Classes use tarot cards, aim to ‘create a bestiary of Indigenous feminist resistance’
The University of Maryland is offering an “Indigenous Feminisms” course this fall called “Monsters, Cryptids, and Beasts of Resistance” that will explore “monstrosity as survival, justice, and resistance” in opposition to “settler narratives of fear and control.”
The course recently prompted harsh criticism from a conservative policy analyst, who said the public university should “leave my wallet” out of its “idiocy.”
The University of Maryland, a taxpayer-funded institution, developed the course through its Indigenous Futures Lab, of which a primary goal is to “dismantle colonial legacies.”
The lab, which opened in the fall of 2023, “serves as a hub of Indigenous research, evaluation, and relationship-building where we center Indigenous knowledges to build futures of co-flourishing.”
As part of its initiatives, the lab offers a class on “Indigenous Feminisms,” as well as “Bead, Weave, and Read” workshops and a “Decolonizing Death Cafe,” the purpose of which is “reimagining and understanding death care through a decolonized lens.”
According to a course syllabus that The College Fix obtained through an open records request, the spring semester class used tarot cards to guide discussions and included a final project in which students design their own tarot cards. Assigned readings and videos included the YouTube video, “How colonialism killed my culture’s gender fluidity.”
The university also plans to offer an “Indigenous Feminisms” class through the lab in the fall, “Monsters, Cryptids, and Beasts of Resistance.” According to an Instagram story post, the class will “refuse settler narratives of fear and control” and “create a bestiary of Indigenous feminist resistance.”
“What makes something monstrous? Who decides what should be feared, erased, or destroyed?” the post states, later adding, “This course explores monstrosity as survival, justice, and resistance.”
A spokesperson for the University of Maryland initially replied to The College Fix’s email asking for more information about the lab and the classes, but did not respond to follow up requests.
Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner, an assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies, also did not respond to The Fix‘s emails. Meissner runs the Indigenous Futures Lab and teaches both courses.
However, Inez Stepman with the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative nonprofit focused on policy issues that affect women, was critical of the project.
Stepman, whose expertise is in education policy, said the reasoning behind the lab and similar initiatives stems from belief in the “noble savage myth.”
“We’ve almost flipped this idea of savagery that only white Europeans and colonists were capable of savagery on the frontier,” she said in a phone interview with The Fix.
“This fits into the narrative that America is uniquely bad … essentially that the white man brought violence into the world. It’s historically false and incredibly condescending,” she said, later adding, “All of these trends come down to the same thing: certain groups are bad and certain groups are victims.”
Stepman said this mentality is not new. “This is all downstream of 1968, of ‘Wretched of the Earth’ by Franz Fanon, which completely endorses blood and violence as a way of ‘decolonization.’”
She described how the mentality plays out today. “On the one hand, you have this maximum penalty for one class of people even for the most minor offenses, and on the other hand, if you’re in the favored class, violence — even extreme violence — is excused as justice or as colonial uprising against oppression.”
Stepman said universities receive a vast sum of money from the federal government, and this money comes from taxes on everyday Americans.
“This is not what the American people signed up for,” Stepman said. “This is not what the American people thought they were paying for.”
She said programs like the Indigenous Futures Lab are part of the reason why many Americans are in favor of taxing university endowments.
“Why should the American taxpayer pay for indigenous tarot card feminism?” Stepman asked. “Is there a public interest in a mechanic from Ohio paying for indigenous feminism studies?”
“Look, if colleges want … to continue to teach this kind of idiocy, it’s a free country. And if other idiots want to pay them six figures to sit in a class and learn about indigenous feminism, then good for them. But I think it is high time the American taxpayer disinvest. Leave my wallet out of it,” she told The Fix.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Students at the University of Maryland participate in a Bead, Weave, and Read workshop at its Indigenous Futures Lab. UMD Indigenous Futures Lab/Instagram