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Welcome
Click here to hear this greeting in Chinuk Wawa, the intertribal universal language of the Pacific Northwest

 

 

 

 

 

What is Native American and Indigenous Studies?

Native American and Indigenous Studies is an interdisciplinary field that uses multiple approaches from history, anthropology, law, literature, ethnic studies, and other disciplines to understand Native American history, culture, politics, and contemporary lives. NAIS highlights the unique place of tribes in the state-tribal-federal intergovernmental matrix and the myriad of distinct issues Native peoples of the United States face, from language and cultural protection to environmental issues to economic development and beyond.

Why Native American and Indigenous Studies?

Students in Native American and Indigenous Studies will join a diverse, tightly knit community of scholars who cherish our connections with Native communities and strive to make our work valuable for the project of building up Native nations. Most Americans are vaguely aware of tribal governments and even fewer have thought about what limited forms of tribal sovereignty say about American democratic ideals. Through our research, classes, programming, and activism, we aim to change this. In a state with nine federally recognized indigenous nations and with a Native American population 50% higher proportionally than the national average, this knowledge is crucial for future leaders in all fields.

What Will I Learn & Where Can I Go?
UO NAIS affords students extensive grounding in Indigenous history and culture as well as nuanced understanding of tribal sovereignty, Indigenous nationhood, settler colonialism, and the diversity and beauty of contemporary Indigenous lives and experiences. Such work prepares students for a variety of postsecondary opportunities ranging from government, law, research, and education; to nonprofit and public interest work, environmental and resource management, and business and economic development; to the arts, journalism, communication, new media, and beyond.

 

 

Major Requirements

The NAIS interdisciplinary major has two tracks: a conventional track and a language track. Both tracks require a minimum of 56 credits, at least 28 of which must be taken in residence at the UO, the same core coursework and distribution requirements, and 1 year of Indigenous language instruction. The language track includes a 2nd year of Indigenous language instruction.

All courses counting toward the major must be taken for letter grades and completed with grades of C or higher. 

At least one upper-division course must be taken from Group 3: Literature, Media, and the Arts. 

 

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NAIS Major Flight Path 

 

 

Minor Requirements

The Native American and Indigenous Studies minor compliments numerous other fields of study and provides access to ways of knowing and living that are part of the heritage and future of this state, and this nation.  

The interdisciplinary minor requires a minimum of 28 credits, with at least 16 of those being upper-division credits. All courses counting toward the minor must be taken for letter grades and completed with grades of C or higher.

Students must fulfill distribution requirements, taking at least one class each from the following groups:

Group I: Culture, Language, and Education
Group II: Law, Policy, Governance, and History
Group III: Literature, Media, and the Arts

 

 

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Classes

 

NAIS Minor
Worksheet

 

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NAIS 
Minor Flight Path 

 

 

Native American and Indigenous Studies Advisory Council
Panel

Meet Our Advisors

Native students

 

Resources and Programs for
Native Students

 

NAIS Academic Partners
and Units

Native students

 

Territorial Acknowledgment

The University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, Kalapuya descendants are primarily citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and they continue to make important contributions to their communities, to the UO, to Oregon, and to the world.

In following the Indigenous protocol of acknowledging the original people of the land we occupy, we also extend our respect to the nine federally recognized Indigenous nations of Oregon: the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and the Klamath Tribes. We express our respect to the many more tribes who have ancestral connections to this territory, as well as to all other displaced Indigenous peoples who call Oregon home. Hayu masi.

 

NEWS

 

UO Announces a Native American and Indigenous Studies Major!