Indigenous Studies, M.A.
Indigenous Studies
Head: Lorena Fontaine
Grad Chair: Niigganwewidam Sinclar
Campus Address/General Office: 215 Isbister Bldg
Telephone: 204-474-9899
Website: umanitoba.ca/arts/indigenous-studies
Academic Staff: Please refer to the Indigenous Studies website for academic staff.
Indigenous Studies Program Information
For students who wish to engage in primary research, the Graduate Program in Indigenous Studies provides opportunities that lead to a Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Admission Information
Admission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
Application and Admission Procedures are found in the Academic Guide.
Admission requirements for Master’s students are found in the Master’s Degrees General Regulations section of the Guide.
Indigenous Studies M.A. Admission Requirements
For students to be admitted directly into the Master's program, they are required to have the equivalent of an advanced/honours degree with a major in Indigenous Studies. Students with majors in other fields may apply if they have 30 credit hours in courses relating to Indigenous studies. Students who do not meet this equivalency will be required to take additional courses to meet the requirement for 30 credit hours of Indigenous Studies courses.
Application Information
Students should complete and submit their online application with supporting documentation by the date indicated on the Indigenous Studies M.A. program of study page.
Degree Requirements
The program offers two options:
- Thesis route consisting of 12 credit hours of required and 6 credit hours of additional coursework, and a thesis.
- Major Research Paper (MRP) route, consisting of 12 credit hours of required courses and 9 credit hours of additional coursework, and a major research paper.
Expected Time to Graduate: 2 years
Progression Chart
THESIS ROUTE
| Course | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| INDG 7230 | Methodology and Research Issues in Indigenous Studies | 3 |
| INDG 7240 | Issues in Colonization | 3 |
| INDG 7250 | Culture: Theory and Praxis | 3 |
| INDG 7280 | Indigenous Studies Colloquia (Colloquia section) | 1 |
| INDG 7280 | Indigenous Studies Colloquia (Seminar section) | 1 |
| INDG 7280 | Indigenous Studies Colloquia (Presentation section) | 1 |
| Select 6 credit hours at the 4000 level or above 1 | 6 | |
| GRAD 7300 | Research Integrity Tutorial | 0 |
| GRAD 7500 | Academic Integrity Tutorial | 0 |
| Total Hours | 18 | |
Major Research Paper Route
| Course | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| INDG 7230 | Methodology and Research Issues in Indigenous Studies | 3 |
| INDG 7240 | Issues in Colonization | 3 |
| INDG 7250 | Culture: Theory and Praxis | 3 |
| INDG 7280 | Indigenous Studies Colloquia (Colloquia section) | 1 |
| INDG 7280 | Indigenous Studies Colloquia (Seminar section) | 1 |
| INDG 7280 | Indigenous Studies Colloquia (Presentation section) | 1 |
| GRAD 7300 | Research Integrity Tutorial | 0 |
| GRAD 7500 | Academic Integrity Tutorial | 0 |
| Select 9 credit hours at the 4000 level or above 1 | 9 | |
| INDG 7110 | Major Research Paper | 0 |
| Total Hours | 21 | |
- 1
INDG 7220 may be taken more than once.
Registration Information
Students should familiarize themselves with the Faculty of Graduate Studies ‘GRAD’ courses applicable to their program. If you have questions about which GRAD course(s) to register in, please consult your home department/unit.
All students must meet with the Graduate Program Chair to determine their course load. Prior to registering, students must have written approval from the Graduate Program Chair to take selected courses. All course additions and withdrawals (registration revisions) must be approved in the same manner.
Regulations
Students must meet the requirements as outlined in both Supplementary Regulation and BFAR documents as approved by Senate.
Supplementary Regulations
Individual units may require specific requirements above and beyond those of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and students should consult unit supplementary regulations for these specific regulations.
Bona Fide Academic Requirements (BFAR)
Bona Fide Academic Requirements (BFAR) represent the core academic requirements a graduate student must acquire in order to gain, and demonstrate acquisition of, essential knowledge and skills.
All students must successfully complete:
- GRAD 7300 prior to applying to any ethics boards which are appropriate to the student’s research or within the student’s first year, whichever comes first; and
- GRAD 7500 within the first term of registration;
unless these courses have been completed previously, as per Mandatory Academic Integrity Course and Mandatory Research Integrity Online Course.
