Native American Studies - Graduate Minor

The purpose of the Native American Studies Graduate Minor are to:

• Provide an opportunity for all students to learn about Native American cultures and societies.
• Facilitate research and other creative activities that concern Native American peoples and that have potential benefit for them.
• Serve the University and State of New Mexico in ways that support and illuminate the rich heritage of Native American peoples.

The Graduate minor in Native American Studies focuses on Native American cultures and societies, deals with contemporary and historical experiences of American Indians, and examines the contributions of Indigenous peoples to life in the United States and other American nations. This specialization has developed in reaction to Western academic views of Native Americans and to the frequently restrictive, assimilationist approach within universities to issues concerning Native peoples. NAS contributes to a new understanding of Native American cultures and societies from contemporary and historical perspectives.

To qualify for a graduate minor in Native American Studies, students are required to complete 9 credit hours of graduate level courses. Two core requirements are NATV 5110 and NATV 4130. The third course is an elective from the remaining listed courses. To record a minor on a student's transcript, the minor must be listed on the Graduate School's Program of Study form, and the Native American Studies advisor in the Department of Borderlands and Ethnic Studies must sign this form.

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Alternative classes may be substituted with the approval of the student's MA chair and the Director for the Graduate Minor in Native American Studies, Dr. Georgina Badoni (gbadoni@nmsu.edu).