Center for Ideas and Society, Faculty Seminar

"Native American Studies in the 21st Century: Activism, History, Spirituality, Literature”

Proposal Authored by English Professor Michelle Raheja. Funded by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation on “Intellectual Diversity and Excellence”

With interest growing in the field of American Studies and Native American Studies, certainly the most foundational of any study of the Western Hemisphere will become of critical importance. To take up Joy Harjo’s question, scholars in the field of Native American Studies are in the challenging position of contemplating key issues in the field; rethinking the relationship between academia and the communities from which we come and which surround us; revisiting text and archives from the 15th and 20th centuries with new critical and theoretical perspectives; and to attempt to come to a consensus about what native American studies will be in the new century. This group seeks to question and complicate existing models of scholarship within the field of Native American studies while at the same time mapping out fresh ways of approaching subjects that impact Native American communities. The group will focus on four approaches to Native American studies – historical, activist, spiritual, and literary – because in many indigenous communities, these aspects of experience are virtually indistinguishable from each other. We would like to pursue and discuss how this engagement with history, activism, spirituality, and literature alters the ingredient disciplines constitutive of Native American studies and how this practice recasts and revitalizes critical theory.

-- Joy Harjo, “Tribal Aesthetics: A Conversation”

The field of Native American studies became an institutionalized part of many universities in the 1970s as a result of the creation of Ethnic Studies programs. However, unlike its counterparts in African American, Asian American, and Latino/Chicano studies, the potential significance and scope of Native American studies has been far from realized. Perhaps, as some scholars have argued, major research institutions have been less committed to developing strong Native American studies programs than to establishing other Ethnic Studies programs. Perhaps Native American studies programs also have been impeded by mass-mediated and romantic stereotypes of Native American communities that make it difficult for scholars to address relevant contemporary issues.

Regardless of the reasons, scholars whose work intersects with Native American studies stand poised on the brink of an exciting new period of development and definition as we enter the 21st century. With interest growing in the field of American Studies, Native American studies, certainly the most foundational of any study of the Western Hemisphere, will become of critical importance.

Research Group

The four of us are deeply committed to an interdisciplinary approach that engages the intersection of history, activism, spirituality, and literature in the field of Native American studies. In fact, an interdisciplinary approach to the field is fundamental in doing justice to the complicated and diverse issues raised in Native American studies. For example, the Center for California Indian Nations, located on the University of California, Riverside campus, could not exist without the interdisciplinary support and participation of scholars from a spectrum of different fields and research interests. Because the University of California, Riverside is located in one of the most diverse areas of the United States, with several reservations and communities comprised of Kumeyaays, Cahuillas, Serranos, Chemehuevis, Luiseños, Cupeños, and Tongvas nearby, the Center will benefit both the Native American and academic communities through its commitment to research in areas as diverse as sovereignty, spiritual practices, gaming, oral narrative, language preservation, economic development, and public policy. However, while the focus will be on California Indian Nations, the Center will also be unique in its interdisciplinary approach to creating and developing new models for Native American studies. Our group will benefit through engagement with the groundbreaking new Center.

Our group will engage in the kinds of critical and dynamic research currently being conducted by such significant interdisciplinary scholars such as Gerald Vizenor, Paula Gunn Allen, Alexandra Harmon, Greg Sarris, Phillip Deloria, and Jace Weaver. This project will allow us to engage and investigate Native American narratives across epistemological and disciplinary lines. Although we are working in different historical periods – from the 19th through the 21st centuries – this project has significant implications for Native American studies. One of our goals during the fellowship period will be to collaborate on a collection of essays featuring work produced by us during the quarter as well as other prominent scholars in the field.