As the American Indian Studies Association (AISA) celebrates the activism and wisdom of our elders who gave creation to American Indian Studies programs fifty years ago, we must also ensure the health and Indigenous resilience of our children. As scholars in the academy and beyond, we shall remain centered in the core values of our Native Nations and our communities of relatives across imagined borders. It is vital that we live our lives not only to protect our families but to plan for the earth and education of our future generations. We are the ancestors of world to come.
In 2018, we confronted the urgency of “Unsettling American History: American Indian Studies in the Time of the Trump Administration, White Supremacy, and Settler Nationalism.” Last year, we honored “The knowledge of our ancestors, the strength of our communities.” We continue to move forward in these important dialogues and actions through our various capacities as academics, educators, students, organizers, nation builders, leaders, consultants, healers, and relatives. The resurging movement of dehumanization of our peoples is clear from continued breaking of treaties, the sickening pipelines, corporatization of sacred spaces, destructive mining, fracking community land/wellness, and the invasion of Mauna Kea. In 2020, we will reconvene at Arizona State University: the birthplace of AISA in the homelands of the Akimel O’odham. We look to host strategic discussions and knowledge-sharing focusing on community building, restoring Indigenous values on the environment, fighting against borders, overcoming border-town spaces, anti-racism, and how we do this through the growth of our academic programs.
We welcome panel proposals and individual submissions from colleagues working in tribal programs and non-profit organizations, tribal colleges and universities, community and grassroots organizers, and students and faculty at all levels in American Indian/Native American Studies and related fields of study. The American Indian Studies Association invites proposals for individual papers, panel sessions, round tables, poster presentations, workshops, and film screenings.
Submit to the following link:
Deadline: Friday, November 4, 2019.
For questions please contact: Leola Tsinnajinnie-Paquin, Ph.D. (2019-2020 AISA President); leola@unm.edu