Art, Gender, and Indigeneity in the Americas

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In this course, we will engage with the academic fields of Native American and Indigenous Studies, Performance Studies, and Gender Studies. Inspired by groundbreaking work of Indigenous scholars, artists, and activists, we will explore how the body has constituted (and continues to constitute) a site for Indigenous peoples to explore gender identities and gendered community roles. Throughout the course, we will engage with cultural productions by Indigenous peoples in various media, including literature, music, theatre, public performance, and film to learn about the fight of Indigenous peoples to reclaim sovereignty over their own bodies. Using this survey of Indigenous ideas about gender as a frame of reference, students will critically explore their own ideas and beliefs. The course’s geographic focus is the Americas, from the Canadian Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the South American mainland.