The CHID Colloquium is a reading/discussion/writing course centered on general problems of knowledge and interpretation that emerge from the historical and comparative study of human people and their narratives.  Given that we will be in New Zealand, the majority of texts we will read are productions of indigene from New Zealand, Australia, Pacific Islands.

      We will examine ethnographic and historical accounts, theoretical essays, and literature that demonstrate a range of disciplinary and explanatory strategies.  From these narratives we will evaluate some ways through which people interpret their world, as well as methods they use to perceive, create, explain and interpret knowledges. We will continue to examine the ways in which these interpretative perspectives are tied to problems of societal & cultural power dynamics of exclusion and integration. Issues of how/whether we can understand the knowledge of people who perceive the world differently than we do and how these problematic perceptions are connected to social & cultural issues of preserving, protecting and integrating "we-ness" and "other-ness." Ethnicity, nationality, race, class, sexuality, and gender – all very problematic concepts – will loom large in our discussions.

      The first objective of the course is to expose us to a wide range of readings that deal, explicitly or implicitly, with problems of interpretation.   Part of our class time each week will be student led.  We will write regularly in response to what we learning.  Writing is a valued component of Western academia with the theory that it is a practice that can facilitate engagement in, and understanding of, words and ideas.

      Tuesday's class discussions on the readings will be led by student groups and Thursday's class will be led by Prof. Bushnell.