New Indigenous studies minor at Oregon State combines past with present

Around 30 students have already enrolled in the minor, said Natchee Barnd, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the university.

The minor is designed to be implemented into students’ schedules quickly and easily, as all of the required courses already exist. The goal, Barnd said, is to fuse the practical with the personal; students can pursue their degrees while earning a minor that is socially and culturally important to them.

“Tribally enrolled students are trying to build up on their knowledge and skills to take back to their communities,” he said. “Just because you’re from a community doesn’t mean you know the history.”

The minor isn’t only for tribally enrolled students, however; it’s for anyone who wishes to work collaboratively with Indigenous communities and offer engagement in the work of decolonization.

“When students are out in the world later on, on a city council or in an environmental group, they will have ideas of how to engage with tribal communities in a way that makes sense,” Barnd said, “and not impose their ideas on those communities, because they have had some experience with them.”

The minor includes courses from several disciplines across campus, including agriculture, anthropology, English, ethnic studies, history, music, religious studies and women, gender and sexuality studies.

One of the required courses in the minor is localized: Native Americans in Oregon. Including this course was especially important given OSU’s history as a land-grant institution, said Luhui Whitebear, the center director for OSU’s longhouse, Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws.

While designing the minor, she added, she and others took into consideration which existing courses would be valuable in an Indigenous studies minor and which courses were taught by Indigenous faculty.

“People are really excited about the minor,” Whitebear said.

“It adds this element that can give them a deeper understanding of the impact on Indigenous lands and waters that they may have not thought about before.”

Some of the courses are not solely taught in the classroom but out in nature and with Indigenous communities. For spring this year, Barnd is co-teaching a course with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, called “Indigenous Oregon and Coast.”

“When you go somewhere and experience something, your body remembers it,” Barnd said. “It adds another layer of knowledge and experience, and that reflects Indigenous philosophies of learning.”