The PEOPLE Gather Ground & Grow - build or rebuild communities and nations - all around the globe. Many PEOPLES, such as American Indian Tribes, are molding and shaping various governance and governing structures after long-term colonization, oppression, and control. In this class we will discuss various paths, patterns, and possibilities of Community and Nation Building, focusing on what sovereignty means or can mean to a particular PEOPLE. Class discussions will focus on: PEOPLE (Human Capital Development), Policy (Organizational Development/ Institutions), Place (Community Infrastructure Development/Environmental Support), & Pecuniary Possibilities (Economic Development). Course lectures, readings, and assignments shall lead students to further study the related governance issues of Leadership, Land, Laissez Faire (i.e. sovereignty), and Law. Students will be introduced to aspects of political theory that may or may not be relevant and challenged to consider and conceive their own. Students will leave the class with the ability to analyze governance and development processes using a comprehensive approach that places Community and Nation Building issues in a practical and dynamic paradigm - The Sphere. This approach shall be supplemented with current examples of how the PEOPLE Gather Ground and Grow of a PEOPLE that the students will choose and study over the course of the quarter.
3-5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
The PEOPLE Gather Ground & Grow - build or rebuild communities and nations - all around the globe. Many PEOPLES, such as American Indian Tribes, are molding and shaping various governance and governing structures after long-term colonization, oppression, and control. In this class we will discuss various paths, patterns, and possibilities of Community and Nation Building, focusing on what sovereignty means or can mean to a particular PEOPLE. Class discussions will focus on: PEOPLE (Human Capital Development), Policy (Organizational Development/ Institutions), Place (Community Infrastructure Development/Environmental Support), & Pecuniary Possibilities (Economic Development). Course lectures, readings, and assignments shall lead students to further study the related governance issues of Leadership, Land, Laissez Faire (i.e. sovereignty), and Law. Students will be introduced to aspects of political theory that may or may not be relevant and challenged to consider and conceive their own. Students will leave the class with the ability to analyze governance and development processes using a comprehensive approach that places Community and Nation Building issues in a practical and dynamic paradigm - The Sphere. This approach shall be supplemented with current examples of how the PEOPLE Gather Ground and Grow of a PEOPLE that the students will choose and study over the course of the quarter.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.