CFP: Engaging Indigenous Communities: Resources, Rebellions, and Resurgence

CALL FOR PAPERS

Engaging Indigenous Communities:
Resources, Rebellions, and Resurgence

August 9-13, 2010
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

This conference is being undertaken in honour of the 1850 Robinson Treaties. The vision of the Anishinabeg leaders to protect our heritage and resources while sharing with the newcomers. It is this vision that remains as relevant today as it was 160 years ago. Contact between different peoples has resulted in a multitude of responses including peaceful interactions, uneasy relations, and far too often to war and genocide. Recognizing the autonomy of nations
to determine their futures, including the allocation of resources, or the lack of such recognition, has sometimes been mediated by various types of agreements and treaties. It is through access to, or exploitation of resources (i.e. human, land, forest, mineral, water, and animal), that the colonial project has had the greatest affect on Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples on the colonial project. Thus the focus of the conference will be on exploring Indigenous peoples’ perspectives on resources, and the moments in history (and in present day) when Indigenous peoples have fought (peacefully or otherwise) to protect those resources. It is the contemporary resurgence of Indigenous perspectives and understandings or appropriate relationships to resources that we hope informs the conference. The conference will begin on the 9th with registration and at conclude at noon on the 13th of August.

Presentations on the following themes are encouraged with other related proposals welcome

• How do Indigenous communities define ‘resources’?

• How do Indigenous communities regulate/relate/engage with resources?

• How have historical neglect, misrepresentation, misunderstandings affected Indigenous communities’ relationships with their resources?
  

• How have agreements and/or treaties protected/attempted to protect resources?

• Are treaties valid methods to protect resources?

• How have community-university partnerships advanced Indigenous access to and/or protection of resources?
  

• How have universities forwarded exploitation of Indigenous people and resources?

• How can a relationship between the larger society and Indigenous people be shaped to benefit the environment?
  

Individual papers and panel submissions are welcome. Please submit a 250-350 word proposal for individual papers and 250-500 word proposal for panels. Please submit you proposals electronically by email or mail to the address below. The deadline for submissions is 8 January 2010. For further information please contact

Dr. Karl Hele
c/o Organizing Committee
Engaging Indigenous Communities: Resources, Rebellions, and Resurgence
Department of Community Economic and Social Development
Algoma University
1520 Queen Street East
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Canada
P6A 2G4
eicrrr@gmail.com

Schedule

Friday, May 8, 2009
9.30 AM - 5.00 PM
UCSD Social Sciences Building
Room 107

9.30 AM: Breakfast


10.00 - 11.45 AM: Panel 1
Moderator: Ross Frank, Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego

Noenoe Silva, Associate Professor of Hawaiian and Indigenous Politics, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
The Study of Indigenous Politics at the University of Hawai'i.

Michelle Erai, University of California, Office of the President Post-doctoral Fellow
Gender: A site of engagement for Indigenous and Ethnic Studies?

Michael Lujan Bevacqua, Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
The Delicacies of doing Indigenous Studies within Ethnic Studies

Traci Brynne Voyles, Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
Queer Ecologies: the 'Navajo Problem' and Intimate Cartographies of the Navajo Nation, 1928-1943


11.45 AM - 12.45 PM: Lunch


1.00 - 2.45 PM: Panel 2
Moderator: Denise Ferreira da Silva, Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego

Andrea Smith, Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of California, Riverside
White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism

Chris Finley, PhD Candidate in American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Conquest: A Love Story in the New World

Mark Harris, Senior Lecturer, School of Law, La Trobe University, Australia
Lost between memorialising and forgetting: a reflection upon the recent trend towards apologies made by modern settler States to Indigenous peoples

Lani Teves, PhD Candidate in American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
We're All Hawaiians Now: Kanaka Maoli Alterities and the 21st Century Ahupua'a


3.00 - 4.45 PM: Panel 3
Moderator: Adria Imada, Assistant Professor in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego

Audra Simpson, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, Columbia University
Indigenous Resistance and Etiologies of Consent: Mohawk Nationalism, "Proper Citizenship" and Settler Emergency

Ma Vang, Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
Statelessness and Citizenship in the Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 1997

Maile Arvin, M.A./Ph.D. Student in Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
Sovereignty Will Not Be Funded: Indigenous Citizenship and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement

Mini-Seminar, May 6th

Please join us for an important discussion preceding our Friday symposium:

Indigenous Studies Engages Ethnic Studies Mini-Seminar
Discussion led by graduate students Maile Arvin, Michael Bevacqua, Rashné Limki, Angie Morrill and Ma Vang

Wednesday, May 6th, 3-5pm
Social Sciences Building Room 107
University of California, San Diego

This Ethnic Studies department colloquium will follow a different format from the usual speaker presentation. Kick-starting the discussion set for the "Indigenous Studies Engages Ethnic Studies" symposium on Friday, May 8th, we will use the colloquium time to pose and solicit questions regarding how and why indigeneity is a productive, though underused, analytic in Ethnic Studies.

