Native Pathways Program: An Indigenous Approach to History (Tacoma)

Fall quarter we will cover topics on cultural traditions, storytelling, history, literature, and federal policy. We will examine and analyze the stakeholders who create what we commonly refer to as history. By determining the lens through which history is transmitted, students deliberate and seminar on the concept of revisionist history. Critically exploring the cultural component of oral storytelling and the arts as viable modes of interpreting and disseminating history, as well as legal documents and historical narratives authored by native and non-natives, develops close reading and research skills. 

This program teaches from a Native-based perspective within the context of the larger global society and is designed for students who have social, cultural, or economic ties to tribes. The curriculum addresses three themes that rotate yearly. For 2018-2019, the theme is Foundations for Sustainable Tribal Nations. 

The five curricular elements of the program are Core Course, Integrated Skills, Strands, Integrated Seminar, and Independent Study. The Core Course is a 9-credit unit taught at all sites at the same time with the same readings and assignments, but allows for faculty/student innovation and site specification. Integrated Skills, including critical thinking and analysis, research and writing, public speaking, collaboration, personal authority, and indigenous knowledge, are taught across the curriculum, integrated into all teaching and learning at the sites and at Saturday classes. Strands, another element, are 2-credit courses taught on four Saturdays per quarter; these allow for breadth in the program and make it possible to invite professionals and experts in specific fields to offer courses that otherwise might not be available to students in the program. The Integrated Seminar, Battlegrounds , held on the same four Saturdays as the Strands, is a 1-credit workshop generally built around Native case studies. The program also includes student-initiated work through independent study.