American Indian and Indigenous Studies Minor

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The American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) minor is an interdisciplinary course of study that provides students with an understanding and appreciation of the broad historical, political, social, and economic issues and realities pertaining to indigenous societies and communities, both locally and globally, since the pre-colonial era through colonialism to modern times. The minor incorporates an interdisciplinary framework of materials, methodologies and cross-cultural comparisons from the fields of social sciences and humanities.

The minor will examine historical and contemporary issues of power relations, representation, capitalism, coloniality, identity and ecology, along with social and cultural expressions rooted in the experiences and voices of indigenous peoples. A particular emphasis will be language revitalization, specifically in the Cherokee Language.

Students must complete at least 18 hours as follows:

AIIS 200 - Introduction to American Indian and Indigenous Studies (4)

14 hours from the following courses:

AIIS courses may be used as part of the 14 hours of electives, but students must also take courses from at least two academic disciplines in addition to AIIS. Special topics courses may count as electives in the minor with the approval of the program director.

Additional Information

University-wide minimum requirements for a minor: 1) one-half of the hours required for a minor must be completed in residence at UNC Asheville, to include at least 6 hours at the 300-400 level; 2) students must have a cumulative grade-point-average of at least 2.0 on minor courses taken at UNC Asheville.