Ethnic Studies 112 Final Examination
Monday, June 7, 11:30AM-2:30PM, Peterson 102
BRING BLUE BOOKS!
ETHN 112A / HIUS 108A — Study Guide for Final Examination
In working on the sample questions, you are encouraged to make use of all the material presented during the quarter (lectures, readings, guests, films, visual materials, and discussion) when you think about the questions and your answers. Make sure to include specific examples in all of your answers.
Part I: Thinking about the exam questions:
The questions will be divided into two groups. Each group will ask you to slice the history of Native Americans in a different way.
Group A will ask you to describe and analyze a larger chronological period in the history of Native Americans. These questions will focus on the second half of the course (after the midterm).
Rough periods to think about:
Contact and strategies of cultural response. (c. 1500-1680)
Diplomacy and inter-cultural negotiation. (1680-1790/1820)
Exploring new geographic and cultural spaces. (1790-1860)
Cultural responses to program of annihilation and assimilation. (1850/60s-1930s)
Group A Sample Questions (1 on the final from at least 2 choices):
Identify "sea changes" (major changes in direction) in the history of Native Americans from 1500 to the present. Explain each of these critical periods or events in terms of how you view the sweep of Native American History.
Note: you can use the “Rough periods” above to prepare an answer or you can define periods as you see them.Compare and contrast the various different types of assimilationist policies applied to Native Americans by the US government. Use at least 3 examples from different periods.
Note: you can use 1790-2002 in answering this question, so you want to work on examples that 1) are representative, 2) are broad enough to deal with the question, and 3) that you can explain and compare clearly.How has the formation of US policy towards Native Americans related to the cycles of development of the US national economy? You may discuss the period from 1800 to the present.
Describe President Grant's "Peace Policy." In what ways was it a departure from previous policy? How did it change thinking about the place of Indians in American society? How did it influence subsequent policies towards Native Americans?
ETHN 112A / HIUS 108A — Study Guide for Final Examination
How did Native American groups survive culturally the brunt of the American onslaught during the 19th century? What price did Indian communities pay? What resources did they use to create a viable identity and society?
Discuss the cultural, political, and historical significance of the “revival” of the Sun Dance and the Ghost Dance by the Lakota and other tribes.
Compare and contrast the Ghost Dance of the 1880-90s with other modes of Native American religious reconfiguration that we have encountered during this course (e.g. Pueblo Revolt of 1680; the Midéwiwin of the Ojibwa; the late 18th/ early 19th century “prophets” (like Neolin, Tenskatawa); the 19th century and modern Plains Sun Dance; the Native American Church (peyote ceremony); Pow-wows?
How can one employ Native American language, religious ceremony, cosmology, or other cultural elements to represent Indian understanding and interpretations of historical events?
How have non-Indian views of Native American lifeways and beliefs shaped American social and interactions with Indians and governmental policy?
How has the legal relationship between specific Indian groups and Native Americans as a group changed historically?
There will be 5 terms to identify out of 10 choices.
As in the midterm exam, make sure that you provide a simple definition of the term as well as a short explanation of its significance in the history of Native Americans in the US.