Department of Native Studies University of Saskatchewan http://www.usask.ca/nativestudies/ Site Reviews(0)
The idea for a Native Studies Department at the University of Saskatchewan was first put forward by Aboriginal students in 1978-79. These students were asking for a program that affirmed the value and dignity of Aboriginal societies: their histories, languages, philosophies and oral and literary traditions, as well as their traditional institutions and lifestyles. The College of Arts and Sciences responded to these requests with the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee, which in 1981 recommended that such a program be created. In 1982 the Native Studies Programme was formally introduced and in 1983 the Department of Native Studies was created. Four years later the department was granted the right to offer a graduate program and since 1997 it has offered a complete graduate program.
As an emergent discipline, Native Studies is is still in a formative stage. During its foundational era, Native Studies has drawn heavily on a number of long-established disciplines, in particular Anthropology and History, and it has only just begun to take shape as an independent field of study. One sign of this evolution is the increasing number of tenure-track faculty and sessional instructors, who are Native Studies graduates and specialists, as opposed to academics drawn from other fields of scholarship. From its multi-disciplinary foundation, Native Studies is progressively acquiring an independent and unique basis for its teaching and research. Therefore, Native Studies can no longer be accurately considered simply as prescribed, interdisciplinary program, it is an evolving stand-alone field of enquiry that has, at its core, the sole focus Aboriginal society and societies. Native Studies is bounded only by the extent of Aboriginal society and societies and not by a parent discipline, or a single methodology or ideology. Another significant difference between Native Studies and other disciplines, is that other disciplines tend to examine Aboriginal societies exogenously, whereas Native Studies attempts to understand them from within. Native Studies holds that Aboriginal collectivities are unique localised social entities, who to be fully understood need to be considered in a national context and as integral to the global mosaic of Indigenous Peoples.
From this basis Native Studies at the University of Saskatchewan actively supports the promotion and definition of Native Studies as an independent field of study that has at its core the scholarly enquiry into Aboriginal society and societies. The Department of Native Studies seeks to provide an intellectual milieu where teaching and research are well grounded in the priorities and knowledge of Saskatchewan’s Aboriginal communities, all the while placing them within the larger fabric of the Canadian Aboriginal experience and the emergent global, social phenomenon of indigeneity. Researchers and students in Native Studies at the University of Saskatchewan explore and seek to understand the fundamental nature of Aboriginal society. As a centre of academic inquiry based on sound pedagogical and research principles, the Department of Native Studies is striving to develop more expansive and innovative views on Indigenous Knowledge, going well beyond simple binaries like juxtaposing Indigenous knowledge in opposition to Western scholarship. Rather the Department has taken on the more challenging task of demanding excellence in conventional scholarship in addition to developing new and culturally appropriate methodologies and theories sourced in the Aboriginal life
Departmental Goals
to promote academic and teaching excellence;
to encourage the development of specific Native Studies paradigms and theoretical frameworks;
to foster and conduct original scholarly research on Aboriginal history and life, and develop research skills relevant to the needs of Aboriginal communities;
to promote and encourage Aboriginal scholars and scholarship;
to understand and appreciate the nature of Aboriginal societies and acknowledge the contribution of those societies to both the national and international communities; and
to foster cultural awareness, while simultaneously bridging the cultural gaps and challenging racial intolerance and stereotypes.
Added: Nov 30, 1999 Last Update: Nov 30, 1999 Category: D Hits Out: 36 |
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