Events

Many of our events are video-recorded. You can see a list of available videos on our website. If you subscribe to our YouTube channel, you will be notified when new videos are available.

Spring 2020

Thursday, February 6 I 4:30-6:00 p.m.

When They Were Here Screening & Conversation with Filmmakers Ivy & Ivan MacDonald

When They Were Here is a documentary film project that shines a light on the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls throughout North America. Following the screening, filmmakers Ivy and Ivan MacDonald will invite audience discussion on their work with Indigenous families, oral histories, and Indigenous forms of storytelling.

Multicultural Community Center

Sponsored by: Center for Race and Gender

Co-sponsored by: Center for Research on Native American Issues

CANCELLED! Tuesday, March 17 I 4:00-5:30pm CANCELLED!

We will reschedule this event for Fall 2020.

Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues Colloquia Series:

Knowing the Land: Indigenous Strategies for Revitalization and Adaptation

Clint Carroll, Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder

Indigenous Nations face significant challenges when it comes to the interrelated processes of cultural knowledge revitalization/perpetuation and environmental adaptation. These challenges range from compromised local ecological health brought about by development and climate change, to limited access to land due to legal, social, and/or political barriers, and to obstacles to knowledge transmission caused by educational and economic forces. This talk views these challenges in the context of the past and ongoing mutually-constitutive structures of settler colonialism and capitalism, and discusses how Cherokee people in Oklahoma are adapting and “re-existing” through land-based education and comprehensive conservation strategies.

Shorb House (Latinx Research Center), 2547 Channing Way

Co-sponsored by: Native American Studies Program, American Indian Graduate Student Association, American Indian Graduate Program, Native American Student Development, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

CANCELLED! Tuesday, April 21 I 4:00-5:30pm CANCELLED!

We hope to reschedule this event and will post more information soon.

Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues Colloquia Series:

What Drives Native American Poverty?

Beth Redbird, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Faculty Fellow, Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, Northwestern University

It has been nearly 40 years since the last large-scale comprehensive assessment of Indian economic well-being. Since that time, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 gave rise to increased tribal sovereignty and manifested in changes to tribal institutions and policies. Indian nations rewrote their constitutions, generated their own tax and business regulatory structures, set up welfare systems, remade school curricula, and gained control over their land. But, we continue to lack a basic understanding about the economic well-being of America’s first peoples. This project examines the development of new tribal institutions and seeks to disentangles the complex interwoven aspects of modern tribal economies that drive economic well-being.  Using a decomposition model, I find that changes in residence (returning to reservations), family structure, and lack of education play a small role in Native poverty, whereas the structure of employment is the most significant cause in the poverty increase. Findings suggest that the changing nature of tribal labor markets is having significant and unpredicted impacts on Native poverty and inequality. 

Shorb House (Latinx Research Center), 2547 Channing Way

Co-sponsored by Sociology, Native American Studies Program, Native American Student Development, American Indian Graduate Program, Native American Studies Library, American Indian Graduate Student Association, Native American Law Students Association