In this proposed mini-seminar format, we ask that attendees read at least two of the articles suggested on the symposium website (see post below). For the first article, we would like everyone to read Andrea Smith's "American Studies Without America." This will be a common starting point to our discussion, as we question how we as critical race and ethnic studies scholars can study not only legacies of oppression but traces of radical transformation that may not be fully realized or understood yet. For Andrea Smith, the transformative analytic is to begin with the assumption that America should not, and will not, always exist. How does this echo and/or change the conceptual starting points that we all use as critical race and ethnic studies scholars?

For the second article, we'd like you to choose. We encourage you to look over the list and choose articles related to your own work (for example, ethnographers may find Audra Simpson's "Ethnographic Refusal" particularly provocative; cultural studies scholars may relate most to Noenoe Silva's "The Importance of Hawaiian Language Sources," etc.).

Other starting points may include:
-What other new scholarship, in the fields of Asian American, African American, and Latin@ Studies, may offer particular challenges or additions to indigenous scholarship like Simpson's, Silva's and Smith's?
-Do area-centric fields (in our case, the Ethnic Studies "food groups") offer similar or quite different critiques of the nation?
-How do certain groups (not just indigenous ones) become invisible in the studies of other 'food groups'? What can scholars do to avoid this, beyond simply "including" everyone?

This is a rare chance for many of us to build on this department's impressive breadth of knowledge in a number of fields, and to strategize about how to share knowledge across area and methodological divisions. We hope to see many of you there!

Directions & Parking to UCSD (coming North)

1. Take I5-N

2. Take the La Jolla Village Drive exit

3. Turn Left onto La Jolla Village Drive

4. La Jolla Village Drive becomes Torrey Pines Road

5. Turn Right onto North Point Drive

6. Follow North Point Drive, all the way around RIMAC Arena

7. As it veers Right, North Point Dr. becomes Hopkins Dr.

8. Drive to Hopkins Parking Structure (on the right)

Permit machines are located on every level of the parking structure. Visitor Parking is available on Level 7, although you may park in any available "S" & "B" spaces as well.

To get to Room 107, walk across the bridge on Level 7 and turn right.

Directions & Parking to UCSD (coming South)

1. Take 5-S coming into San Diego

2. Take Genesse Ave. exit

3. Turn Right onto Genesse

4. Turn Left onto Torrey Pines

5. Turn Left onto North Point Drive (it is the very first light on Torrey Pines)

6. Follow North Point Drive, all the way around RIMAC Arena

7. As it veers Right, North Point Dr. becomes Hopkins Dr.

8. Drive to Hopkins Parking Structure (on the right)

Permit machines are located on every level of the parking structure. Visitor Parking is available on Level 7, although you may park in any available "S" & "B" spaces as well.

To get to Room 107, walk across the bridge on Level 7 and turn right.

Local Hotel Information

Sheraton La Jolla
(official conference hotel)
3299 Holiday Court
La Jolla, CA 92037
Tel: (866) 500-0335 (UCSD line)
Fax: (858) 453-5550
3 minutes or 0.77 miles

Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine
3777 La Jolla Village Drive
San Diego, CA92122
Tel: (858) 552-1234
Fax: (858) 552-6066
3 minutes or 1.17 miles
UCSD rate: $199-284/night
Special rate not always available.

Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa
9700 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037
Tel: (858) 550-1000
Fax: (858) 550-1001
3 minutes or 1.53 miles
UCSD rate: $180-210/night

Marriott Residence Inn La Jolla
8901 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
Reservations: (800)-876-1778
Tel: (858) 587-1770
Fax: (858) 552-0387
4 minutes or 0.93 miles
UCSD rate: $149-219/night

San Diego Marriott La Jolla
4240 La Jolla Village Drive
La Jolla, California 92037 USA
Phone: 1-858-587-1414
Fax: 1-858-546-8518
5 minutes or 1.90 miles
UCSD rate: $162.00/night
Special rate not always available.

Hotel La Jolla At the Shores
7955 La Jolla Shores Dr.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Reservations: 1-800-666-0261
5 minutes or 2.57 miles
UCSD rate: $139-159/night

Hilton in La Jolla
10950 North Torrey Pines Road
La Jolla, CA 92037
Phone: 858-558-1500
Fax: 858-450-4584
5 minutes or 2.86 miles
UCSD rate: $208/night
Special rate not always available.

Holiday Inn Express in Mission Bay
4610 De Soto St
San Diego, CA 92109
Phone: 858-483-9800
Fax: 858-483-4010
9 minutes or 5.70 miles
Regular rate: $106-110/night

Hampton Inn in Del Mar
11920 El Camino Real
San Diego, CA 92130
Phone: 858-792-5557
Fax: 858-792-7263
9 minutes or 6.06 miles
UCSD rate: $119/night

Homestead Sorrento Valley
9880 Pacific Heights Blvd
Sorrento Mesa, CA 92121
Phone: 858-623-0100
Fax: 858-623-9600
10 minutes or 5.26 miles
UCSD rate: $114/night

Holiday Inn Express La Jolla
6705 La Jolla Boulevard
La Jolla, CA 92037
Phone: 858-454-7101
Fax: 858-454-6957
12 minutes or 4.98 miles
Regular rate: $160-185/night

