Course Syllabus

NAS 4970/5970

Indigenous Community Planning

Fridays 11:00-1:40

Office Hours 10:00-12:00pm

Online Zoom

 

 

Long before the University of Oklahoma was established, the land on which the University now resides was the traditional home of the “Hasinais” Caddo Nation and “Kirikirʔi:s” Wichita & Affiliated Tribes.

We acknowledge this territory once also served as a hunting ground, trade exchange point, and migration route for the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa and Osage nations. 

Today, 39 tribal nations dwell in the state of Oklahoma as a result of settler and colonial policies that were designed to assimilate Native people.

The University of Oklahoma recognizes the historical connection our university has with its indigenous community. We acknowledge, honor and respect the diverse Indigenous peoples connected to this land. We fully recognize, support and advocate for the sovereign rights of all of Oklahoma’s 39 tribal nations. This acknowledgement is aligned with our university’s core value of creating a diverse and inclusive community. It is an institutional responsibility to recognize and acknowledge the people, culture and history that make up our entire OU Community.

 As we engage in learning we commit to the following:

 

1. Meaningfully reflecting on the settler colonial narrative of the University of Oklahoma and the historical context of the institution, Norman, and the State of Oklahoma;
2. Robustly interrogate the context (both historical and present day) Oklahoma and Tribal Nations as it relates to polices that impact Indigenous peoples;
3. Actively work to decenter the institution and to acknowledge the contributions of Indigenous peoples in what is now known as Oklahoma;
4. Work to disrupt systems of exclusion, colonialism, and inequality;
5. Engage in research practices that do not recreate harm in Indigenous communities.

 

 

Instructor:  Dr. L. Harjo                                           

Office:  Copeland Hall, 207                                      

Phone:  405-325-2312                                                           

Email:  harjo@ou.edu

Office Hours:  Monday 10:00-12:00 pm, please make an appointment

Learning Management System: canvas.ou.edu

 

 

 

Course Description:

Students will learn about Indigenous Planning and how it is applied, as well as emerging trends in the field. Students will learn an Indigenous planning analytic, that while rooted in Indigenous communities can also be used as communities in Oklahoma grapple with planning their future. Further, this course will address both conventional and less conventional approaches to Indigenous community planning that is not necessarily found within the politics of recognition that are carried out by normative governance structures.

Indigenous planning is a grounded in community-based epistemologies, that requires us to examine and critique our positionality as a planner and community member, and contemplate to what degree said values exclude, and disempower particular sectors of the community.  In what ways might we carry out a critical examination of our approaches in order to renovate the prevailing desires and values that might unknowingly and knowingly exclude community members? These are concerns we will puzzle through this semester and requires participatory approaches within a community. Students will have opportunities through the readings and assignments to grapple with such questions.  We example the value of the plan and the process of planning, both are important and emancipatory process of community knowledge production and future making.

 

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

 

      Students should emerge from this class understanding:

1. The history of contemporary Indigenous Planning
2. Necessities for an Indigenous community (e.g. infrastructure; economic activity)
3. A range of ways for understanding communities
4. Stages of developing a plan
5. Emergent trends in an Indigenous community analytic

  

Texts & Materials

All readings will be provided online. Based on the availability of readings and guest speakers, the readings listed in this syllabus may change,

 

Grading:

Evaluation of your learning will be determined in the following ways:

This is a Graduate level course and reading intensive course, thus students are expected to arrive at class having read all the assigned materials and prepared to engage in active discussion.

1. ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION. 20% Entails attending online classes, engaged in the class, provide at least two critical discussion questions in each class, participate in the debriefing of exercises, there might be pop quizzes in the form of a multiple-choice quiz or a writing prompt. Attendance and class participation are necessary and are a part of your grade. You will be expected to participate in class discussions and to come to class prepared.
2. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS. 20% Every week students must complete and submit quotes and quotes generated from the readings, before class meets.
3. PLANNING PROJECTS. 60%-Students will receive 4 assignments-each worth 15%, totaling 60% of the final grade. The assignments will be directed towards community development exercises. 

The four tentative assignments will be geared to address to following aspects:

-Modeling the Worldview of a community you are invested in

-Indigenous Community Plan Analysis

-Annotated bibliography: Indigenous planning, and your community of interest

-Provide a framework for a plan and a critical analysis of your community of interest

20% Participation, Attendance, Discussion Questions, Class exercises.

20% Weekly reading responses

60% Four Planning Projects

 

 

Classroom Expectations: 

• Participation is imperative in this course. There will be a great deal of class discussion and in-class activities, all of which will depend on your level of preparedness and participation. You are expected to attend class regularly, come to class prepared, and be fully engaged in all class activities (i.e. lecture, discussion, group work, assignments, etc.). This means that you must complete all assigned readings & assignments, have thoughtfully reflected on both, and are prepared to discuss and participate in class. You are expected to come to class with an attitude that reflects respect and enthusiasm. 

