Dispossessions in the Americas: The Loss and Recovery of Indigenous Lands, Bodies, and Heritage

1 Course Unit

Settler colonialism in the Americas is both material and ideological, rooted in dispossessions that are traceable to historical conquest, yet marked in the present. To rectify dispossession is to look both backwards and forwards, to repair material losses and to attend to the values and ideologies that hybridize our present. This course delves into case histories of Indigenous, Latinx, Afro-descendant, and other marginalized populations who have been dispossessed of territory, natural resources, freedom, political rights, and cultural heritage. Our primary goals are the following: first, we seek to document specific territorial, embodied, and heritage dispossessions through the mechanisms of deceit, disease, and warfare (both broadly and specifically); second, we aspire to outline and identify models and processes that promote recovery and restorative justice. Faculty from several departments and programs (anthropology, history, Latin American studies, Native American studies, gender studies, etc.) will present guest lectures highlighting their critical studies of archaeological, museological, artistic, and other processes of dispossession and recovery. Their case studies include: counter-mapping techniques for identifying Indigenous lands; mapping the movements of bodies and objects among museums; tracking trends in heritage loss and recovery; etc. Students will learn about useful resources and initiatives for decolonizing, and will gain experience in understanding dispossessions of the past, while applying restorative methodologies in the present. Fall, odd numbered years only 1 Course Unit