Days Inn San Diego at Sea World
3350 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA, 92110
Phone: 619-224-9800
Fax: 619-224-0706
12 minutes or 9.42 miles
Regular rate: $94-112/night

Mission Statement

As scholars in the Ethnic Studies Department at UCSD, we stand incredibly proud of the cutting edge critical race and ethnic studies work developed in our department, and in its potential to push the limits of the larger Ethnic Studies project. In this spirit, we find that in order for Ethnic Studies to move beyond the usual emphasis on immigration, diaspora and slavery paradigms, the critical potential of Indigenous Studies should become an integral part of our intellectual agenda. Just as the scholarship ‘about’ people of color does not describe our notion and practice of Ethnic Studies, scholarship ‘about’ indigenous people must reflect more than merely the violent history of the academy within indigenous communities. It must, in fact, engage the sophisticated indigenous theories, which have been circulating for many years, especially those that confront the ways in which colonial power still operates in nation-states. In the last few years, a number of graduate students and faculty have taken important steps towards facilitating this integration. These include the creation of the “Voicing Indigeneity” podcast, the Post-colonial Futures in a Not-Yet Post-colonial World Conference, and the proposal for an indigenous studies focused cluster hire.

Building on these efforts, we are organizing a one-day critical indigenous studies symposium to be held on May 8, 2009. The symposium focuses on native feminism scholarship because we believe it offers a critical perspective missing in both indigenous studies and in most analysis of race, gender, sexuality, colonialism and citizenship. We have invited Andrea Smith, Audra Simpson and Noenoe Silva, scholars who are at the forefront of this field of thought. Additionally, we have invited 3-4 senior graduate students who are not only moving the field in new directions, but more excitingly are doing so by employing theories emerging from our Ethnic Studies department, thereby highlighting the critical possibilities that lie at the interstices of these fields. Furthermore, this symposium anticipates our desire to improve the recruitment of indigenous graduate students, post-docs and faculty.

We hope the department will actively participate in this symposium in order to push the limits of our scholarship and political commitments, whether they directly fall within what is traditionally seen as the indigenous field or not. Ultimately, this symposium is an invitation to engage in a productive troubling of the ethnic studies project as well as to expand our understanding of what indigenous studies can be.

Suggested readings

Want to know more about the issues we'll be considering at the symposium? Looking for readings to assign in a class or use in your research? We recommend the following articles by our invited guests.

These articles are available through American Quarterly at Project Muse, Junctures, and English Studies in Canada.

---

Smith, Andrea and Kēhaulani Kauanui. “Native Feminisms Engage American Studies.” American Quarterly 60.2 (June 2008): 241-249.

This article kicks off a rich issue of American Quarterly from the premise that “not only is colonialism a gendered process, but so is decolonization.” Smith and Kauanui use the juxtaposition of American studies and native feminisms to productively interrogate nationalism in both its American and indigenous articulations.

Silva, Noenoe. “The Importance of Hawaiian Language Sources for Understanding the Hawaiian Past.” English Studies in Canada 30.2 (June 2004): 4-12. [Adapted from book, Aloha Betrayed, Duke University Press, 2004.]

Asking, “How is it that the history of struggle has been omitted to such a great extent from Hawaiian historiography?” Silva refutes the myth of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) passivity to American annexation through readings of Hawaiian language sources, from songs, legends and petition drives, all previously disregarded by historians of Hawai‘i.

Simpson, Audra. “From White into Red: Captivity Narratives as Alchemies of Race and Citizenship.” American Quarterly 60.2 (June 2008): 251-257.

Recalling the story of Eunice Williams, a white woman who was infamously ‘captured’ and became part of the Mohawk community in the 1700s, Simpson delves into “the gendered and raced logics that still capture women in the service of a settler project.” She posits the political recognitions and misrecognitions that exile women, in particular racialized and gendered ways, from a natal community as transhistorically operating “citizenships of grief.”

Simpson, Audra. “On Ethnographic Refusal: Indigeneity, ‘Voice,’ and Colonial Citizenship.” Junctures (December 2007): 67-80.

Here Simpson asks what anthropological work looks like when “difference is not the unit of analysis” and perspectives on indigenous ceremonies and traditions are not broken away from concerns of nationhood and struggle. As her studies of her own Mohawk communities do not fit into postcolonial or double consciousness models, but rather involve a funny “tripleness, a quadrupleness, to consciousness” that is an endless play, she theorizes what ethnographic refusals generate in discourses searching to give indigeneity ‘voice.’

Smith, Andrea. “American Studies Without America.” American Quarterly 60.2 (June 2008): 309-315.

Smith takes to task not only the native / feminist dichotomy presumed in white feminism’s overtures of inclusion of native women, but the crisis of sovereignty felt so acutely by some scholars post- 9/11 in the face of the war in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. She reminds us that Native genocide has never been against the law but has expressly been the law in the U.S. for centuries. She goes on to ask what is enabled when we do not presume that United States should or will always continue to exist, and how to build a “fun” revolution.