Nation's first American Indian studies department to host first conference of indigenous scholars

Contacts: Kelly O’Brien, College of Liberal Arts, (612) 624-4109, obrie136@umn.edu
Ryan Maus, University News Service, (612) 624-1690, maus@umn.edu

The first American Indian studies department in the nation will mark another first when the department at the University of Minnesota hosts the first Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference on May 21 - 23.

The U of M’s department of American Indian studies was established in June 1969, and at that time was the only department in the nation dedicated to the study of native peoples. Prior to that, studies of Native Americans were scattershot and held mostly in anthropology departments. With the creation of the department, the university had a dedicated place for the study of Minnesota’s native languages, Dakota and Ojibwe, as well as Indian culture, history, education and other topics.

Since 1969, the study of American Indians has exploded across the United States and Canada. Currently there are almost 120 American Indian studies programs and departments in the United States and Canada, not counting the 32 tribal colleges; among those, 47 offer baccalaureate majors. With this growth has come a proportionate increase in the number of scholars researching related topics, variously called American Indian, Native American, First Nations, aboriginal and indigenous studies. This growth led to the establishment in NAISA in May 2007.

“It used to be that while we would read each other's research, we never came together. Finally, we will be working less in isolation and instead sharing our commonalities and similar professional challenges,” said Jean O'Brien, an associate professor and chair of the department of American Indian studies and member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe.

NAISA developed from two meetings, the first at the University of Oklahoma, Norman in May 2007, and the second at the Institute of Native American Studies at the University of Georgia in April 2008. Attendance at both meetings was so much higher than expected that it was clear that a major conference was in order.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota, NAISA chose to hold their first conference in Minneapolis. More than 600 scholars from the Americas and as far away as Taiwan, Australia, Czech Republic, Israel and Norway will exchange research ideas and give each other professional support.

Breakout sessions during the conference include everything from “Reassessing Indigenous Education in the Americas” and “Sleeping With the Enemy: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists” to “Contested Spaces: Searching for the Sacred” and “Restoring the Ojibwe Language Texts of Anishinaabe Literature.”

To learn more about the conference, go to http://amin.umn.edu/NAISA2009