9 Indigenous Studies Course Programs

Indigenous Studies provides students with a theoretical, contextual, and engaged knowledge of Indigenous culture, history, politics, law, and community. Indigenous Studies prioritizes cross cultural knowledge and communication as well as increasing knowledge about Indigenous people from Indigenous perspectives -- centred within Mi'kma'ki.

Indigenous History: Students learn about the historical experiences of Indigenous peoples, including colonization, treaties, land dispossession, residential schools, cultural resilience, and Indigenous resistance movements. They study Indigenous histories from pre-colonial times to the present day, examining the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous communities. Cultural Studies: The program explores the rich cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples, including traditional knowledge, ceremonies, storytelling, art, music, languages, spirituality, and oral traditions. Students gain insights into the diversity of Indigenous cultures across different regions and communities.

This course offers a survey of critical Indigenous studies-contemporary transnational and transdisciplinary theorymaking from a new and emerging generation of Indigenous scholars. Critical Indigenous studies make crucial interventions in our collective understanding of race, gender, politics, sexuality, identity, democracy, dis/ability, migration, human rights, and multiculturalism.

The American Indian and Indigenous Studies minor focuses on the experiences of American Indian and Indigenous people in the Americas from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, which includes Anthropology, Art, English, History, Political Science, Sociology, and Gender and Sexuality Studies. This minor will provide an academic and scholarly foundation for students to study and interpret the needs and social/cultural, political, educational, and historical conditions of American Indians and Indigenous peoples in North America. It will help prepare students to work in settings that require an understanding of tribal sovereignty and serving and interacting with this diverse population.

The minor in Indigenous Community Justice aims to critically engage students with Indigenous social justice issues and explore the impact of European influence on Indigenous life and cultures. Students will examine the social construction of settler societies that have taken root around the world through imperial and capitalist expansionism. They will be challenged to put knowledge of culture, history, and social justice—and their theoretical understandings—into practice. Students will study Indigenous mobilization, political organization, self-determination, resurgence, and regeneration of communities and cultures.

The Native American Studies Program is designed for individuals who seek knowledge and experience of indigenous history, culture, language, literature, art, philosophy, political and social science, and sovereignty.

This course is designed to offer a deep overview and practical application of decolonizing pedagogy-an approach to teaching and learning that promotes reciprocity, balance, healing, sustainability, and the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous and dispossessed peoples.

SIIT shares the priorities of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) in terms of building capacity for self-determined services at the community level. SIITs vision for the IPW&HM program is to facilitate current or future Indigenous community public works and housing managers who wish to build upon their knowledge and abilities and earn a certification from SIIT.

The Sitting Bull College Native American Studies (NAS) program is designed to help students develop a knowledge base of and appreciation for Lakota/Dakota culture, society, and history, including the traditional and contemporary land base and natural resources, traditional and contemporary forms of government, traditional philosophy and worldview, ceremonies, values, belief system, kinship and social systems.