Current Courses

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of Native Studies. Its purpose is to increase the student's understanding and sensitivity towards the past and present experience of Native peoples. The course will examine precontact history; the influences of colonialism and primitive accumulation/capitalism in the postcontact era; and contemporary issues - while emphasizing a historical and materialist perspective.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of Native Studies. Its purpose is to increase the student's understanding and sensitivity towards the past and present experience of Native peoples. The course will examine precontact history; the influences of colonialism and primitive accumulation/capitalism in the postcontact era; and contemporary issues - while emphasizing a historical and materialist perspective.

This course is designed for students with little or no knowledge of the language. The aims are listening comprehension and basic oral expression.

This course is designed for students with little or no knowledge of the language. The aims are listening comprehension and basic oral expression.

This course emphasizes fluency using all forms taught in Intermediate Mi'kmaq. Class will be conducted as an immersion class, and oral traditions of storytelling and public speaking will be featured. Prerequisite: NATI 2103 Intermediate Mi'kmaq or basic fluency in Mi'kmaq.

Examines traditional and contemporary environmental values and practices of Indigenous peoples in North America. Considers the impact of Western values, practices, and ecological theories on Indigenous peoples and their environments. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which traditional environmental ethics remain viable in contemporary societies.

This course will look at colonialism as a strategy of imperialism and as a model for understanding North American Native history. Different types of colonialism will be explored, i.e. classic, internal, and neocolonialism, and an emphasis will be placed on the history and continuing impact of colonialism on Indigenous peoples and cultures of North America. The course will also analyze Christian missions, the fur trade, and colonial government policies, as well as exploitation, racism, war, indoctrination, genocide, and cultural appropriation as manifestations of colonialism. Responses to colonialism, including resistance and decolonization, will also be considered. Prerequisite: NATI 1006.

Suicide is, and has been for nobody knows how long, rampant in indigenous populations in Canada. Despite well-publicized projects targeting specific communities, none of the interventions have been able to demonstrate any positive effect; if anything, the problem continues to worsen. We examine critically the field of Suicidology as it applies to the Native Peoples of Canada and suggest reasons why efforts to prevent suicide have not paid off. We also explore different kinds of interventions that may be more successful.

While psychology has an important place in examining and understanding issues of the modern world, it has long been shown to be founded upon certain ideological presumptions that make it inapplicable to and inappropriate for work with indigenous peoples. A different formulation of psychology, which predated the current form but which was abandoned for no substantial reason, has in recent years been offered as a replacement, or at least an alternative, for the current model. We examine this formulation and apply it to psychology issues arising in indigenous peoples/communities of Canada, and show how this reconceptualization gives rise to substantively different approaches to addressing those issues.

An analytical overview of the development of European bodies of law during the creation and rise of capitalism, as it began in Europe and continued to the creation of the 1876 Indian Act - a legal history of the legal-political relationship between Native peoples and Europeans. This course will especially focus on the 1823 Johnson v. M'Intosh decision, which gave white Christian empires and their successors the right to take automatic possession of Indigenous territory on discovery of the land - The Doctrine of Discovery. The differences between Common Law and Civil Law will be analyzed. The course will conclude with a brief overview of the 1888 St. Catharines Milling and Lumber Co v. R decision in Canada.

A survey course that introduces students to the discipline of Native Studies. Its purpose is to increase the student's understanding and sensitivity towards the past and present experience of Native peoples. The course will examine precontact history; the influences of colonialism and primitive accumulation/capitalism in the postcontact era; and contemporary issues - while emphasizing a historical and materialist perspective.

This course is designed for students with little or no knowledge of the language. The aims are listening comprehension and basic oral expression.

This course is designed to facilitate communication in Mi'kmaq at a functional level. It focuses on listening and speaking skills through basic conversation, and the study of grammar, phonics, structure, vocabulary, and word formation. Prerequisite NATI 1103, Beginning Mi'kmaq.

This course analyzes the research of Drs. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Jim Cummins and others in language loss, first-and second-language learning, and immersion education. It focuses also on the strategies, experiences, and educational results of existing Native Language Immersion programmes, particularly those of the Hawaiians, Maoris, Navajos, Mohawks, Okanagans, and Inuit. Fluency in Maliseet or Mi'kmaq is not required.

This course will examine traditional forms and philosophies of education in Native societies, and the changes that have occurred since contact and colonization. It will also examine the formal education of Natives by the immigrant society as indoctrination for civilization and assimilation. It will look closely at residential and day schools in Canada and the United States and the effect they have had on contemporary Native societies and cultures. Special attention will be given to the relationship between education and cultural survival, and the importance for Native people to reclaim and control the education of their children. Prerequisite: NATI 3603 or permission of the instructor.

The goal of this course is to conceptualize the fundamental justifications for human rights and contrast those with Aboriginal rights. Some relevant questions that this course will explore are: Why do Aboriginal peoples need a different class of rights? Are Aboriginal rights theorized in an equitable manner? What processes are served by conceiving and executing Aboriginal rights as we see them today? What attributes do Aboriginal peoples lack which makes them not fully human?

This course provides an introduction to issues of alcohol and drug use/abuse in indigenous communities (concentrating on Canada for the most part, but including reference to such issues in other indigenous communities worldwide). Traditional uses of substances which alter consciousness are reviewed, as well as the role that the introduction of unfamiliar psychoactive substances played in European expansionism and colonialism. Modern models of addiction and programs for recovery are critically examined and placed within the context of creating a continuing marginalization of indigenous cultures by dominating ones.

This course examines Indigenous rights pertaining to land and waterway entitlement in North America. Theoretical concepts will be discussed, including the concepts of land use and land occupancy. The well-documented history of Indigenous land ownership before and during European contact will be analyzed, as well as the attempts by settler nation-states to replace communal Indigenous land ownership to capitalist individual land ownership (fee simple) with Indigenous share holders. The course will include an overview of landmark cases, including the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; Delgamuukw and Tsilhqot'in Nation; land claims in Labrador; Miccosukee water rights; and potential Greenland independence.

To do philosophy is to reflect critically on our underlying beliefs (e.g., about reality, knowledge, freedom, responsibility) and to modify whatever doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Whether we realize it or not, the very way we think is shaped by past thinkers -- which is why studying philosophy's history is a crucial part of doing philosophy.  In this course, we will focus on Modern and Contemporary thinkers as we strive to evaluate our views critically.  This course has no prerequisite.