HIST 499: RS: Senior Seminar in History

HIST 499-001: Senior Seminar: Native American Leaders/Intellectuals
(Spring 2025)

10:30 AM to 11:45 AM TR

East Building 134

Section Information for Spring 2025

This course examines North American Indigenous leaders and intellectuals from the contact period to the present. It focuses on the political, cultural, and literary contexts in which these individuals operated, as well as their personal histories, actions, and legacies.   
  
Students will analyze various case studies and use very specific questions to understand their subjects, including:   
  
Who/What makes a leader?   
Is there a conflict between Native and non-Native constructions of leadership (and do these constructions vary between Indigenous communities)?   
How can one understand/define a leader’s/movement’s “success”?   
Are there competing Western and non-Western intellectual frameworks?   
  
The course will introduce students to the methods and practice of doing history by closely examining the lives of several North American Indigenous leaders and intellectuals as well as the varied scholarly interpretations of them. The class will also discuss myth-making and memory in both popular and academic contexts through the study of popular culture and historiography. 
  
Our work in the first half of the semester will focus on Native leaders and intellectuals before the Civil War, while your research projects will examine post-Civil War era individuals or groups.  
  
Over the semester, you will learn the skills of historical analysis, identify an original research question, collect and examine sources, and produce a paper of between 20 and 30 pages.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Research on specialized historical topic culminating in seminar paper and oral presentation. Synthesis course; students expected to integrate knowledge and skills acquired in Mason Core courses. Notes: Subject determined by instructor. Student may present no more than 3 credits for graduation credit. Must receive passing grade to graduate with BA in history. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Mason Apex, Writing Intensive in Major
Specialized Designation: Research/Scholarship Intensive, Topic Varies
Recommended Prerequisite: History majors with 90 credits
Registration Restrictions:

Required Prerequisites: (HIST 300C or 300XS) and (ENGH 302C, ENGL 302C, ENGH 302XS, HNRS 110C, 110XS, 210C, 302C or 302XS).
C Requires minimum grade of C.
XS Requires minimum grade of XS.

Enrollment is limited to students with a major in History.

Schedule Type: Seminar
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.