History 405 A&S
Early American Indians
Room BO 214B
Days T-R 2:00-3:15
Syllabus
Dr. Mark Fernandez
Office: Bobet Hall 424
Office Hours: M&W: 2-3:00, T&R 8-9:00 and by appointment
Office Phone: 865-2566
Home Phone: 861-4993
e-mail: mffernan@loyno.edu

*This syllabus is fully functional only if accessed through the Loyola connection.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

 This course will investigate North American Indians from their earliest origins to the late nineteenth century from an ethnohistorical perspective. The goals of the course are to increase awareness of the role of American Indians in early American historiography and to acquaint undergraduate students with the methodology of ethnohistory.  This course will mainly be conducted seminar style with occasional topical and foundational lectures. Accordingly, it is imperative that students are prepared to discuss the readings for each class.

REQUIREMENTS:

 Students are required to attend and to participate in class and to complete all reading and writing assignments and exams.

REQUIRED READINGS:

The only book that you are required to purchase is Richard White's, The Middle Ground. Other required readings will be accessible online. In addition to the required readings, students will have reading and writing assignments drawn from three individual texts to be negotiated with me. These texts will be available through the Loyola library.

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

 Students are required to attend all classes.  I will allow three absences.  Upon the fourth absence ten points (one letter grade) will be deducted from the student’s final grade with an additional ten point deduction for each additional absence.  Students who miss two classes or more in the first four weeks of the semester will be cited for “irregular attendance” on the early warning rosters that I return to the Dean’s office.  Those students or their parents will receive early warning letters from the Dean.

ASSIGNMENTS:

 Students will be required to write three short (500-750 wd) papers and a formal term paper (instructions for the formal paper will be passed out in class). These assignments are to be double-spaced typewritten essays based on original work.  Periodic e-mail writing exercises based on the assigned readings will also be required.  There will also be a final essay exam.

MAKE-UP TESTS AND EXTENSIONS:

Make-up tests and/or extensions will be allowed only in extraordinary circumstances.  To receive permission for a make-up test the student must contact me before the scheduled test or assignment deadline except in cases of emergency. THERE ARE NO EXTENSIONS AVAILABLE FOR PAPERS: I will accept late papers with an automatic five-point reduction for each day that the paper is late. Papers are due in class on the date listed below and if they are slipped under my door during or after class, then they will be considered one day late.

GRADING:

 Grades will be assessed on a standard ten point scale (90-100=A, 87-89=B+, 80 86.9=B, etc.,  59 or below = F.  The three short papers will be worth 30% (10% each) of your final grade; the term paper will be worth 30 %; in-class writings and e-mail assignments together will be worth 10%; the final  exam will be worth 20%.  Class participation is worth 10% of the final grade. The e-mail assignments will receive a check “*” or an “x.” The cumulative number of *’s and x’s will be used to determine your numerical grade for the e-mail exercises.

INTEGRITY OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GRADES:

 Please read the “Integrity of Scholarship and Grades” statement on pp. 49-50 of the Undergraduate Bulletin.  Any student caught plagiarizing or cheating will receive an “F” for the course and the incident will be reported in writing to the Dean.

History Department Statement on Plagiarism

 “Plagiarism—the use of another person’s ideas or wording without giving proper credit—results from the failure to document fully and accurately.  Ideas and expressions of them are considered to belong
to the individual who first puts them forward.  Therefore, when you incorporate ideas or phrasing from any other author in your paper, whether you quote them directly or indirectly, you need to be honest
and complete about indicating the source to avoid plagiarism.  Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism can bring serious consequences, both academic, in the form of failure or expulsion, and legal,
in the form of lawsuits.  Plagiarism is a violation of the ethics of the academic community.”

William G. Campbell, Stephen V. Ballou, and Carole Slade, Form and Style: Thesis, Reports, Term Papers, 6th Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982), p. 52.

For more information on plagiarism and how to avoid it, go to :
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html
 

ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT:

Beepers and cell phones must be turned off before entering the classroom. Audio/video taping of lectures and class discussions will only be allowed for students with support letters from the Academic Resource Center.

REVISION OF SYLLABUS:

 I reserve the right to revise this syllabus at any time during the semester.

ASSIGNMENTS AND DEADLINES:

All articles assigned may be read online either in JSTOR or the Loyola Student Historical Journal. To print from JSTOR you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (Get it Here!). Any text on this syllabus that appears in a different color and underlined is an internet link.

Week One (January 13-15):

Readings: John Daniels, "The Indian Population of North America in 1492."; James Axtell, "Moral Reflections on the Columbian Legacy," and "America Without the Indians,"

E-mail Assignment: send me a three-paragraph analysis of the three readings by January 14.

Week Two (January 20-22):

Readings: James Axtell and William Sturtevant, "The Unkindest Cut, or Who Invented Scalping," , and Axtell, Ethnohistory: An Historian's Viewpoint".

Be prepared to discuss both readings in class.

E-mail assignment: send a three-paragraph analysis .
 

Week Five (February 10-12):

Week Three (January 27-January 29):

Web readings on the Aztecs.. Carroll Riley, "Mesoamerican Indians in the Early Southwest,"

E-mail assignment: post a three-paragraph analysis of how historians confront early AMerican Indians by January 31.
 

Week Four (February 3-5):

Wiget, "Truth and the Hopi," Reff, "The Predicament of Culture,"
 
 
 
 

Week Five (March 2-4):

Second Short Paper: Write a brilliant three to five-page analysis of some aspect of the encounter between Jesuits and Indians in New France based on Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit Relations, three copies of this 73 volume set are available in the Monroe Library, there is a searchable CD-ROM version in the Humanities Lab (BO 448), and many of the volumes are online through the website at Leymone University. Due March 30.

Mary Mees, "Teach them the Moral Way of Living." Loyola Student Historical Journal 1997-98.
 

All assignments tentative from this point on

Week Nine (March 9-11):

Begin reading The Middle Ground pp. ix-194

Week Ten (March 16-18):

 The Middle Ground, pp. 195-315

Week Eleven (March 23-25):

Braund, "The Creek Indians, Blacks, and Slavery,"

Week Twelve (March 30-April 1):

Week Thirteen (April 6-8)
 

Dan Flores, "Bison Ecology," in Journal of American History.

Happy Easter!

Week Fourteen (April 13-15):

Michael Coleman, "Not Race but Grace: Presbyterian Ministers and American Indians, 1837-1893"; Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in History."

Research paper workshop: Students will discuss the progress of their research to date. Dr. F will be available for consultation.

Week Fifteen (April 20-22):

Reading: William Ellison, "Federal Indian Policy in California, 1846-1860."

Week Sixteen (April 27-29):

Research presentations.

Week Seventeen (Tuesday May 4)

Research Presentations continue

All research papers due May 4.

Final Exam (MAY 11, 2:00-4:00)

Study Guide:

The final exam will consist of one essay question. It will be drawn from the following choices:

1. Describe the methods of ethnohistory and discuss how they have enhanced our understanding of European and Indian encounters from 1492 to 1890.

2. Write an ethnohistory of one of the following regions: a) the southwest, b) British North America, c) New France.

3. Compare and contrast the European and Indians encounters between the Indians and the French, the Spanish, and the English.

4. The ethnohistory of North America can best be described as (choose one) an invasion, an invasion within, a middle ground, or a swarm. Explain.

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