Native American and Indigenous Studies Hero image
Native American and Indigenous Studies

Native American and Indigenous Studies

 

Faxayam, Welcome in Native American language

 

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

 

 

 

 

NAIS Winter 2025 Course Offerings_Scaled

 

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 and Indigenous history, culture, politics, and contemporary lives. NAIS highlights the unique place of Indigenous nations, tribes, and bands in the state-tribal-federal intergovernmental matrix and the myriad of distinct issues Indigenous peoples 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 with a NAIS major or minor?
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 upper division requirements, and one year of Indigenous language instruction. The language track includes a second year of Indigenous language instruction.

Core courses for the NAIS major include: ES 256: Intro to Native American Studies, ES 321: Indigenous Peoples of Oregon, ES 468: NAIS Research Methods and Ethics, and ES 470: Native American and Indigenous Feminisims

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. 

 

View Classes

Major Worksheet

Email NAIS

Declare the Major

 

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 the State of Oregon and the United States.  

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

 

View Classes

Minor Worksheet

Email NAIS

Declare the Minor

Native American and Indigenous Studies Advisory Council

NAIS Circular Panel strip

Meet Our Advisors

Hex girl image

Resources and Programs for Native Students

NAIS Academic Partners, Programs, and Units

Hex girl

 

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 the lands now known as 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 also extend our respect to the Chinook Indian Nation and look forward to the day their federal recognition is restored. 

We express our respect to the many more tribes who have ancestral connections to this territory, including the following: Benton Paiute Tribe, Big Bend Rancheria, Big Lagoon Rancheria, Blue Lake Rancheria, Bridgeport Indian Colony, Cedarville Rancheria, Chehalis Community Council, Colville Confederated Tribes, Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Fort Bidwell Indian Tribe, Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Karuk Tribe of California, Likely Rancheria, Lovelock Paiute Tribe, Lookout Rancheria, Lytton Rancheria, Melochundum Band of Tolowa Indians, Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, Montgomery Creek Rancheria, Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho, Pit River Tribe, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Quartz Valley Indian Community, Quinault Indian Nation, Redding Rancheria, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Roaring Creek Rancheria, Shoalwater Bay Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Smith River Rancheria, Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, Susanville Rancheria, Tolowa-Tututni Tribe, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Winnemucca Indian Colony, Winnemucca Colony, XL Ranch, Yakama Indian Nation, Yerington Paiute Tribe, and the Yurok Tribe.

We extend our respect as well as to all other displaced Indigenous peoples who call Oregon home. Hayu masi.

 

NAIS in the News

Native American students dressed in regalia performing a dance in the EMU Amphitheater on Oct. 14, 2024 as part of the Native American Student Union's Indigenous Peoples Day event
Native American students and supporters gather at UO to celebrate resiliency of Indigenous culture
NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - On Indigenous Peoples Day, about 100 people gathered at the EMU Amphitheater to watch Native American dancing, and hear speakers talk about Indigenous culture, history, and issues including the Land Back movement and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). NAIS alumna Tiera Garrety, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, spoke with local NPR affiliate KLCC about the event.
a banner that says, "you are on native land"
Have You Acknowledged This Land?
NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - The University of Oregon celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Special Hours event and campus art walk, showcasing a new Indigenous art exhibit by Steph Littlebird. The exhibit is part of the museum’s multi-year series “Art Acknowledgement of the Land,” it will allow students to learn more about the culture they may not realize surrounds them.
aerial view of Eugene campus
Recognizing outstanding research
ANTHROPOLOGY, HISTORY, LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation announced this year's Outstanding Research Awards, many of which went to College of Arts and Sciences faculty members: Professor Carlos Aguirre (history and Latin American studies) and Assistant Professor Gabriel Sanchez (anthropology).

All news »