Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference, May 20-22, 2010

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference
May 20-22, 2010
Tucson, AZ
Abstracts Due: November 28, 2009

Dear colleagues,

I have just become aware of an organization that might be of interest to our membership. It is the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. This is a brand new organization: their second organizing meeting was at the University of Georgia, Athens, in April, 2008 and their first annual meeting last year in Minneapolis, May 2009. The membership/audience for this conference is very multi-disciplinary (many historians, social scientists, etc), and most participants teach in American Indian studies. However, there are representatives from New Zealand and Australia on their governing board. They have 500-600 attendees at their meetings. For more about the organization, please visit their website.

 A colleague of mine (on the Native American side), Rebecca Dobkins, went to the first annual conference held in Minneapolis last year and said she found it terrific, though there was a major dearth of presentations on Native/indigenous arts. She and I would I'd like to organize panels for the next conference that introduce this broad audience to ways that contemporary native/indigenous arts (Native American and Pacific) can illuminate major issues in indigenous studies. To that end, we are imagining panels that focus on contemporary arts and show how artists are addressing issues of sovereignty, self-determination, hybridity, gender, etc.

The next conference is in Tucson, AZ, May 20-22, 2010. Sessions are 1 hour 45 minutes, with room for 3-4 papers (and time for audience discussion).  Presenters must be members, but currently dues are very inexpensive: regular = $25; student, retirees = $10.

If you are interested, please respond to me at ivorycs@wsu.edu with the following (in Word, please):

Name as you wish it to appear in the Program;
Name & title; institutional or organizational affiliation (if relevant);
Contact information (including snail mail address, email address, and
phone number);
Paper Title;
Abstract of no more than 250 words

Apologies since I just found out about this. I would need to know asap (next week or two) if you wish to participate, and have the abstract no later than late November (the 28th) to meet the December 1 deadline. 

Thanks and all best wishes,
Carol Ivory