Degree Programs
History Department – American Indian Studies
In July, 1991, the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social
Science hired two American Indian Professors who began working
on a number of initiatives to begin American Indian Studies
as an academic program at UCR. The list below constitutes
some of the highlights of this era.
However, prior to 1991, the Native American Student Programs
at UCR had sustained a strong program for students, recruiting
and retaining Native American students and offering several
programs, including the annual Medicine Ways Conference and
motivation day experience for high school students. In addition,
Rupert and Jeannette Costo endowed a chair in American Indian
History at UCR, brining scholars to campus who served in
the chair for one or two year periods. Three Costo Chairs,
including Florence Shipek, George Phillips, and Jack Norton
(Hoopa) published books of distinction on California Indians
while researching at UCR. The student program and the Costo
Chairs served as the origin of the academic program in American
Indian Studies. Since 1991, we have created one of the strongest
American Indian Studies Programs in the United States, one
distinguished by its research initiatives and excellence
in undergraduate and graduate education.
The M.A. in Native American History prepares students to
continue toward a Ph.D. in Native American History and for
community based research with Native American nations.
Students specializing in Native American History must complete 16 units of
graduate courses in the field, with at least 12 units from HIST 203A, HIST
203B, HIST 203C, and HIST 237. The remaining units should be taken from HIST
201A, HIST 201B, HIST 201C, HIST 206A, HIST 206B, or HIST 230. Students must
also complete HIST 276A and HIST 276B, the seminar in Native American history.
Ethnic Studies
The conquest by European settlers of the Native Americans
took the form of ethnocentrism, competition over land,
and the
imposition of white dominance through violence and genocide.
Indians were exploited and largely annihilated in the nineteenth
century. They became victims of numerous broken treaties
and
efforts to destroy their culture by repeated attempts to
force their assimilation into the dominant White culture.
As wards
of the state, they have been largely neglected in the twentieth
century and rank near the bottom of the economic class
system.
Today, because of a growing Pan-Indianism, the indigenous
nations are on a rebound. They are becoming a more cohesive,
and powerful
ethnic group, both economically and politically. Native American
students at UCR comprise 0.5% of the student population.
The Native American faculty component consists of lecturer
Robert Perez, specializing in 19th Century United States,
History of the American West and Spanish Borderlands, Colonial
Latin America, Native American History, and Race and Identity
Construction in Colonial America.
The Ethnic Studies Department is unique in its national
focus on Native
American Studies.
During the 2002-2003 academic year, the department will be
going through a restructuring of this component.
Lecture Series in Native American Studies
(Selected Examples of Presentations)
James Sandos, “Syphilis and Gonorrhea Among California’s
Indian People”
Edward Castillo (Cahuilla), “Sacrificing Ishi: Terrorism
Among California’s Indians”
Lee Francis (Laguna), “Contemporary Literary Figures
and Writers”
Diane Way (Lakota-Cheyenne), “Traditional Dance”
Carter Revard (Osage), “Oral Literature, Dance, and
Music Among the Osage”
Donna Akers (Choctaw), “Living in the Land of the Dead:
Choctaw Removal”
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