• Do not use your cell phone in class. Turn off cell phone, unless you are a primary care giver, or monitoring an emergency (let me know before class) you may put on device on vibrate.
• Email: Check your OU e-mail regularly. Periodically, I will send notices or changes to assignments via e-mail, for which you will be held responsible. If you need to reach me, the best ways to contact me is via email or see me during my office hours (or by appointment).
• Attendance: Please come on time and be prepared to participate in class. In the event that an absence is unavoidable, notify me in advance. If you miss a class or are late, it is your responsibility to find out what you have missed. Out of respect for the professor and your classmates, please come on time to class each week.
• Careful reading in advance of each meeting, with the goal of contributing substantially to analytical discussion of reading materials.  Allow yourself enough time to reflect on readings before class
• There will be a variety of ideologies both presented and represented in the room, please be respectful of all viewpoints and your colleagues.

 

• You are expected to abide by the University of Oklahoma academic integrity guidelines. Please visit “A Student’s Guide to Academic Integrity at the University of Oklahoma”( at http://www.ou.edu/provost/integrity) and familiarize yourself with codes of academic integrity.  Here are some helpful videos provided by OU on academic integrity
  • Academic Integrity at OU http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/ivbcf
  • Protecting OU's Academic Integrity http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/i1az1
  • Plagiarism http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/cyrr9

 

Classroom Environment and Accommodations:

Values of respect are central to our work as scholars and educators.  This includes values of inclusion and respect for diversity. Please see the University of Oklahoma’s Non-Discrimination Policy at: http://www.ou.edu/eoo/policies-procedures/non-discrimination.

 

In addition, class rosters and the University data system are provided to instructors with students’ legal names and gender identifications. However, I understand and respect that not all students use their legal names or sex/gender assigned at birth. I will use the name and/or pronouns you use. (Credit to Dr. Z Nicolazzo for providing language to support trans students)

 

University Policies, Resources & Accommodations:

 

Please notify me if you need resources or accommodations to successfully complete this course.  You may also seek campus-wide support, information, and/or services:

• Disability Resource Center:  http://www.ou.edu/content/drc.html
  • In order to receive accommodations in a course, students must register with the Office of Disability Services. The Office of Disability Services is located at the University Community Center – 730 College Ave.  405.325.3852 or 405.217.3494 http://www.ou.edu/drc
• University of Oklahoma Non-Discrimination Policy: http://www.ou.edu/eoo/policies-procedures/non-discrimination
• Pregnant and Parenting Students’ Rights: “Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss.  Generally, modifications will be made where medically necessary and similar in scope to accommodations based on temporary disability” - http://www.ou.edu/eoo/faqs/pregnancy-faqs.html%20for%20commonly%20asked
  • NOTE: The current OU language reflects a heteronormative and colonial nuclear family framework. If you are adopting, fostering, caring for extended family members, or otherwise significantly shifting your dependent care demands, and need accommodations, please let me know as soon as possible so we can develop an appropriate plan.
• Observance of religious holidays:
  • “It is the policy of the University to excuse the absences of students that result from religious observances and to provide without penalty for the rescheduling of examinations and additional required class work that may fall on religious holidays” (Section 3.15.2 of The Faculty Handbook). In this course, this extends to cultural and spiritual observances, feasts, dances, etc., not covered by colonial notions of religion. Please notify me immediately of any anticipated absences.
• OU bathroom policy: http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/eoo/documents/Restroom%20Access%20Statement.pdf 
• OU Title IX Resources:  gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, stalking, or intimate partner violence resources include: advocates on-call, counseling services, mutual no contact orders, scheduling adjustments and disciplinary sanctions. Sexual Misconduct Office 405-325-2215 (8-5, M-F) or OU Advocates 405-615-0013 (24/7).
• Gender & Equality Center: http://www.ou.edu/gec
• Writing Center: This class will involve a lot of writing. I encourage you to utilize the Writing Center on campus. You may call 325-2936 to make an appointment.  The Writing Center can provide assistance with pre-writing, organizing, citing sources, revising, etc.  This service is free and I encourage you utilize it.  You may visit their website at http://www.ou.edu/writingcenter/. 

 

 

*NOTE – This syllabus may be updated as necessary throughout the semester.

 

Course Schedule and Readings

Readings: Weekly readings will be available on Canvas

 

READINGS SUBJECTS TO CHANGE TO ADDRESS THE COURSE FOCUS

 

