Course

An introduction to Indigenous information issues, the TLAM course is a graduate-level course that emphasizes Indigenous Knowledge and holistic learning within community.

The course is designed to facilitate a participatory learning experience through presentations, readings, semester-long service-learning projects, and relationship building with tribal cultural workers. While this is a graduate-level course, undergraduates are encouraged to enroll with instructor consent. 

The course is structured around a combination of classroom discussions and activities, guest speakers, travel to WI Tribal Nations, and attendance at events relevant to course topics.

Service learning is an integral component of the TLAM course.

Students participate in semester-long service-learning projects with tribal partners. Learn about what we're up to by visiting our projects page. The course is currently offered in-person at UW-Madison's iSchool every spring, but new curriculum will be announced soon that will begin Fall 2025. 

The class emerged from independent study project in 2008 of three SLIS students––Chelsea Couillard, Christina Johnson, and Catherine Phan. 

Through funding from the Morgridge Center for Public Service’s Kauffman Entrepreneurship Community Internship Program and through SLIS (now the UW iSchool), the students completed an interest and priorities assessment of the Red Cliff community to determine the potential role of the library on the reservation.

Through the work in this initial project, the students, along with new recruits continued the experience by designing a course for future information professionals at SLIS: Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums. In this group independent study, the students broadened their education and sought to create relationships between SLIS, the Red Cliff community, the larger University, the library and information community, and other tribes and bands across the state.

The course evolved into one of the regularly occurring topics courses at SLIS, now the iSchool. It is now offered yearly during the spring semester and has consistently generated increasing amounts of interest and enthusiasm among students, faculty, and the larger community. Topics covered include tribal histories; languages and storytelling; political and cultural sovereignty; Indigenous knowledge; the history of tribal libraries, archives, and museums; digital heritage; and unlearning and relearning so much of what students already "know."

Community engagement is central to the experience, and all students are required to participate in a group service-learning project with a tribal cultural institution. Service-learning placements are made by the course instructor each semester. Since the course began, students have continued to work with the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, but TLAM now has partnerships with tribal cultural institutions all over the state.

Visit the Partnerships or Past Projects page to learn more about each of these projects.