Overview
Free Resources!
Indian Identity in Contemporary Art
Author: This unit was researched, authored, and edited by the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, California Indian Education for All, and the San Diego County Office of Education. Key writers and researchers of this unit are Cristapher Torres, Greg Hinchliff, Scott Bankert, Debbie Reese, Jean Mendoza and Taylor Melgoza. The unit resources were designed and created from funding through the California Department of Education’s Native American Studies Model Curriculum grant and contract.
Grades: 9-12th Grades
Suggested Amount of Time: 90 minutes
Curriculum Themes
- History
- Cultural Strengths
- Law/Government
- Relationship to Place
Learning Goals
Students will learn how California Indian contemporary art and reveal identity in their work.
Students will identify and locate the traditional lands of the Tongva people on a map, comparing them to contemporary Los Angeles place names, demonstrating geographic and historical awareness.
Students will activate prior knowledge by responding to open-ended questions related to art, identity, landscape, and tribal sovereignty, and share their thoughts in a pair-share and whole class discussion format.
Lesson Overview
Interactive Slides
About the Interactive Slides
A key component of this curriculum includes interactive slides and a lesson script/facilitation support. These materials are designed to support ease of implementation and help guide lesson delivery.
The interactive slides are animated to gradually reveal content and may include links to videos and audio playback buttons for Tribal language integration, songs, or slide facilitation.
In addition to the downloadable lesson and student handouts, this lesson comprised of 90 minutes, includes interactive slides and lesson script/ facilitation support.
Slides: Identity and Contemporary Art
*To ensure full accessibility, we recommend making a copy of the instructional material(s).
Instructions:
To use the slides effectively:
- Project the slides in "Slideshow Mode" to activate animations. Written content will appear with each click.
- Set speaker volume before beginning the lesson to ensure all students can hear audio content.
- Play audio by clicking the audio playback icons one at a time. There may be a brief pause while the audio loads.
- Hovering over an audio playback icon will reveal a playback bar that allows you to play, pause, adjust speed, or fast-forward the audio.
- Note: You do not need to use the playback bar unless you wish to adjust playback. Simply clicking the icon will play the audio.