Engagement at Butler
Our primary mission at Butler is education. In order to act, we must first understand. Below are some ways to learn more about Indigenous peoples through courses, resources, and offices at Butler, as well as support for Indigenous students and allies across campus.
Resources on Campus
- Explore Butler’s Indigenous Studies LibGuide
- View Butler’s Native American Heritage Month LibGuide
- Visit Butler’s Efroymson Diversity Center
- Read Butler’s DEI Statement of Commitment
- Join the working group by emailing the Chair at tmould@butler.edu
Courses at Butler with Indigenous Studies Content
New courses are constantly being created. Please ask your teachers and advisors for help identifying courses with indigenous content.
Questions? Contact Tom Mould, Chair of the working group for Indigenous Inclusion and Engagement and Professor of Anthropology and Folklore: tmould@butler.edu.
Core Courses
Latin America is more than food and futbol. Instead, “Latin America” is the complex product of colonial encounters, different forms of struggle, and multiple negotiations. This course introduces students to the study of Latin America through the lens of contact zones, i.e. places where different peoples and cultures “meet, clash, grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power.” Exploring how privilege, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class, as cultural constructions, have emerged through colonial relations of power, the course aims to dismantle cultural stereotypes of the region by emphasizing the diversity and complexity of its peoples.
Ever since Toussaint-L’Ouverture led the first successful modern slave rebellion in Haiti in the late eighteenth century, defeating the armies of France, Britain, and Spain, the Caribbean has been a pivotal region in understanding the legacy of colonialism in the Americas. In this course, we will examine, from an interdisciplinary and comparative framework, the long history of interaction between the Caribbean and the West. Beginning with Christopher Columbus’s ‘discovery’ of the New World, Europe’s development of the Atlantic slave trade, and the world-changing Haitian Revolution, we will follow the efforts of formerly colonized people of this region to forge new nations, cultures, and identities in the aftermath of European imperialism. Topics likely to receive particular emphasis this semester include Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism, Rastafarianism and Obeah (Voodoo), Bob Marley and Jamaican popular music, international capitalism and the tourist industry, and the role of Caribbean women in the struggle for postcolonial identity and the development of a diasporic consciousness.
An introduction to and overview of the national dances of Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. We will study the influence of indigenous cultures, colonization, and the Atlantic slave trade on the development of dances such as samba, rumba, tango, capoeira, and popular dance and culture, as well as examining current practice in light of the political and social changes that have occurred in these countries since 1900. We will approach the course subject using films, texts, and, of course, dancing. We will gain first-hand knowledge of, and appreciation for, dance in these cultures and how it relates to an appreciation of dance in our culture. All students are welcome.
(U)(3) Occasionally
This three-week course takes place in Malaysia and is open to all Butler University students regardless of major. The course will emphasize collaborative music-making through exposure to traditional (indigenous) Malaysian and North American music. Students and Malaysian students will critically reflect on ways in which culture and music intersect in an increasingly transcultural world, with an awareness of musical colonialism and its effects on minoritized peoples. Through development of creativity, students will co-compose a musical drama, reflecting their sociocultural and personal backgrounds. Through discourse (verbal, written, and musical) students will consider constructive strategies for inclusive and diversity-affirming relationships.
(U)(3) Summer
Civil rights, social movements, resistance, and liberation are the subjects of this course. We will examine the ways in which such minoritized populations as people of color, women, the LGBT-identified, and the poor have demanded rights and responsibilities.
This course will examine the historical debate about what contributions made were to the American Constitution by European, Euro American, and Native American traditions both in theory and practice from 1200 to 1790.
(U)(3) Occasionally
This course provides a balanced chronological overview of the genre of science fiction, reaching back centuries for predecessor texts and continuing through to present day, to explore how its surface tropes (robots, space and aliens, time travel, superpowers, et. al.) embody metaphorical opportunities to analyze real-life historical and cultural trends and events, and expressive opportunities to reflect upon a range of interdisciplinary themes.
What does it mean to be an American? Are there connective cultural/historical threads across time that help to form a national identity? These and other questions are at the heart of a raucous, multifaceted exploration of American history, identity, and culture.
