The graduate minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies offers advanced training in theory and methodology to students who want to integrate Indigenous studies into their graduate degree program.

AIS 501: Indigenous Critical Theory

Explores the distinctive form of inquiry which critiques settler-colonial ideas and institutions at the interdisciplinary crossroads where American Indian and Indigenous Studies engages other theories including but not limited to feminist theory, critical race theory, semiotics and phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and postcolonial theory (to name only some of many possibilities). Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of the instructor.

AIS 502: Indigenous Decolonial Methods

Introduction for graduate students to key critical scholars and prevailing and emerging models in research methods that seek ethical knowledge production in American Indian and/or Indigenous Studies, including ethnography, archival research, interviews, and translation (to name only some of myriad options). Focus is on assisting students to initiate, develop, clarify, and justify the research methods they adopt and practice to reach their research goals. Prerequisite: AIS 501 or consent of the instructor.

AIS 503: Seminar in Indigenous Studies

Research and writing seminar that offers special topics based on current research questions and concerns in American Indian and Indigenous Studies and opportunities for graduate students who have made considerable progress in defining a research project to advance the research and writing to the next stage (e.g., to include as a thesis or dissertation chapter or for publication). Topics vary. Prerequisite: AIS 501 and AIS 502, or consent of the instructor. May be repeated with different professors in subsequent semesters to a maximum of 8 hours.