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<span class="general_text"> From Diverse Online:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10997.shtml">http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10997.shtml</a><br>
<p><span class="header_category_name">Current News</span><br>
<span class="article_title">Native American, Indigenous Scholars Form
New Interdisciplinary Association</span><br>
By Kimberly Davis<br>
Apr 14, 2008, 22:20<br>
<br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Athens, Ga.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">During
a three-day conference held at the University of Georgia this past
weekend, Native American and indigenous scholars from around the world
voted overwhelmingly to form what organizers say is the first-ever
membership-based, interdisciplinary, scholarly association.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Registered
attendees at the second annual meeting approved the formation of the
Native American and Indigenous Studies Association by a vote of 172-12,
according to Dr. Jace Weaver, director of the Institute of Native
American Studies at Georgia’s flagship public university.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">“Because
all of use who do Native American or indigenous studies have our
disciplinary meeting that we have to go to, there might be three, four,
half-a-dozen if we’re lucky, panels on indigenous issues,” says Weaver,
a professor of religion and Native American studies. “But there’s no
place where we can talk across interdisciplinary boundaries. That’s
necessary if we’re going to move forward.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The
association was first conceived by Dr. Robert Warrior, a professor at
the University of Oklahoma, who “started with a phone call” three years
ago that set a conversation in motion. That conversation led to the
formation of a steering committee that organized the first Indigenous
Studies meeting last year in Oklahoma. Because Native American and
indigenous scholars are spread out in fields such as religion,
sociology and political science, just to name a few, Warrior says that
it is up to those who focus on and have a stake in these issues to come
together. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">“This is the obsession
of our field,” says Warrior, who last month was named director of the </span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">American
Indian Studies Program and the Native American House at the University
of Illinois. “It does come down to us and it also becomes this larger
circle.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">The
next step for the association is to elect a slate of officers who will
be installed at the next meeting, which will be held at the University
of Minnesota in May 2009.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">For
many of those in attendance at the conference, which featured roughly
88 concurrent sessions and participants from Australia, New Zealand and
Canada, the association is a welcome development and an idea whose time
has come. Organizers say this year’s conference marks the second
meeting of its kind and scope.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">“It’s
an historic moment for all of us,” says Dr. Jacki Rand, an associate
professor of Native North American history at the University of Iowa.
“I think it’s long overdue and it shows how much the academy has
ignored Native American studies or American Indian studies.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Dr.
Robert Collins, an assistant professor of American Indian studies at
San Francisco State University, says that the association will match a
specific need with the breadth of research that exists and will grow in
the field. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">“The
diversity of the scholarship almost requires an association like this,”
says Collins, who is a member of the curatorial team for “<i style="">I</i></span><i
style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">ndivisible:
African-Native American Lives in the Americas</span></i><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">,” a </span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">new
exhibition from the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and
the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “It’s too
broad for just American Indian studies and it needs a specificity that
can’t be matched by indigenous studies. It’s about a lived experience.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Membership
in the organization is open to any individual — native and non-native
—who works in Native American, American Indian or indigenous studies,
including students. One undergraduate student from the University of
New Mexico presented a paper at the conference and said the association
is a way for those who do this work to come together and build the
future leaders and educators in the field. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">“What
it really means is, as Native students, we can assert our identity,”
says Jonathan Pino, 23, of T’siya Pueblo, N.M. “It’s really about
asserting who we are and taking it to the next level. We’re redefining
what it means to be Native scholars.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">For more
information about the Native American and Indigenous Studies
Association, please contact Jace Weaver at <a
href="mailto:jweaver@uga.edu">jweaver@uga.edu</a></span></p>
</span>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Assistant Professor</p>
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New Haven, CT 06520-8236</p>
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P.O. Box 208324<br>
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