The curriculum for the 42 credit hour Bachelor of Arts degree in American Indian studies will encourage students to understand and appreciate the roles of history, culture, and politics in the development of tribal world views, world views that relate to modern life and contemporary issues of concern for Native peoples.  Students will be given opportunities to identify historical, cultural, and political diversity and significance in Native oral traditions and written literatures and to understand historical experiences and contemporary issues from the perspective of American Indian peoples.  Central to all these classes is tribal sovereignty and the shaping of that sovereignty by tribal self-determination as well as by relationships with the federal government and with the states.  Students will have the chance to become familiar with at least one tribal language and inherent in this degree's curriculum and related activities is the expectation that students and faculty will assume an active role in working with and for Indigenous communities.

See also:
University Catalog (AIST)
Semester Class Schedules

AIST Undergraduate Major Requirements

Checklist

Foundation Classes 9 hours required

AIST 1001     Foundations in American Indian Studies
AIST 1350     American Indians in Contemporary Society
AIST 2210     North American Indians
AIST 2290     History of North American Indians

Elective AIST Classes 6 hours required

Required Core 15 hours required, one class from each of 5 subject areas

• Tribal Governance

AIST 3300     Federal Indian Law
AIST 4100     Tribal Governments

• Literature

AIST 2340     Native American Literature and Culture
AIST 2345     American Indians in Hollywood Film
AIST 3100     Tribal Literatures of the Great Plains
AIST 4460     American Indian Literature

• History

AIST 3000     Plains History and Culture
AIST 4000     Indians of Wyoming
AIST 4466     American Indian Ethnohistory

• Environment & Resource Management

AIST 3200     Indigenous Peoples and their Environments
AIST 4340     Natural Resource Mgt on Western Reservations

• Ways of Knowing

AIST 3400     Traditional Ecological Knowledge
AIST 4110     Foundations in American Indian Education
AIST 4200     Indigenous Communities Abroad: International Travel
AIST 4740     Native American Languages and Cultures

Capstone Internship 4 hours required

AIST 4020     Internship active participation in and service to an Indigenous community in the U.S. or elsewhere. Internship guidelines.

Language Classes 8 hours required (Count for the College of A&S language requirement)

AIST 1010 and AIST 1020     First and second semester Northern Arapaho, first and second semester Eastern Shoshone, or 8 hours of another American Indian or Alaskan Native language

Declaring an AIST Undergraduate Major

Please complete and submit the "Change of Advisor, Major, Minor, Option/Concentration, College, and or Graduate Status" form available on the Office of the Registrar's website.

Grade Requirements

AIST classes applied to AIST degrees must be passed with a grade of C or better.  This policy applies to AIST classes completed fall semester 2012 and beyond