AMST 271 - Native American Visual Sovereignty

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as POLI 271) This course studies the ways in which Native American visual culture asserts and affirms Indigenous political sovereignty. With a focus on visualities, including painting, printmaking, performance art, street art, film and television, we examine the multiple ways Native artists claim political power for themselves on and for their territories and nations. Leaning on Native American scholars such as Scott Richard Lyones and Michelle Rahaja, we examine Native American sovereignty as a ‘doing’ rather than a ‘being,’ as well as a process that can be defined artistically and kinesthetically. We consider the spectrum of “high” and “low” arts, looking at – for example – paintings that might hang in a national gallery and graffiti that might be tagged on an abandoned building. While it is tempting to consider this an “artwork of resistance” or “activist art,” in the case of Native American artists the attention paid to sovereignty is the resistance itself. In this course, we ask: How do Native American creative practices speak to sovereignty in ways that differ from what we might call traditional or standard forms of politics? And, how are Native American visual sovereignties tied to decolonial discourses? In addition to this being a co-taught class environment, we aim to offer a variety of perspectives by including guest speakers and visits. Molly McGlennen, Mallory Whiteduck.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS