Native American Studies

Native American Studies offers an open, alternative educational opportunity. This Specialty Area's programs are organized into 20-year cycles which mirror processes of human development and assist students and faculty alike in developing their whole person.
Mary Hillaire, the program's principal architect, envisioned the area as a way to prepare learners to be able "to lead a genuinely human life with respect to important human relationships to the land, others, work and the unknown in recognition of the fact that as you give, you teach others to give." That vision holds for the proposed programs of the Specialty Area's second 20 year cycle:

THE 20 YEAR VISION: Specialty Area's 20 Year Cycle

 

1994-95 HOME: The Hospitality of the Land	David Whitener
1995-96 CO-EXISTENCE: A Hospitable Relationship to Others	David Whitener
1996-97 COMMUNITY: Time, Space, People and Place	David Rutledge, Yvonne Peterson, Raul Nakasone, Rainer Hasenstab, David Whitener
1997-98 IMAGES: Physical Speculations on Unknown Conditions	Alan Parker, Yvonne Peterson, Gary Peterson, Gail Tremblay, David Rutledge
1998-99 REGENERATION: A Celebration with the Land	-
1999-00 HONOR: The Celebration of Others	-
2000-01 HISTORY: A Celebration of Place	Raul Nakasone, David Rutledge, Yvonne Peterson (Liaison with RB program)
2001-02 DESTINY: Welcoming the Unknown	Kristina Ackley, Raul Nakasone (Fall 2001), Gary Peterson
2002-03 RESPECT: A Process of Universal Humanity - S.O.S. in NAWIPS	David Rutledge, Raul Nakasone
2003-04 RECOGNITION: The Politics of Human Exchange	Gary Peterson, David Rutledge and Raul Nakasone
2004-05 PATIENCE: A Survival Process for an Unknown Future	-David Rutledge and Raul Nakasone
2005-06 RECONCILIATION: A Process of Human Balance	- Yvonne Peterson, David Rutledge and RAul Nakasone
2006-07 HERITAGE: Self-Identity and Ties to the Land	-
2007-08 FAMILY: Inspiration of Significant Others	-
2008-09 PERSISTENCE: A Study of Inspired Work	-
2009-10 SPIRITUALITY: The Eyes of the Unknown	-
2010-11 CEREMONY: Relating Hospitably to the Land	-
2011-12 JUSTICE: A Relationship of Reciprocal Respect	-
2012-13 PERFORMANCE: Models of Human Understanding	-
2013-14 DREAMS: Uncommon Dimensions of Thought	-

Proposed Objectives
Students will develop a critical appreciation of different ways to gather and apply information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Students will learn self-respect while drawing upon inherent resources and motivation for developing the whole person, and design important self-reliant, life foundation standards for a meaningful education to share with others.

The major goal of Native American Studies is to provide an open, alternative education opportunity through experiencing a Native American philosophy of education that promotes self-determination, individual research, goal setting, internal motivation and self-reliance.

This area is designed to serve a variety of student groups: Native American students who are interested in enriching their unique cultural heritage and developing strategies for self-determination in a pluralistic society; and other students interested in learning about their own traditional cultures and values including the dynamics of change in a pluralistic society.

Native American Studies, in keeping with student self-determined education, includes programs to complement various cognitive styles. Additionally, collaboration with other Specialty Areas and programs offers many interdisciplinary opportunities. Examples of such collaboration include studies in history, science, environmental studies, health and the expressive arts.

Career Pathways in Native American Studies
We tailor the educational experience to each student's particular needs. There are, therefore, no prescribed "pathways" in Native American Studies, although there is a general pattern that most students follow.

Work in Native American Studies begins with an interview with Specialty Area faculty In this interview, the student and faculty plan an individualized course of study to ensure that the student's personal needs are met.

Students are asked to answer four important educational questions:

What do I plan to do?

How do I plan to do it?

What do I plan to learn?

What difference will it make?

Students in Native American Studies work to develop individual identity, group loyalty and personal authority. Having developed these strengths and skills, they return to their communities to make a positive impact on the world around them.

The Longhouse

Education and Cultural Center Evergreen's new Longhouse represents a living, contemporary, cultural link to the Indigenous Nations of the Pacific Northwest. The purpose and philosophy of the Longhouse Center is based in service and hospitality to the students, the community and the college. The primary function of the facility is to provide classroom space on campus, house Native American Studies, serve as a center for multicultural studies, at host conferences, cultural ceremonies, performances, exhibits and community gatherings.
Credit will be awarded in Native American historical perspectives, cultural studies, perspectives of a pluralistic society, philosophy, human resource development, individual project work and cross-cultural communication.

Total: 48 credits

This program is preparatory for careers and future study in education, archaeology, the arts, anthropology, multicultural studies, tribal government and Native American studies.
 

Respect: A Process of Universal Humanity is a part of the vision

Description of the Program

           Fall, Winter, Spring/Coordinated Study
           Faculty: David Rutledge, Raul Nakasone
           Enrollment: 48
           Prerequisites: This all-level program will offer appropriate support for sophomores or above ready to do advanced work.
           Faculty Signature: No
           Special Expenses: No
           Internship Possibilities: No           This program will examine what it means to live in a pluralistic society at the beginning of the 21st. century. We will look at a variety of cultural and historical perspectives and use them to help us address the program theme. We will pay special attention to the value of human relationships to the and, to work, to others and to the unknown. We will concentrate our work in cultural studies, human resource development and cross-cultural communication. This program is part of the Native American and World Indigenous Peoples Studies area. While the program is not a study specifically of Native Americans, we shall explore Native American perspectives and look at issues that are particularly relevant to Native Americans. We will ask students to take a very personal stake in
their educational development. Within the program's themes and subjects, students will pay special attention to how they plan to learn, what individual and group work they plan on doing, and what difference the work will make in their lives and within their communities. Students will be encouraged to assume responsibility for their choices. The faculty and students will work to develop habits of worthwhile community interaction in the context of the education process and liberation. The faculty are interested in providing an environment of collaboration in which faculty and students identify topics of mutual interest and act as partners in the exploration of those topics. Students will use and explore Bloom's Taxonomy, the theory of multiple intelligences, the relationship between curriculum, assessment and instruction, quantitative reasoning, self- and group-motivation communication, e-mail, resources on the Web and Web crossing, and develop skills in interactive Web pages and independent research.
Books by the following authors may be read: Howard Zinn, Paul Freire, M. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Howard Gardner, William Irwin Thompson and Ciro Alegria.
Credit awarded in history, philosophy, cultural competency, communication, writing, political science, cultural anthropology, literature, indigenous arts, technology, indigenous studies, Native American studies, education and individual project work. Total: 16 credits each quarter. Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in education, anthropology, the arts, multicultural studies, human services and the humanities.
This program is also listed in First-Year Programs; Culture, Text and Language; and Society, Politics, Behavior and Change.