Date		Readings
8/28/2020	Overview and Introductions	Indigenous Planning Workbook
9/4/2020	Roots of Indigenous Planning/Worldview	Jojola, Ted. "Indigenous planning—An emerging context." Canadian Journal of Urban Research 17, no. 1 (2008): 37-47. Matunga, Hirini. "Theorizing indigenous planning." Reclaiming indigenous planning (2013): 3-32. Skim: Hibbard, Michael, Marcus B. Lane, and Kathleen Rasmussen. "The split personality of planning: Indigenous peoples and planning for land and resource management." Journal of Planning Literature 23, no. 2 (2008): 136-151. Lane, Marcus B., and Michael Hibbard. "Doing it for themselves: Transformative planning by Indigenous peoples." Journal of Planning Education and Research 25, no. 2 (2005): 172-184. Recommended Sandercock, Leonie. "Commentary: Indigenous planning and the burden of colonialism." Planning Theory & Practice 5, no. 1 (2004): 118-124.
9/11/2020	Indigenous Methodologies	Walter, Maggie, and Chris Andersen. "Conceptualizing Quantitative Methodologies." In Indigenous Statistics, pp. 41-57. Routledge, 2016. Jojola, Ted.   "Indigenous planning: Towards a seven generations model." Reclaiming indigenous planning 70 (2013): 457.   Harjo, Laura. “Chapter 6 It’s Your Turn.” Spiral to the Stars. University of Arizona Press, 2019.
9/18/2020	Spatial Imaginary	Bates, Lisa K., Sharita A. Towne, Christopher Paul Jordan, Kitso Lynn Lelliott, Lisa K. Bates, Sharita A. Towne, Christopher Paul Jordan et al. "Race and Spatial Imaginary: Planning Otherwise/Introduction: What Shakes Loose When We Imagine Otherwise/She Made the Vision True: A Journey Toward Recognition and Belonging/Isha Black or Isha White? Racial Identity and Spatial Development in Warren County, NC/Colonial City Design Lives Here: Questioning Planning Education’s Dominant Imaginaries/Say Its Name–Planning Is the White Spatial Imaginary, or Reading McKittrick and Woods as Planning Text/Wakanda! Take the Wheel! Visions of a Black Green City/If ...." Planning Theory & Practice 19, no. 2 (2018): 254-288. Sarmiento, Carolina S., and Victoria A. Beard. “Traversing the Border: Community-Based Planning and Transnational Migr  Zitcer, Andrew. “Making Up Creative Placemaking.” Journal of Planning Education and Research, (May 2018). doi:10.1177/0739456X18773424.ants.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 33, no. 3 (September 2013): 336–47. doi:10.1177/0739456X13499934.
9/25/2020	Indigenous Futurity	Whyte, Kyle P. “Indigenous Science (Fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral Dystopias and Fantasies of Climate Change Crises.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 1, no. 1–2 (March 2018): 224–42. doi:10.1177/2514848618777621. Selected readings from Harjo, Laura. Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity. University of Arizona Press, 2019.
10/2/2020	Indigenous Community-Brain Drain	Montoya, Amanda J. "Taos Pueblo Migration Theories: Indigenous Push and Pull Factors." PhD diss., Arizona State University, 2018.
10/9/2020	MMIW	Dorries, Heather, and Laura Harjo. "Beyond safety: refusing colonial violence through indigenous feminist planning." Journal of planning education and research (2020): 0739456X19894382. Selected readings from Anderson, Kim, Maria Campbell, and Christi Belcourt, eds. Keetsahnak/our missing and murdered indigenous sisters. University of Alberta, 2018.
10/16/2020	Landscape Architecture
10/23/2020	Indigenous Planning Workbook
10/30/2020	Indigenous Design and Planning Projects	Dalhousie University. Cities & Environment Unit, and Shoal Lake Cree Nation. Shoal Lake Cree Nation community plan. Cities & Environment Unit Dalhousie University, 2007.
11/6/2020	Asset Building	Hibbard, Michael. “Development Planning with Cultural Integrity: Self-Determination, Multifunctionality, and the Hybrid Economy in Indian Country.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 36, no. 2 (June 2016): 158–66. doi:10.1177/0739456X15612200. Slowey, Gabrielle. Navigating neoliberalism: self-determination and the Mikisew Cree First Nation. UBC Press, 2008.
11/13/2020	Urban	Walker, Ryan, Loleen Berdahl, Erin Lashta, David Newhouse, and Yale Belanger. "Public attitudes towards Indigeneity in Canadian prairie urbanism." The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien 61, no. 2 (2017): 212-223. Selected readings from Peters, Evelyn Joy, and Chris Andersen, eds. Indigenous in the city: Contemporary identities and cultural innovation. UBC Press, 2013.
11/20/2020	Placemaking	Jojola, Ted, and Michaela Shirley. "Replanting the Roots of Resistance1." The Routledge Handbook of Community Development: Perspectives from Around the Globe (2017). McGaw, Janet, Anoma Pieris, and Emily Potter. "Indigenous place-making in the city: Dispossessions, occupations and implications for cultural architecture." Architectural Theory Review 16, no. 3 (2011): 296-311. Zitcer, Andrew. “Making Up Creative Placemaking.” Journal of Planning Education and Research, (May 2018). doi:10.1177/0739456X18773424.
11/27/2020		Thanksgiving
12/4/2020	Settlers	Barry, Janice, Evan Allan, Deepa Chandran, James Cook, Brittany Curtis, Ashley Kostyniuk, Philip Mikulec, Meleana Searle, and Derek Yau. “Unsettling Notions of Planning Competence: Lessons from Studio-Based Learning with Indigenous Peoples.” Journal of Planning Education and Research, (May 2019). doi:10.1177/0739456X19844571. Prusak, S. Yvonne, Ryan Walker, and Robert Innes. “Toward Indigenous Planning? First Nation Community Planning in Saskatchewan, Canada.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 36, no. 4 (December 2016): 440–50. doi:10.1177/0739456X15621147.
12/11/2020	Course debriefing