M01: Seminar 1 – Native Women
1
What is a Seminar? For the purposes of this class, a seminar is a formal, analytical
discussion of primary sources from class readings; students typically write a couple of long paragraphs, answering questions chosen by the professor. It’s almost like a
super-short paper or findings report, but you don’t have to worry about introductions, conclusions, and transitions: just clarity. Then, students respond more briefly to two of their classmates, and these responses ideally further the discussion of the topic.
Reading: DuBois and Dumenil, Through Women’s Eyes Fifth Edition, Chapter 1
Primary Sources, linked earlier in this module. (Go to the Modules page, scroll to M01 and find the entry for “M01: Seminar 1 Reading – Native Women”. If you ask me where to find the readings I will know you didn’t read the instructions).
Evidence: The images in the reading are of Native American women, all created by
Europeans. From a careful reading of these images and the text that accompanies
them, students begin to distinguish between likely and unlikely portrayals of Native
Americans, describe and explain how Europeans viewed Native Americans, and piece
together some idea of how Native Americans might actually have lived.
Methodology: Using visual sources properly involves a lot more than looking at them.
Examine each of the images carefully. Consider: Who created this image? For what
audience? What does the image show? What was the purpose of the image? What
does it teach us about its creator?
Seminar Topic: Write a couple of long paragraphs answering the following questions,
explaining how details in the images help answer the question. What criteria can
students of history use to judge the accuracy of these depictions of indigenous women?
Which images seem to be the most accurate and why? Which seem to be the least
accurate and why? Consider both the images and the text accompanying the images, as the text provides important context
