereignty and land stewardship in my home of Hawaiʻi. The AIIS program has been invaluable in providing the knowledge and support for me to work towards this goal."

About thirty shucked ears of white corn are braided together into one bundle, and lay spread out on a table.
Photography of a man in a tan sweater giving a talk in front of two maps of the earth projected behind him.
Students stand in front of Akwe:kon smiling.
Photo of three wampum belts made with white and purple colored carved shells as beads.

Stay connected!