ENGLISH 90LN: Harvard and Native Lands

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English 90LN / History & Literature 93AD

Tuesdays 9:45-11:45

Alan Niles niles@fas office hours: TBD

Gaia - Still Here.jpg

Gaia, "Still Here," downtown Providence, RI

 

*** If you're interested in taking this course, please take a quick minute to fill out the application and also submit a petition on my.harvard no later than April 9. I will begin accepting petitions on April 10, using your applications. ***

 

A note about this class for students interested for Fall '24: 

This class will engage with Harvard's history and Indigenous history throughout New England (and beyond). No prior experience with these topics is expected, but I expect you to come ready to engage with often difficult (but always important) histories and literatures from the past and present day. Throughout our course, we will engage with a series of activities with guest speakers from Harvard and beyond who can help us to understand the histories and political needs of Native communities today. 

In the first half of class, in-class workshops and mini assignments will help introduce you to research and interpretive skills for working with histories of colonialism. These will involve, among other activities: learning how to read old handwriting; working on close reading and interpreting Native voices in surviving early documents; extracting data from old maps; theorizing the coloniality of the archive; and reflecting on human relationships to the environment. Weekly class time will be devoted partly to skills building, partly to the discussion of primary and secondary source readings.

In the second half of the course, you will propose group or individual research projects related to some aspect of Harvard's Indigenous past. These may take different forms, potentially even including creative work, but must be founded in original archival research. Our aim will be to work collaboratively in coming up with new narratives for Harvard's pasts and possible futures. 

The syllabus below is a work in progress; I may substantially update our readings, activities, and assignments before our course runs in the fall. 

Please feel free to be in touch with any questions! niles@fas.harvard.edu

 

Grading and Assignments

  • Participation and Attendance 30%
  • Mini Assignments (discussion page posts) 30%
    • Document transcription
    • Close reading Native voices
    • Archival scavenger hunt
    • How to read a map
    • Walking the bounds
  • Final project 40%
    • Final project proposal
    • Final project presentation
    • Final project

 

Course Materials

 

  • All course readings will be available as PDFs or weblinks
  • The following two books are recommended but not required for purchase. They are both available in digital form through Hollis, but you may still want to have a copy:
    • Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England (ISBN-13 978-0803246867)
    • Still They Remember Me": Penobscot Transformer Tales, Volume 1 (ISBN-13 978-1625345790)

 

Course Policies

 

Participation and Attendance

Attendance is expected. You are allowed 1 absence throughout the semester for any reason. 

Our class will be a space for open research, debate, conversation, and questions, so your active engagement and participation are imperative. If you are quieter by nature, please come speak with me in office hours so we can discuss strategies for your participation. 

Pronouns

Preferred gender pronouns will be respected by everyone in class. I will defer to the pronouns you have selected on my.harvard, but if you have other preferences, let me know. 

Deadlines and Extensions

Everyone will start with 3 "grace days" you may use for extensions on assignments. Your 3 days may be divided up (e.g. 1 day for the first assignment, 2 days for the second), but once you have used all three, no more will be granted, so plan accordingly. After all days are used, assignments will be deducted a step for each late day (an A becomes an A–, etc.).

Subject Material

Our subject material can be divisive and offensive, and we will subject it to scrutiny and critique. However, I encourage you to approach this material as an important (if often difficult) part of history and culture, with significance for both the past and the present. You are welcome to come speak to me if you have any concerns. 

Use of Generative AI

All work students submit for this course should be their own. In instances when collaborative work is assigned, I expect for the assignment to list all team members who participated. I specifically forbid the use of ChatGPT or any other generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools at all stages of the work process, including preliminary ones. Violations of this policy will be considered academic misconduct. Different classes at Harvard could implement different AI policies, and it is the student’s responsibility to conform to expectations for each course.

Accommodations

If you need academic adjustments or accommodations in this course, please speak with me and present your letter from the Disability Access Office (DAO), which is a resource for students with disabilities and temporary health conditions who may require accommodations to fully participate in all aspects of Harvard student life. All discussions will remain as confidential as possible within the parameters of FERPA; I may consult DAO to discuss appropriate implementation. Please be in touch with the DAO directly if you are not yet registered.