In the past, the creators of Native American literature were oral performers, people who used the power of the spoken and sung word rather than the pen. Today, Native peoples continue to draw on the power of oral performance, but also employ written and visual media to create literary texts both sacred and secular. In this course, we will explore these multimedia texts in their social, cultural, and historical contexts. We will begin with oral literature—including sacred myths, legends, ritual poetry, and prophecies—reading and listening to them not only for their artistry but for what they reveal about community values, beliefs, and worldview. We will then trace these topics through short stories, novels, and films in order to understand the breadth and complexity of Native American literatures across a select number of tribes and nations in order to develop a deep understanding of distinct national and ethnic identities within “Indian Country.”
An introduction to the texts, practices, and ideas of the world’s major religious traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the indigenous traditions of Africa and the Americas.
(U)(3) Fall and spring.
Note: Degree to which indigenous peoples are addressed will vary by professor. Please contact the professor of the semester in which you plan to enroll for more information.
Additional Courses
In this course we will examine the cultures of some of the many Native American nations, tribes, and communities in the U.S. The class will take as a dual focus 1) current issues in Indian country implicated by diverse worldviews, and 2) expressive culture as a way to understand the beliefs and values of a group. Current issues will include multiple constructions of identity, sovereignty, ecological issues, political activism, casinos, and cultural appropriation. Aspects of expressive culture will include material culture such as pottery and sand-painting, orally and visually performed genres such as storytelling and dance, and spiritual beliefs and practices, particularly as conveyed through ritual and festival. Focus will be on contemporary Native American cultures in their relevant social, cross-cultural and historical contexts, with a primary goal of fighting against essentialist moves to speak of “Native Americans,” and rather consider the variation among these many diverse indigenous groups.
(U)(3) Occasionally
This course surveys American art and visual culture from roughly 1500 to the present, within the context of philosophical, historical, social, and cultural developments. Among the topics we will consider are art and national identity; portraiture of the self and others; picturing war; representations of gender, race, and ethnicity; reflection of nature and landscape; the exchange between art and popular culture; and cross-regional and global encounters. The class will incorporate various curatorial/museum components into class activities and assignments, including field trips to local museums and/or monuments; student-led tours; and drafting museum labels, a curatorial essay/proposal, among others.
(U)(3)
Note: The class covers the representation, misrepresentation, and/or erasure of Native Americans in art and visual culture in the first few weeks of the course.
This immersive 2-week study abroad course provides the opportunity to experience, unlearn, and re-envision food, culture, justice, and sustainability through visits to community-based organizations and participation in workshops, service, and expert lectures. This class is hands-on, and students will be working with farmers and community organizations on projects that connect to community health, social justice, Indigenous rights, and sustainable food systems/permaculture.
(U)(3)
Note: First class planned for summer 2023.
This course explores the history of witchcraft, shamanism, and other “pagan” (+ “neo-pagan”) and New Age belief systems. Covering the period from classical times to the present day, it takes a transnational approach, tracing alternative spiritualities through tropes such as colonialism, resistance, nationalism, socialism, anarchism and capitalism.
This course explores how film has engaged with the history of Latin America and shaped the perception of its people, societies, and cultures. Students will analyze various forms of motion pictures as visual narratives to understand the region’s turbulent history and deconstruct persistent stereotypes.
This course will explore the relationship between humans and the environment in the Global South. Although we will primarily focus on Asia, Africa, and Latin America, we will also study the active intercourse that these geographical regions had with Europe and North America. At its fundamental level this course will examine the various ways that mankind has shaped and transformed its surrounding ecosystems, and the political, social, cultural, and economic projects that drove this transformation. This course will treat humans as one of many species within an ecosystem, while recognizing mankind’s deleterious impact on the environment in pursuit of modernity. We will also discuss how activists and indigenous people have resisted detrimental state and global projects in order to preserve and protect local environments. During the semester we will consider the environment as it relates to imperialism, resource depletion, global economic development, politics, religion, climate change, gender, the nation-state, conservation, and global commodities. In so doing we will utilize a variety of sources, including memoirs, biographies, historical, anthropological, and sociological studies, and scientific texts.
(U/G)(3) Occasionally
This course investigates the central concepts of critical theory through the exploration of the overlapping terrains of women’s and gender studies, feminist, and queer theory. Prerequisites: GWS102 and GWS202 or junior/senior status.
(U)(3)
Designed to give the advanced undergraduate student academic flexibility. Likely topics are Policing a Democratic society, Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice, Legal Aspects of Law Enforcement, History of the Criminal Justice System and Crime in Comparative Perspective.