Voicing Indigeneity

Ethnic Studies Students are Cuteness

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:54:00 -0800

Even at the end of a long week, after a long podcast and under a bright unflattering light, Ethnic Studies brings the cuteness. This is Rashne, Maile, Ma and Kit (who just defended his MA thesis, congratulations Kit!) after our podcast last week.

I'll try to get some folks together for another one soon, I had lots of time to read and write on the train to and from Oregon. My panel went really well at ethnohistory, I brought the race card and I played it.

It was hard for me to find pictures of the longhouse where our panel was that showed it in any way how I feel about it. When I came to University of Oregon the NA students met in old ratty (the scrabbling eating food kind) barracks behind the swanky law school. We ate there, sang there, attended ceremonies. It was our place, our kids played outside, it was crappy and broke ass and ours, set in back of the shiny expensive Knight Law Center at Nike U, by the parking lots.

The longhouse went up quickly it seemed and was so beautiful, huge kitchen, fireplace, wood everywhere and many windows. The last time I was there was one of the best days of my life, after graduating from Ethnic Studies my friend Chris Finley (my sister really) and I had our families and friends there to eat and visit. So coming back three years later and reading a paper as a graduate student was meaningful.

These pictures are from the architects website, they come closest to how it looks to me.

A Change Is Gonna Come

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 00:47:00 -0800

Tonight Ma Vang, Rashne Limki, Maile Arvin, and Kit Myers came over to my apartment to record a podcast. Rashne is fresh from long hours canvassing in Las Vegas, she and Kit are our obsessive politicos so they take on election talk with some input from the rest of us. We talked for nearly an hour, a little about our work but mostly about the state of the union, race and Ethnic Studies. The title is a link that will take you to the podcast.

I'll post pictures when I get them, they are on Rashne's camera with her personal photos of Barack and Michelle Obama.

I'm leaving town to go read a paper at the Ethnohistory conference at my alma mater, University of Oregon. The conference is at the Hilton but our panel is at the Many Nations Longhouse, a beautiful building on campus near the law school. We used to have a WWII barracks we used for our gatherings, and that was good, we had our own space, there was room for the kids to play outside. But this newer building is something. The last time I was there was the day I graduated in 2005, we had food and family and friends came to spend time after the ceremony. It was such a happy day.

Here is the panel I am on, my family is coming, I'm looking forward to it.

9:30-11:45

Practicing Native-Centered Ethnohistory in Oregon

Gray Whaley (Southern Illinois University), Organizer

Lynn Stephen (University of Oregon), Chair

Gray Whaley (Southern Illinois University) and George Wasson (Coquille Indian
Tribe/University of Oregon)
"Collaborating on Ethnohistorical/Family Biography";

Robert Kentta (Confederated Tribes of Siletz)
“The Siletz and History(s): Old Friend and Familiar Foe"

David Lewis (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, University of Oregon)
“Termination of Western Oregon Indians: Economics, Politics, and Oral
Histories”
Angela Morrill (University of California, San Diego)
“Colonialism, Factionalism, and Klamath Termination”

Pam Endzweig (University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History),
Stephanie M. Wood (University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History) and
Elizabeth Kallenbach (University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History)
“Weaving History and Community through Museums Collections: Documenting
Native American Baskets at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History”

Lynn Stephen (University of Oregon), Discussant

I know that there is pain but you hold on for one more day, things will go your way! Hold on for one more day!

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 05:14:00 -0800

I'll be putting up a new podcast in a few days. Certain current events, writing a prospectus, Maile is working on her MA thesis and recently spent a month in Hawai'i. I'm hoping we can get Kit Myers and maybe even Rashne Limki to come and talk, they have been true believers and taken more than a little crap from me, who wants to believe but has been Scully to their Mulders.

They get to gloat. So, new podcast coming soon!

Glen Coulthard's "Subjects of Empire"

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:51:00 -0700

I've been having a fling with this paper by Glen Coulthard "Subjects of Empire: Indigenous Peoples and the 'Politics of Recognition' in Canada" and clicking on the title of this post will link you to a website where you can read it for yourself. A few months ago my friend Chris emailed it to me and I read it, gave a copy to my advisor and two other professors, including Denise Ferreira da Silva with the suggestion he be invited to speak at our weekly Ethnic Studies colloquium. I also gave a copy to Maile and I realized that I should just post the link.

