Native American Studies Program

The Native American Studies Program, housed within the Department of American Culture, places American Indians at the center of broader inquiries into the nature of the human condition. Faculty and students work together to explore, through the humanities and the social sciences, on all aspects of the Native American experience, and the importance of Indians to American history, literature, art, religion, social sciences politics and law. Our courses are centered on the idea that Native culture, cultural production, and historical experiences are integral to any attempt to understand the past and present in North America. As such, our courses offer an interdisciplinary approach that makes Native studies a critical lens through which we might explore and understand how human experience has shaped cultures and societies that have emerged in the Americas.

Policy Regarding Waitlists and Overrides

• All Native American Studies (NATIVEAM) courses will have electronic waitlists on Wolverine Access. Students interested in an Native American Studies course that has filled should add their name to the appropriate waitlist online.
• From the first day of registration until the last business day before the first day of classes, a member of the American Culture (AC) staff will monitor enrollments and note any waitlisted courses that have spaces available.
• When available, a member of the AC staff will issue an override for each open space in a waitlisted course. Students who are officially declared AC-affiliated majors or minors will be given priority for overrides in 300-level and higher courses. If there are no officially declared AC-affiliated majors or minors on the waitlist, overrides will be issued according to waitlist order.
• For AMCULT 100 and 200-level courses, priority for overrides will be given to freshmen and sophomores, unless otherwise noted by the instructor.
• The overrides issued will have an expiration date of 48 hours (including weekends). If the student does not accept the override within that time frame, it will expire. This will allow the staff member to offer the space to the next eligible student on the waitlist, who will then have 48 hours to enroll.
  Please note: the expiration date will be one week (including weekends) when classes are not in session.
• If all students on a given waitlist have been given an opportunity to enroll, but do not do so, a member of the AC staff will ask the Registrar’s Office to drop them from said waitlist. This will allow the class to reopen for registration.
• Once classes begin, no overrides will be issued without the consent of the instructor for the course. S/he has final authority on whether or not to issue overrides. Students may print off a request for electronic override form and return it with the required information and signatures to 3700 Haven Hall for processing.

Students should also be advised of the following:

Registration on a Native American Studies waitlist does not guarantee that

1. the student will be given an override into the class at any time, or
2. the student who is first on the waitlist will be the first person offered an override.

Students can only waitlist for one section of a particular class. In other words, if there are multiple discussion sections for a lecture/discussion course, the student must waitlist for the section s/he wants the most.

Prior to the start of classes, we will not give special consideration for overrides based on seniority, as upperclassmen already have priority to enroll or join waitlists because their registration appointments are early in the add/drop period.

Questions? E-mail the undergraduate assistant.

Courses in Ojibwe

This course represents American Culture's long-standing commitment to Ojibwe language instruction and preservation. We will make every effort to offer a four-semester sequence so that students can use it to satisfy their LSA language distribution. Students should be aware, however, that remarkable circumstances might not make it possible for the department to do so. If you have questions or concerns, please contact ac.ug.services@umich.edu.