John Gast, AMERICAN PROGRESS, 1872 [This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress, is an allegorical representation of Manifest Destiny. Here Columbia, intended as a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she travels; she holds a schoolbook. The different economic activities of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation. The Indians and wild animals flee.] LC 200 COURSE DESCRIPTION In 1942, John Berryman said, "It's time to see the frontiers as they are, fiction, but a fiction meaning blood." Using a variety of disciplines from the Humanities and the Social Sciences, we will interrogate Frederick Jackson Turner's notion of the "Frontier" as America's creation myth, political ideology, and national identity. A selective survey of Old West narratives (with a romantic focus on great white men) and New West counter-narratives (emphasizing race, class, gender, and the environment), will be crosscut by Native American perspectives in an attempt to reconstruct a more complex and authentic account of the American West, past and present. LC Courses: ENG 250 The World in Literature & SSN 230 Interdisciplinary Topics in Social Science Schedule: T/TH 11:00-1:45 Location: DON 152

COURSE TEXTS Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Gloria Anzaldua, Aunt Lute Books, 2007.[Excerpt] Ceremony. Leslie Marmon Silko, Penquin, 1986. Does the Frontier Experience Make America Exceptional? Richard W. Etulain, Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999. Fools Crow. James Welch, Penquin, 1987. Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. Patricia Nelson Limerick, WW Norton, 1987. The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson (1682).[Web Source] The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity. Jill Lepore, Vintage Books, 1998. Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming. Winona LaDuke, South End Press, 2005. The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893.[Web Source] Solar Storms. Linda Hogan,Scribner, 1997. Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth. Henry Nash Smith, 1950.[Web Source-Excerpt] Women of the Dawn. Bunny McBride, Bison Books, 2001.[Excerpt] Course Packet: Supplemental reading consisting of relevant articles and/or chapter excerpts will be provided by the instructors. (Abbreviated in the syllabus as CP.) Visual Materials: Not all the weekly assignments will consist of the written word. We will be discussing maps, landscape painting, and other forms of visual culture. You need to analyze these materials with the same rigor you apply to written texts. Ask yourself what those items say about the way people conceived of the frontier. In addition, ask yourself whether they confirm, refute, or complicate what you are drawing from the discussions and the readings.

TOPIC & READING LIST PART I. ORIGIN STORIES:"To retrench the traditional concept of Western history at this point would mean to invalidate the justifications for conquering the Western Hemishpere." Vine Deloria, Jr., God Is Red PART II. VIOLENCE & REGENERATION: "Nits make lice....Kill all, big and little....[And] damn any man who takes the side of the Indians." Colonel John M. Chivington, Commander, Colorado Volunteer Cavalry 1864 PART III. THE PEOPLE: "For the Other remains to be discovered. The fact is worthy of astonishment." Tzvetan Todorov, The Conquest of America PARTIV. THE LAND: "You are on Indian Land." 1990s bumper sticker PART V. IMAGINED WEST: "Who you? Ugh. You see-um him? Me want-um him." Lone Ranger program (1936) dialogue between the Lone Ranger and his Indian sidekick, Tonto (which means "fool, dunce or dolt" in Spanish) PART VI. MODERN WEST: "As Malcolm X once warned, if we're not careful, the establishment press will have us believing the oppressed are victimizing their oppressors." John Trudell, 1983. TOPIC & READING SCHEDULE

COURSE POLICIES & PROCEDURES The Learning Community Difference - A learning community is different from a stand-alone course in that students are more actively engaged in a collaborative learning environment and more responsible for their own learning. We encourage the development of a sense of community where students and faculty learn together. Since this is an integrated learning community the approach to instruction will be centered on team-teaching between the instructors, collaborative learning among the students, co-construction of interdisciplinary subject matter knowledge, and integrative assessment activities. General Course Requirements & Expectations Assessment & Grading Academic Opportunities (e.g., honors, CSL, CAPS, etc.)

