P a c i f i c   N o r t h w e s t B o r d e r l a n d s
    Identities and Contested Boundaries

    Summer Session 2; July 28 - September 5, 2003
    Classroom: LIB 2126
     

    Lummi Fishers ca1940s. UW Digital Archives Photo
     
     

    Faculty

    Edward Echtle  email: echtle@earthlink.net
    Sarah Pedersen, Office: x6647 email: pederses@evergreen.edu






    Course Description
    Much has been written on the borderlands of the U.S. Southwest.   National, class and racial identities have coexisted and clashed there, but what of the US/Canadian border?  Through assigned readings and site visits, students will explore boundaries that shaped the peoples of the San Juan Island region of Washington state. National boundary disputes, native/white relations and competing islander/tourist visions are some of the issues that we'll explore in class and on a 10-day sailing voyage among the Islands between Aug. 11 and Aug. 23.

    Special expenses required: $400 for charter fees, vans, museums, food, moorage and fuel.


    Required Texts
     
    • Daniel Boxberger, To Fish In Common: The Ethnohistory of Lummi Indian Salmon Fishing
    • Ivan Doig, The Sea Runners
    • Paul Hirt, Terra Pacifica: People and Place in the Northwest States and Western Canada
    • Nancy Pagh, At Home Afloat: Women on the Waters of the Pacific Northwest
    • Also see library reserve for articles required in this course.



    Schedule

    Week 1
     

      Tue
      0900 -1200 (9am -12noon)
      LIB 2126
      Introductions, Course Outline, Q&A, Program Covenant, Waivers, Trip Logistics
      Lecture: PNW History and course objectives

      Thur
      0900 -1200
      LIB 2126
      1st Response paper due
      Paragraph term project proposal. [see below]
      Seminar: Terra Pacifica- Chapters 1, 4, 5, and 6

      1300 - 1700
      East Bay Marina
      Introduction to systems; short sail.
       

    Week 2
     
      Tue
      0900 -1200
      LIB 2126
      Seminar Articles: Harmon - "Lines in Sand" and "Fur Traders and Natives"; Lutz, "Making Indians"
      2nd response paper due

      Thur
      0900 -1200
      LIB 2126
      Seminar: Boxberger, To Fish in Common
      3rd Response paper due

      1-5pm: East Bay Marina - Sail Training
       

    Week 3
     
      Shipboard: Itinerary still in development.
      Seminar: Doig, Sea Runners
      4th Response paper due
     
    Week 4
     
      Shipboard: Itinerary still in development.
      Seminar: Pagh, At Home Afloat
      5th Response paper due
     
    Week 5
     
      Tuesday
      0900 -1200
      Summative Seminar: Have thesis prepared for discussion

      Thursday
      0900 -1200
      Oral Presentations of Final Projects
       

    Week 6
       
      Tue
      1200
      Final Projects Due
     
     
    Important Class Information Documents [MS Word Format]
     
    • Trip Itinerary
    • Trip Budget
    • Suggested Packing List


    Course Objective
    Students enrolled in PNW Borderlands have the task of examining and critically evaluating the ways in which people forge and maintain collective identities for the purpose of protecting interests , furthering causes, and enhancing their life chances.  Here's how we will approach the matter:

    Choose a topic from the following list of conflicts or negotiations, or another conflict you find relevant

    • US/Canadian territorial dispute
    • Fishing rights
    • Environmental protection
    • Access to professions or avocations
    • Resource use: recreational vs industrial
    • Economic development vs preservation


    Choose an identity category related to the conflict or negotiation which you see as a potentially important organizing factor.  Some possible organizing identity categories to consider:

    • Race/ethnicity
    • class/economic status
    • gender
    • sexual orientation
    • education level
    • species
    • nationality
    • religion
    • geographic affiliation
    • generation
    • local/outsider.


    Thursday of week one (7/31/03) turn in a proposal for your project area stating the conflict and the organizing identity you will use as your lens in the class.

    Example:

    • I am interested in the ways women used traditional gender-roles to further non-traditional causes, such as securing a place in cannery work by promoting certain duties as feminine.
    • I am going to look for examples of Americans using national identity to leverage their agenda to make the San Juans a part of the US.

      •  
    As you read, discuss and write about readings over the next five weeks, consider how the organizing identity you have chosen surfaces in the various boundary disputes we will study.
     

    Weekly Writing
    Students will produce a response paper before each seminar, due at the beginning of seminar.  Response papers are your ticket to participate in discussion and should be typewritten.  Handwritten notes may be added during seminar.  Because the response papers constitute your journal through this class, they will in effect act as an outline for your final project: the synthesis essay.

    Response papers should include:

  • Complete citation of book(s) or article(s) in bibliography form at heading. (useful for footnoting in final project)
  • The author’s thesis, the main argument they are making.
  • How the work(s) relate to the student's focus for the class.


    • Term Project: Synthesis Essay
    The culmination of class work will be a synthesis essay.  Your final essay will explore how group affiliations or identities define or determine the conduct of the specific conflict/negotiation.  The essay should include discussion of the ways the organizing identity you have chosen influences the other conflicts or negotiations covered in the class, drawing comparisons to “your” conflict.  The essay should also cite specific materials examined by the student relating to their issue of choice, such as books, articles, historical markers or brochures, talks given to the group by people we visit, etc.  Anything and everything is fair game if it is relevent.

    The synthesis paper should not simply be a combination of your response papers; the synthesis essay should have its own thesis and support for that thesis drawn from the texts examined by the student during the course of the class.  A draft of your final essay is due Thursday August 28 when you will also present your findings to the class for response and critique.  Your final draft will be due Tuesday, September 2 by 1200.


    Texts on Library Reserve:
    • Barman, The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia
    • Rousemaniere, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship
    • Schwantes, The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History
    • Storey, Writing History

      •  
    Articles for Copy
    • Harmon, "Lines in Sand"
    • Harmon, "Fur Traders and Natives"
    • Lutz, "Making Indians in BC"
    • White, "Poor Men, Poor Lands"



    Research Links

    San Juan Island National Historic Park
     http://www.nps.gov/sajh/home_new.htm

    The Lushootseed Peoples of Puget Sound Country
     http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/thrush/

    San Jaun County Planning Dept
    http://www.co.san-juan.wa.us/planning/index.html

    UW Libraries Digital Collections
     http://content.lib.washington.edu/index.html

    Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
     http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/

    STRIKES!  Labor and Labor History in the Puget Sound
    http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/STRIKES!/
     


    Credit Breakdown: Eight Credits Total
    • 4 Credit/hours Pacific Northwest History
    • 2 Credit/hours Regional/Maritime Literature
    • 2 Credit/hours Applied Seamanship

     
     
     
     
     

    Updated 8.2.2003