I met him at the conference in Athens although I missed seeing him on a panel. I introduced myself, told him how much I liked his paper, that I was starting a fan club and would need head shots. I KNOW! I know.

It's just so smart and helps me in thinking about my prospectus for my dissertation. I agree that recognition from the state only reinforces those colonial relationships and is not transformative. What he suggests, based on the work of Frantz Fanon, is "collective self-recognition" and that is what I am hoping to find examples of for my project although articulating it is not getting easier. Well, not getting easier as quickly as I would like.

Native American and Indigenous Studies Conference

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:37:00 -0700

Last week I went to Athens, Georgia to present a paper at the NAIS conference. I wanted to spend the least amount of time away from my son, so I arrived Friday afternoon missing a day and a half of the conference. There was plenty of conference left to blow my mind.

Andrea Smith read a paper that nailed me to the wall. I'm going to write about it from memory because I cannot find my notes, please know any mistakes in understanding are mine. Using Audra Simpson's theory of "ethnographic refusal" she said that when we as indigenous scholars refuse to be containers of truth we become unintelligible to the academy. She said we have to be revealed as containers of truth and do not have rhetorical agency, it is not our ideas that are valuable but ourselves as indigenous truth-tellers and when we refuse that role and theorize we cannot be understood. She got a big laugh when she asked, "Does Foucault tell the truth about French people?"

She said that we struggle for inclusion, and that if they only knew how nice we were they would let us in. That becomes our job, berating them for not including us. I felt like she was singing my life with her words.

Before I left I had lunch with my advisor and he was telling me about the proposed description for an indigenous studies faculty position. There are NO indigenous faculty at UCSD. There are few students. The description had to include California as a focus of research and I found it limiting. I was also troubled by the inference, that Andrea Smith made clear to me, that the scholar will be the "container of truth." My advisor is excellent and I was able to talk to him about all of this for over an hour when I came back from the conference, and the job description is proposed only and will change. Still, coming home from this amazing conference has been a letdown, the mirror Andrea Smith held up showed me how isolated I often am.

I decided to take a History seminar this term. I have never worked with this professor but I have met him, he is on the committee for several of my cohort members. The seminar is Race, Colonialism and Nationalism and there are a lot of basic texts I wanted to read before I qualify in the fall. The writing requirement is not heavy, it is enough to allow me to write towards finishing up my literature review for my dissertation prospectus which is my main task this term. Wednesday we were reading Lisa Lowe's Immigrant Acts. She is a professor at UCSD in literature, I know she is brilliant, we read most of her book as undergraduates and in some ways I felt the trauma of that time, always struggling with ethnic studies to recognize indigeneity.

In the class discussion I told myself to be quiet, not critical, even if Lowe assumes colonialism began in the Phillipines. If you have met me or listened to the podcast you know that I was not able to remain quiet for long. I gave her book respect and then said, what if she wrote this book with the assumption that this is a settler society? The three times she mentions Native Americans she includes them in the food group laundry list, Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Native Americans. I also mentioned that in her book Homebound, Yen Le Espiritu does what Lowe does not and connects colonialism here to the Phillipines and Vietnam.

The class was interested, then the professor talked back to my critique, I guess I did not smooth the way as well as I hoped, saying that Lowe is one of his best friends and one of the smartest people he knows and by that time I was in my safe place.

For three years I have not seen my sister, Chris Finley, my dear friend from our glory days at University of Oregon. She is a graduate student at University of Michigan and presented an excellent paper. Here is a picture of us, taken by Audra Simpson in between panels.

