Our students are diverse—Native American, traditional and non-traditional—and they come to the Cherokee Studies program for a variety of reasons. Indian students are especially interested in answering personal questions about identity and heritage while Indian and non-Indian students alike seek to learn more about subjects on Native American culture, art, history, politics and public policy.

Whether you’re thinking about joining the program for a career in history or public policy, or for academic or personal advancement, you should know that cross-cultural interdisciplinary learning is a hot commodity in today’s world and will give you skills that are invaluable, wherever you go from here.

We offer an interdisciplinary minor degree in Cherokee Studies that is housed in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, one of the interdisciplinary programs offered within the College of Arts and Sciences. Required courses within this minor include those from the Departments of History, Anthropology and Sociology, Art and Design, Modern Foreign Languages, as well as Arts and Sciences Interdisciplinary and University Studies Interdisciplinary courses. In the future we hope to include additional departments within this degree program including Geosciences and Natural Resources Management and the Department of English.

Requirements
The Cherokee Studies minor requires 21 hours:

• HIST 445: Cherokee History
• CHER 101: Experiencing Cherokee and the Cherokee Speaking World
• CHER 132: Elementary Cherokee II
• ANTH 461: Indians of North America
• ANTH 473: Contemporary Cherokee Culture and Society

and 6 hours of electives from:

• CHER231: Intermediate Cherokee I
• CHER232: Intermediate Cherokee II
• ANTH/ART 379: Cherokee Arts and Crafts
• USI 394: Topics in Cherokee Studies

Other courses that might be substituted with the approval of the Director of Cherokee Studies include:

• CHER351: Phonetics and General Linguistics
• ENGL 464: Native American Literature
• PAR 327: Native American Religions
• ANTH 440: Archaeological Field Techniques
• ANTH 431: North American Prehistory
• ANTH 441: Archaeological Problems and Analyses
• ANTH 461: Indians of North America
• ANTH493: Conflict Resolution
• ANTH 493: Cherokee Medicinal Plants
• ANTH 493: Early Southeastern Native American Art

Enhance your experience

Student work or study co-operatives are available to undergraduate students through Western's Cherokee Center and external organizations within the Native American community.

For more information, email Center Director Roseanna Belt at rbelt@wcu.edu.