cnair.northwestern.edu

The mission of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) is to advance scholarship, teaching, learning, and artistic or cultural practices related to Native American and Indigenous communities, priorities, histories, and life ways. The goals of CNAIR include student engagement with:

• Concepts of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as how colonization impacted the individual, community, and political identities and health of Native American and Indigenous people.
• Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) theories and methodologies.
• Scholarship about how indigenous land, identity, and values inform Native American and Indigenous experiences and expressions.
• Major events, social movements, artistic expression, and policies in Native American and Indigenous histories.
• The dynamics between urban, rural, and reservation Native American and Indigenous experiences and how those dynamics are communicated through mobility, storytelling, and oral traditions.
• Native American and Indigenous historical and contemporary experiences within a global context.

The minor in Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is designed for the student who is interested in understanding the identities and experiences, cultural practices, and life ways of Native American and Indigenous people. It requires six courses from across a variety of departments and includes explorations of creative expression, the social and natural worlds, and indigeneity within a global context. Individual classes may focus on Native literature, traditional ecological knowledge, tribal sovereignty and other topics. Questions may be directed to the director of the minor at cnair@northwestern.edu.

Program of Study

Courses are drawn from a variety of departments.  See the requirements for the minor, and the CNAIR webpage for the most up-to-date details.