Lani, Me, Chris

Tenure For Andrea Smith

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:21:00 -0800

If you listened to the first podcast, Madel and I were talking about Cherokee scholar Andrea Smith and how angry we were when Critical Gender Studies refused to hire her at UCSD. She is an amazing scholar and feminist and she was just denied tenure at University of Michigan. Here is a recent email that came to me:

--Please Distribute Widely and Join Our Local Action Campaign!--

Native Feminism Without Apology!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 25, 2008

Statement of University of Michigan Students and Faculty in Support of Andrea Smith's Tenure Case
CONTACT: TenureForAndreaSmith@gmail.com

On February 22nd, 2008, University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) issued a negative tenure recommendation for Assistant Professor Andrea Lee Smith. Jointly appointed in the Program in American Culture and the Department of Women's Studies, Dr. Smith's body of scholarship exemplifies scholarly excellence with widely circulated articles in peer-reviewed journals and numerous books in both university and independent presses including Native Americans and the Christian Right published this year by Duke University Press. Dr. Smith is one of the greatest indigenous feminist intellectuals of our time. A nominee for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Smith has an outstanding academic and community record of service that is internationally and nationally recognized. She is a dedicated professor and mentor and she is an integral member of the University of Michigan (UM) intellectual community. Her reputation and pedagogical practices draw undergraduate
and graduate students from all over campus and the nation.

Dr. Smith received the news about her tenure case while participating in the United States' hearings before the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Ironically, during those very same hearings, the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decisions that restricted affirmative action policies at UM specifically were cited as violations of international law. At the same time, there is an undeniable link between the Department of Women's Studies and LSA's current tenure recommendations and the long history of institutional restrictions against faculty of color. In 2008, students of color are coming together to protest the way UM's administration has fostered an environment wherein faculty of color are few and far between, Ethnic Studies course offerings have little financial and institutional support, and student services for students of color are decreasing each year.

To Support Professor Andrea Smith: The Provost must hear our responses! Write letters in support of Andrea Smith's tenure case. Address email letters to ALL of the following:

Teresa Sullivan, Provost and Executive VP for Academic Affairs, LSA, tsull@umich.edu
Lester Monts, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, LSA, lmonts@umich.edu
Mary Sue Coleman, President, PresOff@umich.edu
TenureForAndreaSmith@gmail.com
Voice your ideas on the web forum at http://www.woclockdown.org/

To Support Women of Color at Michigan and the Crisis of Women's Studies and Ethnic Studies: Attend the student organized March 15th Conference at UM!!!!
Campus Lockdown: Women of Color Negotiating the Academic Industrial Complex is free and open to the public. Speakers include renowned activists and scholars
Piya Chatterjee
Angela Davis
Rosa Linda Fregoso
Ruthie Gilmore
Fred Moten
Clarissa Rojas and
Haunani-Kay Trask.

For more information and to register, visit: http://www.woclockdown.org/.

-------------------------

Educated . United . Diverse . Supportive . Active . Powerful
The Students of Color Of Rackham
http://www.umich.edu/~scorweb

In my opinion, Andrea Smith is an exciting creative scholar who gives so much to students, not even necessarily her own. As an undergraduate I was a member of the Native American Student Union when one of our co-directors raped a member. She dropped out, he didn't and his friends joked about it in our student lounge. Some of us got together to address our safety and our expectations, also to alert the rapists home community about his actions. As a result when Andrea Smith came to our campus to give a talk she asked to have lunch with us and advised and encouraged us. She deserved better than this, and I'm glad that the students at University of Michigan are organizing to support her.

Don't Stop Believing

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Sat, 2 Feb 2008 13:00:00 -0800

Hello! I finally finished my thesis, "Deconstructing Factionalism in Klamath Termination" and sent it out to my committee, I am defending it on February 14th, tentatively. I learned so much about myself working on this thesis, and I learned so much from Madel and Miget. It was hard to let it go, I wanted to keep working and making it better. But I had to stop, now it is time to work on my prospectus for my dissertation. I really do not know what it will be about, when I do I am sure I will let everyone know.

Madel and family moved back to Belau! She kept saying she needed to go home and she did leave and I miss her so much already. She is going to be working on her dissertation, "Pacific Subjectivities: 'Routes and Roots' of Indigeneity and Militarism." She is an amazing scholar and I am so excited about her work. If you would like to read her prospectus move your mouse over the title and the link will take you to the site where it is posted.

Miget keeps up with his blog, No Rest for the Awake - Minahaget Chamorro, and is working on a conference here at UCSD in March, "Postcolonial" Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World that will offer some amazing scholars and speakers. Come if you can!

For now we are not doing any podcasts and so this blog will be on hiatus until I do not know when. I want to thank you for listening and reading and encouraging us with your support.