Students must also meet additional BFAR requirements that may be specified for their program.
General Regulations
All students must:
- maintain a minimum degree grade point average of 3.0 with no grade below C+,
- meet the minimum and not exceed the maximum course requirements, and
- meet the minimum and not exceed the maximum time requirements (in terms of time in program and lapse or expiration of credit of courses).
Courses
Indigenous Studies
This course will further investigate Anishinaabemowin grammar. Various types of stories in different dialects will be used to illustrate the complexities of Anishinaabemowin. The students will translate English stories into Anishinaabemowin and will also learn to transcribe oral stories in Anishinaabemowin and translate them. Students will also be introduced to historical orthographies used in materials at HBC archives, the Manitoba Museum, and other repositories for transcribing Anishinaabemowin language in the past.
PR/CR: A minimum grade of C is required unless otherwise indicated.
Prerequisite: NATV 3190 or permission of the Instructor or Department Head.
Students will complete a research project under direct supervision. This is a required course for students in the MA by major research paper. This course is graded pass/fail.
PR/CR: A minimum grade of C is required unless otherwise indicated.
Prerequisite: Permission of Department Head.
Students will examine an Indigenous community organization as a means to attaining healthy, resilient communities. Many organizations were formed by Indigenous peoples to address local, regional and national issues to address barriers to well-being. B grade or better to pass. Course graded pass/fail.
A critical examination of issues in selected areas of Indigenous Studies designed to meet the special needs of graduate students interested in exploring interdisciplinary perspectives in Indigenous Studies. The course content may vary. Students can earn multiple credits for this course only when the topic subtitle is different.
A review of research methods, such as oral histories, and research issues, such as ethics and intellectual property rights, within the context of Indigenous Studies.
An examination of the factors influencing colonization, assimilation and indigenization. Explores the colonization and decolonization processes, theories of colonization and ways of promoting indigenization without assimilation
A study of selected material in Métis, Aboriginal, or Inuit studies, designed to meet the special needs of graduate students interested in exploring interdisciplinary perspectives in Indigenous Studies.
This course engages with critical prose and fictional stories by Critical Indigenous and Black Futurist writers, thinkers, and dreamers. Students will experiment with and think through Indigenous and Black (re)imaginings of contact, settler colonialism, temporality, spirituality, home, extraction, embodiment, racial capitalism, language revitalization, relationality, gender, queerness, dispossession, haunting, planetarity, space travel, star knowledge, and otherwise-worlds. Students will build local and regional understandings of Black and Indigenous lived experiences of historical, place-based, and diasporic themes as they inform the urgency and critical potential of these speculative texts and futurist worlds. Written consent of instructor. May not be held with INDG 4260.
Theoretical, methodological, ethical and contextual issues in Indigenous Studies are explored from the perspectives of formally and informally trained experts using a colloquia format. Students are required to attend regularly. This course is taken more than once to fulfill program requirements. Time slots to be determined the first week of September. The course content may vary. Students can earn multiple credits for this course only when the topic subtitle is different. Course graded pass/fail.
This seminar deals with a variety of specific topics in Indigenous Economy. The course content may vary. Students can earn multiple credits for this course only when the topic subtitle is different.
This course will assess the relevance of the concepts produced by recent social theory to the situation of Indigenous peoples and the contribution made by "fourth world" contexts to social theory. Marxism, feminism, post-structuralism, post-colonial theory, and cultural theory will be among the perspectives examined.
This course will compare selected texts by Indigenous authors from Canada and Australia and examine them through the lens of trauma theories – those developed by Holocaust scholars but also those which draw on Indigenous worldviews.
A team-taught seminar that provides an in-depth study of the major theoretical, methodological, and ethical issues in Indigenous research with an emphasis on the interdisciplinary scholarship of Indigenous Studies faculty.
This course engages the global field of Critical Indigenous Studies, as has been outlined by Critical Indigenous theorists in field and discipline defining texts. Taking a genealogical approach, this course will tend to various archaeological formations of critical Indigenous theory as theorized through Indigenous onto-epistemologies. Written consent of instructor. May not be held with INDG 4800.