Destiny: Welcoming the Unknown

Destiny: Welcoming the Unknown explores the idea of destiny in different historical, political, and cultural contexts.

Every community has a story that explains the "destiny" of a people, that is, its necessary or inevitable fate. This program will examine the dynamic interaction between continuity and change in Indigenous societies.

There are three concepts that we'll take a deliberate interest in. First, the notion that tradition is that which changes slowest. Second, an extended conception of Indigenous history beyond the prevailing pre-contact/post-contact dichotomy. Third, manifest destiny and its deconstruction, especially its distortions of the directions that indigenous peoples are going in.

We will move from our examination of stories of Western nationalism in a global context, where we have been critically analyzing the concept of colonialism and structures of power to a focus on how these topics affect Native American Studies. We will examine the contrasting stories of destiny of different Native American communities. Will these communities be allowed to determine their own destinies, or will it be thrust upon them? These struggles and debates over reclaiming authority and reconciling values for their survival will be of particular interest to us. Winter quarter we will have a new faculty member, Corky Clairmont, who is a visiting faculty from the Salish-Kootenai Tribal College. He will be integrating art into the overall curriculum. He will take a particular interest in exploring how art has changed and how Native artists creatively re-imagine themselves in order to reclaim strength and voice. There will be a focus on Federal Indian Law and Policy, giving students an understanding of the policies and laws that affect all tribal groups in the continental United States, as well as contrasting the situation of Alaskan and Hawaiian Natives. We will also have an Indian Images in Film component. The film component will aim to develop a critically articulate way of looking at native characters in American films.

Throughout the course of the program, we will stress the importance of local knowledge in indigenous communities. We will also continually examine gender relations, weaving our analysis throughout our studies. This program can either be taken for 12 or 16 credits. Students registered for 16 credits in the winter quarter will participate in their choice of a workshop: indigenous environmental issues or a bridge program with the Reservation-Based program. Students registered in the bridge program with the Reservation-Based program will also have the option of enrolling in a printmaking module.

There is nothing mysterious or natural about authority. It is formed, irradiated, disseminated; it is instrumental, it is persuasive; it has status, it establishes canons of taste and value; it is virtually indistinguishable from certain ideas it dignifies as true, and from traditions, perceptions, and judgments it forms, transmits, reproduces. Above all, authority can, indeed must, be analyzed.
-Edward Said, Orientalism