Native Studies 20 Learning Goals

International Indigenous Issues 

Unit 1: Indigenous Worldviews and Ways of Knowing

1. I can explain what "worldview" means and describe how it shapes the way a person understands the world.

2. I can describe key concepts from specific Indigenous knowledge systems such as interconnectedness, reciprocity, and relationship to land, and trace where those concepts come from.

3. I can identify the diversity of Indigenous nations across the globe and explain why treating Indigenous peoples as one group is inaccurate.

4. I can analyze how colonization has suppressed Indigenous worldviews through forced assimilation, removal of children, banning of languages and ceremonies, and imposed legal systems.

5. I can explain why Indigenous language loss is a human rights issue and describe what the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032) is trying to accomplish.

Unit 2: Self-Determination and Self-Government

6. I can define self-determination and explain why it is a foundational right for Indigenous peoples around the world.

7. I can describe how colonization through land seizure, legal exclusion, and imposed governance has denied Indigenous peoples control over their own lives and communities.

8. I can explain what UNDRIP says, identify its key articles, and analyze the gap between what governments have endorsed and what they have done.

9. I can describe the role of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and explain how international bodies work and where they fall short in protecting Indigenous rights.

10. I can compare the struggles for self-determination among diverse Indigenous nations globally and explain where those struggles converge and where they differ.

Unit 3: Development, Land, and Climate

11. I can explain what "development" means from an Indigenous perspective and contrast it with a Western industrial perspective on land and resources.

12. I can describe how resource extraction projects such as pipelines, dams, mining, and deforestation have harmed Indigenous communities in multiple parts of the world.

13. I can analyze the concept of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and explain why it matters when development projects affect Indigenous lands.

14. I can explain how the Paris Agreement (2015) names Indigenous rights and knowledge in the context of climate change, and evaluate whether governments have followed through.

15. I can examine the connection between environmental destruction, climate change, and the loss of Indigenous land, food sovereignty, culture, and language.

Unit 4: Social Justice and Action

16. I can define racism, discrimination, ethnocide, and genocide, and trace how governments and institutions have applied these against Indigenous peoples globally.

17. I can describe key international human rights instruments including UNDRIP, ILO Convention 169, and the 2022 UN resolution on the right to a clean environment, and explain what they demand of governments and where those demands go unmet.

18. I can analyze the specific impacts of colonization on Indigenous women and girls globally and explain why their rights require distinct attention at the international level.

19. I can analyze strategies Indigenous peoples around the world have used to pursue social justice through legal challenges, political organizing, protest, art, and media, and evaluate how effective those strategies have been.

20. I can identify a current social justice issue affecting Indigenous peoples, research it using credible sources, and develop a personal response or action plan.