American and Indigenous Studies
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American and Indigenous Studies

Citizens gather at the Civil Rights March on Washington, DC, August 28, 1963.
National Archives, Records of the U.S. Information Agency, Record Group 306 (National Archives Identifier 542044)
The American and Indigenous Studies Program offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of culture and society in the United States.
Students take courses in a wide range of fields with the aim of learning how to study this complex subject in a sensitive and responsible way. In the introductory courses, students develop the ability to analyze a broad spectrum of materials, including novels, autobiographies, newspapers, photographs, films, songs, and websites. In junior seminars and the Senior Project, students identify and integrate relevant methodologies from at least two disciplines, creating modes of analysis appropriate to their topics. By graduation, students should have developed a base of knowledge about the past and present conditions of the American experience both at home and abroad.

Current Events

Bard College Receives $25 Million Endowment Gift from Gochman Family Foundation Supporting Renamed American and Indigenous Studies Program
Stone Row on Bard College campus. Photo by Karl Rabe

Bard College Receives $25 Million Endowment Gift from Gochman Family Foundation Supporting Renamed American and Indigenous Studies Program

Bard College is excited to announce a transformational $25 million endowment gift from the Gochman Family Foundation, which will substantially advance its work deepening diversity and equity in American Studies with a Center for Indigenous Studies, faculty appointments and student scholarships, and the appointment of an Indigenous Curatorial Fellow at Center for Curatorial Studies. The College’s American Studies Program will be renamed American and Indigenous Studies to more fully reflect continental history and to place Native American and Indigenous Studies at the heart of curricular innovation and development.

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Bard College Awarded $1.49 Million Grant from Mellon Foundation for American Studies Initiative
Associate Professor of History and Dean of Graduate Studies Christian Ayne Crouch speaks during a 2018 event dedicating new signage on campus designed to encourage critical reflection on Bard’s history. The installation of these historical markers took place in connection with the course Inclusion at Bard, an Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences offering. 

Bard College Awarded $1.49 Million Grant from Mellon Foundation for American Studies Initiative

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Bard College a $1.49 million grant for its “Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck” project. Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck proposes a Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) approach to a revitalized American Studies curriculum and undertakes an expansive understanding of land acknowledgment that goes beyond addressing a single institution’s history in regards to Native peoples. 

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Recent Senior Projects

  • “Black Oiler,” a narrative of a Black male told through music and the lenses of different African diasporic authors
  • “Towards a Celebration of Native Resilience: Interrupting National Myth-Making in the American Classroom”
  • “‘A Visit to the Coffee Houses’: How Local News Wrote about the Humoresque Coffeeshop Raids”

Senior Projects

Visit the Bard Digital Commons for a complete archive of Senior Projects in American and Indigenous Studies.

Go to Digital Commons

Courses and Requirements

Click below for a complete list of currently offered courses.


  • Moderation Requirements
    In addition to the standard Bard Moderation requirements, American and Indigenous Studies students are required to complete the following three courses in order to moderate:
    • American Studies 101, Introduction to American and Indigenous Studies, or American Studies 102, Introduction to American Culture and Values
    • At least two other courses focusing on the United States
    For Moderation into American and Indigenous Studies, students should submit the two college-wide short Moderation papers (on past and future academic work) as well as a 10-12 page critical essay completed in one of their American and Indigenous Studies courses.

    More on Bard Moderation
     
  • Graduation Requirements
    Following Moderation, American and Indigenous Studies students must complete five more courses, as well as their Senior Project, in order to graduate:
    • At least two more courses, any level, focusing on the United States (in addition to those taken for Moderation)
    • At least two courses, any level, focusing on non-U.S. cultures and societies
    • A Junior Seminar focusing on the United States (Junior Seminars are 300-level courses with an emphasis on research methods, culminating in a 20–25 page research paper or equivalently substantial final project. It is expected that one or more of these courses will be taken prior to beginning the Senior Project.) A second junior seminar in a different division is strongly encouraged.
    • Senior Project (two semesters)
    At least two of the students’ U.S.-focused courses must emphasize the period before 1900. In order to ensure a variety of perspectives on students’ work, both the Moderation and Senior Project boards must consist of faculty members drawn from more than one division.

Program Faculty

Program Director: Peter L’Official
Phone: 845-758-7556
E-mail: [email protected]
Myra Young Armstead
Alex Benson
Luis Chávez
Christian Ayne Crouch
Yuval Elmelech
Jeannette Estruth
Elizabeth Frank
Simon Gilhooley		 Joshua Glick
Donna Ford Grover
Hua Hsu
Mie Inouye
Suzanne Kite
Margaux Kristjansson 
Peter L’Official
Christopher Lindner
Joshua Livingston		 Allison McKim
Matthew Mutter
Joel Perlmann
Lucas G. Pinheiro
Susan Fox Rogers
Julia Rosenbaum
Whitney Slaten
Tom Wolf