TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Northeastern State University is inviting the public to take part in the 42nd annual Symposium on the American Indian on April 7-12.

This year’s theme is “Thriving Nations–Resilient Peoples.” The event annually hosts exhibits, vendors, guest speakers and a popular powwow, which is on April 11-12. This year’s powwow will be held in NSU’s new event center just north of the campus near the football stadium.

In keeping with this year’s theme, topics will focus on stimulating renewed perspectives on the self-determination of tribal peoples to inspire innovative thought on ways to secure and sustain their wellbeing now and in the future.

Designed for a diverse public audience, the agenda includes both scholarly and general interest programs. All events are open to the public and free of charge.

“In contemporary America, the quality of life for Native peoples bears scars of the traumatic phenomena spurred by U.S. government policies of forced termination and assimilation of the past,” organizers said. “By acting upon the treaty and sovereign rights of tribal nations, organized and united efforts are at work today to protect indigenous rights, secure cultural capital, and generate vitality through Native initiatives on behalf of the family of Native peoples.”

Confirmed speakers include Cherokee Nation citizen Stacy Leeds, who is the dean and professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. From 2003-11 she was a member of the law faculty at the University of Kansas School of Law, where she directed the Tribal Law and Government Center. In 2013, Leeds was recognized with the American Bar Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award for her work in promoting a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession. She teaches, writes and consults in the areas American Indian law, property, economic development, higher education and governance.

Also speaking will be professor Sarah Deer (Muscogee Creek) who has focused her legal work on violent crime on Indian reservations. She has co-authored two textbooks on tribal law and several academic articles on Native American women.

Professor of history Donald Fixico (Shawnee, Sac & Fox, Muscogee Creek and Seminole) is a policy historian and ethno-historian who focuses on American Indians, oral history and the U.S. West. He will share his insights during the symposium.

Also presenting will be Dr. Leanne Hinton, professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, and director of the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, a research unit that focuses on research and documentation of Native American languages. Her research fields include sociolinguistics, language change, and language and music, as well as a major focus on the preservation and restoration of Native American languages. She consults widely for language maintenance and restoration programs in California and the Southwest.

The NSU Center for Tribal Studies hosts the annual symposium. For more information, visit www.cts.nsuok.edu/NSUSymposium/SymposiumAgenda.aspx.

 

 

FILE PHOTO

Powwow dancers enter the Northeastern State University Center Ballroom for grand entry during a past NSU Symposium on the American Indian in Tahlequah, Okla. This year’s theme is “Thriving Nations–Resilient Peoples.”