Memorial Stone, Historic Deerfield FIELD TRIPS Historic Deerfield : At the time of the Europeans' arrival, Deerfield was inhabited by the Pocumtuck nation. First settled by English Settlers in 1669, incorporated in 1673, abandoned in 1676 during King Phillip's War, and resettled again by the English by 1682. At Bloody Brook,on 18 September 1675, the dispossessed Indians would destroy a small force under the command of Captain Thomas Lathrop, before being driven off by reinforcements. To learn more about the 1704 Raid on Deerfield, Claire Carlson (local historian and tour guide) recommends this website by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. And for a thorough book about the Raid, Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield, by Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney (2003, University of Massachusetts Press). Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center: The Pequot are a tribal nation of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. The Pequot War saw the elimination of the Pequot as a viable socio-political entity in present-day southern New England. Today, there are two independentPequot tribal nations in Connecticut-- the Mashantucket Pequot and the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation (a.k.a. Paucatuck Pequot). Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704 Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - On-line Exhibits: Corridos Sin Fronteras Cultural Identity and Interaction LaKota Winter Counts Lewis & Clark as Naturalists A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the US Constitution The Price of Freedom: Americans at War Corridos

"Hail to Sunrise" on Mohawk Trail (Rt. 2, Western MA) FACULTY CONTACT INFORMATION Pat Kennedy, Professor of English: DON359; Extension 2362; [email protected]; Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 1:30-2:30; Tuesday, 9:00-9:30; and Thursdays, 9:00-10:30; and by appointment. Jack Mino, Professor of Psychology: DON 174; Extension 2743; [email protected]; Office Hours: MTWTh 10-11:00; and by appointment. Emergent Topics, Issues & Questions from the Classroom: Chinese-American Contribution to the Transcontinental Railroad Check out the photographic and primary source documentation regarding Chinese laborers' contributions to the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, including photos of Chinese laborers present at the Golden Spike ceremony. What is Thanksgiving? By Thomas Ferguson Ben Franklin - "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" "Why Mark Twain Murdered Injun Joe - And Will Never Be Indicted" - Carter Revard Private Ballerina: A running commentary on Colorado University's investigation and eventual firing of Ward Churchill for research misconduct. Jeffry Amherst and Smallpox Blankets My Lai Massacre (Wikipedia) Some of the people were trying to get up and run. They couldn't and fell down. This one woman, I remember, she stood up and tried to make it Improved Order of the Redman - "America's Oldest Fraternal Organization" This website was hyperlinked to the image above. Note the consistencies and contradictions with the Myth of the Frontier...

"Let's Spread the 'Fun' Around" by Ward Churchill "Sorely Lackin in...Scholarly Integrity" by John Lavelle A critical review of Ward Churchill's, "Indians are Us? Culture and Genocide in Native North America." Source: American Indian Quaterly, Winter 96, Vol. 20, Issue 1, p. 109. University of North Dakota Divided over "Fighting Sioux" Nickname The "Fighting Whites"

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Deconstruct and reconstruct historical events using primary source literatures from a variety of disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. 2. Integrate disciplinary content using relevant theories and/or conceptual frameworks. 3. Apply interdisciplinary knowledge to examine central course themes and/or problems. 4. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the strengths and limitations of the perspectives offered by a variety of disciplines. 5. Understand how the history of the West is American history, past and present, multicultural, and constructed.

WESTERN FILMOGRAPHY Black Robe. Bruce Beresford, 1991. Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee, 2005 Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull's History Lesson. Robert Altman, 1976. Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. NLCC Educational Media, 1996. Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee. Frank Pierson, 1994 The Milagro Beanfield War. Robert Redford, 1988. The Missing. Ron Howard, 2003. PBS Ancestors in America Series.Program II - Chinese in the Frontier West: An American Story. Posse. Mario Van Peebles, 1993. Salt of the Earth. Herbert J. Biberman, 1954. Searchers. John Ford, 1956. Smoke Signals. Chris Eyre, 1998. True Women. Karen Arthur, 1997. The Wild Bunch. Sam Peckinpah, 1969.

"Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe" Yolanda M. Lopez, 1978 ASSIGNMENTS Weekly Seminar Paper & Portfolio:This course will focus primarily on an analysis of course texts and students' responses to the text through small and large group discussion or seminar. According to Jim Harnish (North Seattle Community College), "a seminar brings together a group of learners who have done some preparation, including having read, thought about, and written about a particularly good book. In the seminar the group is responsible for exploring the text and probing the ideas people have brought from their individual reading of the text." Literature Essay: The literature essays will give you a chance to take a closer, more detailed look at particular themes, ideas, and connections within the literature and across texts. Final Project - "ReMix: Reading, Writing & Re-Composing the Frontier"- Using the KEEP Toolkit to mix words, images, and sounds, this assignment asks you to create collages, montages, photo essays, maps, posters, weblogs, and/or other documents that mix text and images to make and present an argument about the Frontier. Assignment Details "Remix" Assignment Description "Remix" Assignment Assessment Protocol Literature Essay Guidelines Literature Paper 1 Assignment Description Knowledge Media Lab - KEEP Toolkit

Wayne Eagleboy, WE THE PEOPLE, 1971 WEB RESOURCES African Americans and the Old West American Indians in Children's Literature American West Beyond the Endless River: Art of the American Frontier Chicano History: People of Anahuac Chinese and Western Expansion George Catlin and His Indian Gallery Index of Native American Resources on the Internet Isuma TV - The Portal for Indigenous Filmmakers Library of Congress: The Evolution of the Conservation Movement 1850-1920 The Multicultural American West: A Resource Site Native American Websites Native Web: Resources for Indigenous Cultures Around the World The Overland Trail PBS Series - New Perspectives on the West West Web

"The Frontier is a state of mind - We need to debunk the mythology of re-creating American empire." VISITING SCHOLARS George Ashley, Professor Emeritus History & Anthropology, on "Native American Indians in King Philip's War." Susan Deer Cloud, Poet & Teacher of Creative Writing, discussing Native American Culture and reading from her anthology, Confluence: Poems, Stories, Art by Underground Poets, Wild Indians & Exuberant Others, Unc. Xian Liu, Professor of English, on the Chinese Immigrant Experience in the West. Diane Beers, Professor of History, on "Telling Stories About Ecology." Victor Katz, Professor of Art History, on "Thomas Cole's Frontier." Susan Deer Cloud - 2007 Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts On Thomas Cole's "View from Mount Holyoke" For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States (Diane L. Beers, 2005) Chinese Immigration History Summary - Xian Liu

LC 109 Frontier Class Fall 2006 SAMPLE STUDENT WORK This section of the syllabus contains samples of student work from three course assignments. Each assignment was integrative in nature and required students to synthesize their understanding of the American Frontier from a variety of sources and present their findings in writing, speaking, and electronic multi-media. The 1st link below provides a smmary of the first day assignment - to create your own Wikipedia entry on the American Frontier. The 2nd link provides audiotaped highlights from the Frontier Seminar on seven course texts. The 3rd and 4th links feature the "Remix" gallery of final project snapshots using the KEEP Toolkit. The remaining links are samples of student work that highlight their unique understanding of the course material. Frontier Wiki Assignment Summary (Fall 2007) Frontier Seminar Highlights (Fall 2006) Frontier "Remix" Gallery (Fall 2006) Frontier "Remix" Gallery (Fall 2007) "Somebody Finally Said It!!!" Tom Gregorich's [Frontier, 2007) response to a racist email message. Paul Handlen's Western History Metaphors: Elvis & the Wagon Wheel

Frontier Seminar Documentation 2007 The Frontier LC focuses on an analysis of course texts and students' responses to the text through small and large group discussion or Seminar. According to Jim Harnish, "a seminar brings together a group of learners who have done some preparation, including having read, thought about, and written about a particularly good book. In the seminar the group is responsible for exploring the text and probing the ideas people have brought from their individual reading of the text." We use this method of inquiry to explore the course readings in the belief that the Seminar affirms students as co-creators of knowledge, develops their capacity for the clear communication of ideas and meanings, develops habits of collaborative learning, increases breadth and makes students more empathic, and helps students develop skills of synthesis and integration. This seminar activity consists of three parts: the seminar paper (preparation), the seminar conversation, and the seminar portfolio (reflection and self-assessment). Frontier Seminar 1: Turner's Frontier Thesis Frontier Seminar 2: Slotkin's Myth of the Frontier Frontier Seminar 3: Black Robe and Ward Churchill's Critique Frontier Seminar 4: Fools Crow Frontier Seminar 5: The Name of War Frontier Seminar 6: Solar Storms Frontier Seminar 7: Doing Historiography Frontier Seminar 8: Ceremony

Russell Means, Wounded Knee Occupation, 1973 AIM and Wounded Knee Documents "Freedom! Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation Status" [December 20, 2007]