 

Schedule of Readings and Assignments

 

Unit One: Building Blocks for Research

 

Week 1 (9/3): Course Introductions

Readings:

In class: 

  • Introductions, discussion of course goals
  • Discussion of projects from Fall '22 and Fall '23

 

Week 2 (9/10): Native Lands

Discussion page post: response to Week 1 readings

Primary source readings: 

Secondary source readings:

  • Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America, excerpts
  • David Silverman, "The Wampanoags' Old World," from This Land Is Their Land

In class: 

  • Discussion with Elizabeth Solomon, Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag

 

Week 3 (9/17): Changes in the Land

Discussion page post: documents from the Native Northeast Portal

Primary source readings:

  • Cheryl Savageau, poems

Secondary source readings:

  • William Cronon, Changes in the Land, Chapters 3 and 4
  • Jean M. O'Brien, "Divorced from the Land"
  • Allan Greer, “Dispossession in a Commercial Idiom: From Indian Land Deeds to Land Cession Treaties"

In class:   

 

Week 4 (9/24): Harvard Archives

Discussion page post: document transcription

Primary source readings:

  • Native writings in Harvard Archives: letters from Natick

Secondary source readings: 

  • Ann Laura Stoler, "The Pulse of the Archive"
  • John Guillory, "The Memo and Modernity"
  • Holly Herbster, "The Documentary History of Magunkaquog"

In class:

  • Visit to Harvard University Archives

 

Week 5 (10/1): Land and Literature

Discussion page post: the coloniality of the archive

Primary source readings: 

Secondary source readings:

  • Hilary Wyss and Stephanie Fitzgerald, “Land and Literacy: The Textuality of Native Studies”
  • Craig Womack, excerpts from Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism

In class:

  • TBD: possible discussion with Penobscot Cultural Preservation Office

 

Week 6 (10/8): Indigenous Harvard

Discussion page post: walking the bounds

Primary source readings:

  • Susan Power, “First Fruits”
  • Writings by Harvard Indian College scholars:
    • Caleb Cheeshateamuck, Oration on the Myth of Orpheus
    • Eleazar, "Elegy"
    • Benjamin Larnell, "The Fox and the Weasel"
    • John Wampus, petition to the King of England

Secondary source readings:

In class: 

  • Indigenous Harvard Tour with Jordan Clark, Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah

 

Week 7 (10/15): Land and Finance

Discussion page post: reading a deed

Primary source readings:

Secondary source readings: 

  • Robert Lee, “Accounting for Conquest: The Price of the Louisiana Purchase of Indian Country"
  • K-Sue Park, “Money, Mortgages and the Conquest of America"
  • John Frederick Martin, Profits in the Wilderness, introduction and chapter 1

In class:

  • Looking ahead to the research prospectus

 

***Class event in mid or late October, TBD: Indigenous Boston Harbor Tour***

 

Unit Two: Research Projects

 

Week 8 (10/22): Research Proposals

Assignment due: Final Project Prospectus

Readings:

  • Read each others’ Discussion page posts before class

In class:

  • Workshopping proposals

 

Week 9 (10/29): Maps and Mapping

Primary source readings:

Secondary source readings:

In class: 

  • Harvard Maps Collection visit 

 

Week 10 (11/5): Museums

Before class: 

  • Visit Harvard Peabody Museum (1st floor and 4th floor)

Readings: 

In class:

  • TBD: discussion with Harvard Peabody Museum curators and staff

 

Week 11 (11/12): Capitalism

Readings:

In class:

  • Final project check-in and source workshop

 

Week 12 (11/19): Presentations

Assignment due (in class): Final Project Presentations

 

Week 13 (11/22): The Landscape in Time

In class:

  • Possible field trip, TBD

Suggested readings for the Thanksgiving break:

 

Week 14 (11/29): Class conclusions

Readings:

In class:

  • Discussion of final projects and class takeaways

 

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due