MEETING TO DISCUSS FUTURE OF NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES TO BE HELD AT OU

Norman – What is anticipated as being the largest gathering of Native American studies scholars will converge on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus May 3 through 5 to discuss how these scholars are shaping the future of college and university programs that focus on  American Indians and other Indigenous peoples.

Hosted by the Native American Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, the meeting will welcome hundreds of scholars from around the world to explore the creation of an academic association for scholars who work in the discipline.

“Even though this is the first of three such meetings to be held across the nation, we have accepted more than 50 panels and sessions from nearly 200 scholars across the United States as well as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Hong Kong, Great Britain and Switzerland,” said Robert Warrior, professor of Native American studies and English at OU.  “I am fairly certain this will be the largest academic meeting in the history of Native American studies.”

Registration begins at 10 a.m. on Thursday.  The first of many sessions will be held in Oklahoma Memorial Union, 900 Asp Ave.  Issues such as philosophy, tribally centered studies, Indigenous feminisms, literature, history, same-sex marriage and methodology will be discussed throughout the three-day meeting.

“An academic association has been long needed in Native American studies, so this meeting addresses a pressing need,” Warrior said.  “The fact that OU is hosting the meeting, and the great success we have had in attracting such a large group of scholars to attend this inaugural meeting, speaks to the visibility of OU’s Native American studies around the country.”

An opening reception featuring student and community drumming and dancing groups will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman.  A reading by some of the creative writers who are attending the meeting will follow. The reception and reading are free and open to the public. 

The Institute of Native American Studies at the University of Georgia and the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities have agreed to host meetings over the next two years to continue the development of the new academic association.

The meeting has received generous support from the Chickasaw Nation Division of History, Research, and Scholarship, Comanche Nation, Choctaw Nation, and OU’s American Indian Student Services, International Student Services, Department of Anthropology, Department of History, and Department of English.

For more information, a complete schedule and/or accommodations on the basis of disability, contact Robert Warrior at (405) 325-2312 or warrior@ou.edu.