This course examines how human beings express themselves through the arts, music, literature and other humanities disciplines such as history and philosophy, employs a world and historical view and emphasizes the diversity and commonality in human culture.

This course examines how human beings express themselves through the arts, music, literature and other humanities disciplines such as history and philosophy, employs a world and historical view and emphasizes the diversity and commonality in human culture.

This course will examine the ways in which Native American communities are addressing food related issues - from fighting rising rates of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity stemming from a drastically colonized diet - to preservation of tribal food cultures, to defending treaty-guaranteed hunting, fishing, and gathering rights. This class will also explore the disparate health conditions faced by Native communities, and the efforts made by many community groups to address these health problems through increasing access to traditional foods and medicines - whether by gardening, traditional agriculture, or a revival of hunting, fishing, and gathering traditions. We will also examine the ways in which Native food movements have converged and diverged from general American local food movements and the struggles they often face in protecting and renewing food ways.

A general history of the Ochéthi Šakówi? (Seven Council Fires) or “Great Sioux Nation” from prehistoric times to the present. Participants will examine the cultural and historical changes, experienced by contact and influences of tribes from other regions and non-Indians.

This class will focus on identification of culturally important plants at various stages of growth. Topics will include traditional uses of plants by Indigenous peoples of the world as well as harvesting, preparation, and storage protocols. We will also feature botanical, English, and Indigenous nomenclature. The course will examine habitat diversity, including optimal growth conditions, plant origins (native and invasive) and the interdependence of organisms.