Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The Course begins by defining exactly what is an "Indian". It continues in describing the goals of Anthropology. A delineation of the earliest Native/European encounters and descriptions follows. Next, the history of Anthropological research is detailed. The prehistory of Oregon is presented followed by first, a description of the major cultural and geographic divisions and then, the major linguistic phyla spoken within the confines of the State of Oregon. What follows are in-depth descriptions of various specific native groups that best represent a specific region. Finally, a brief description is presented of the present nature and condition Oregon's Indian population.

Upon successful completion students should be able to:

Use an understanding of the prehistory of Native Americans in Oregon to better comprehend the diversity of people in the community or the workplace.
Use an understanding of the languages and cultures of Native Americans in Oregon in order to better understand the diversity of people in the community or the workplace.

1. Examine the prehistory of Native Americans in Oregon.

2. Identify Native American language and cultures native to Oregon.

3. Analyze the current social conditions of Native Americans in Oregon.

Assessment strategies may include any of the following:

* exams (take home and in class)

* term papers

Themes:

• Indian
• Anthropology
• Prehistory
• Language versus Culture versus Politics
• Ethnographic Present

Issues:

• Origins
• Languages
• Distributions
• Race (sic.)
• Tribes (sic.)
• Nations (sic.)
• Treaty Reservations versus Executive Order Reservations

Concepts:

• Culture
• Sociopolitical organization
• Sociolinguistic organization
• Culture Ecology
• Linguistics
• History

Skills:

• Study Oregon Indian Anthropology at a College Level
• Learn the nature and distribution of Oregon's aboriginal sociopolitical and sociolinguistic groups as well as the history of anthropological research