Here is a snippet from my thesis acknowledgments, it is the custom to give thanks and respect to everyone who helped you and you know if you are reading this that Madel and Miget have been a large part of my intellectual and academic life.

"During nearly the entire writing of this thesis two people, Michael Lujan Bevacqua and Madelsar Ngiraingas were a huge part of my intellectual life. Thank you for many conversations that became the podcast Voicing Indigeneity, and for your intellectual generosity and of course for the songs. From the start Madel offered her mentorship to me and helped me figure out the hard parts of this trip through academia. Miget also offered support and a new eye when I did not know how to see things. I am grateful to both of you."

Thank you to all the folks who talked with us on the podcasts, our guests and our listeners. It has been so worthwhile.

Madel told me her favorite pictures were the ones we took with Leroy's weapons so here is one for the road.

Lakota Sioux Secede from the US

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 07:14:00 -0800

Published on Friday, December 21, 2007 by Rapid City Journal (South Dakota)
Lakota Sioux Secede From US, Declare Independence
by Bill Harlan

Political activist Russell Means, a founder of the American Indian Movement, says he and other members of Lakota tribes have renounced treaties and are withdrawing from the United States.

“We are now a free country and independent of the United States of America,” Means said in a telephone interview. “This is all completely legal.”

Means said a Lakota delegation on Monday delivered a statement of “unilateral withdrawal” from the United States to the U.S. State Department in Washington.

The State Department did not respond. “That’ll take some time,” Means said.

Meanwhile, the delegation has delivered copies of the letter to the embassies of Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile and South Africa. “We’re asking for recognition,” Means said, adding that Ireland and East Timor are “very interested” in the declaration.

Other countries will get copies of the same declaration, which Means said also would be delivered to the United Nations and to state and county governments covered by treaties, including treaties signed in 1851 and 1868. “We’re willing to negotiate with any American political entity,” Means said.

The United States could face international pressure if it doesn’t agree to negotiate, Means said. “The United State of America is an outlaw nation, we now know. We’ve understood that as a people for 155 years.”

Means also said his group would file liens on property in parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming that were illegally homesteaded.

The Web site for the declaration, “Lakota Freedom,” briefly crashed Thursday as wire services picked up the story and the server was overwhelmed, Means said.

Delegation member Phyllis Young said in an online statement: “We are not trying to embarrass the United States. We are here to continue the struggle for our children and grandchildren.” Young was an organizer of Women of All Red Nations.

Other members of the delegation include Rapid City-area activist Duane Martin Sr. and Gary Rowland, a leader of the Chief Big Foot Riders.

Means said anyone could live in the Lakota Nation, tax free, as long as they renounced their U.S. citizenship. The nation would issue drivers licenses and passports, but each community would be independent. “It will be the epitome of individual liberty, with community control,” Means said.

To make his case, Means cited several articles of the U.S. Constitution, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and a recent nonbinding U.N. resolution on the rights of indigenous people.

He thinks there will be international pressure. “If the U.S. violates the law, the whole world will know it,” Means said.

Means’ group is based in Porcupine on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

It is not an agency or branch of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Means ran unsuccessfully for president of the tribe in 2006.

Lakota tribes have long claimed that the U.S. government stole land guaranteed by treaties — especially in western South Dakota. “The Missouri River is ours, and so are the Black Hills,” Means said.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1980 awarded the tribes $122 million as compensation, but the court did not award land. The Lakota have refused the settlement. (As interest accrues, the unclaimed award is approaching $1 billion.)

In the late 1980s, then-Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey introduced legislation to return federal land to the tribes, and California millionaire Phil Stevens also tried to win support for a proposal to return the Black Hills to the Lakota.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com

© 2007 The Rapid City Journal

Voicing Indigeneity Homegirls

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:09:00 -0800

Madel is back! And we missed her. Miget is in Guam, so it's just me and Madel and Maile on the last day of the fall quarter, thinking about home and talking about everything.

(Not) Losing My Indigeneity

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:06:00 -0800

I apologize, the end of the term rush and some technical difficulties stopped me from putting this podcast up immediately after we did it nearly two weeks ago. We have a lot to talk about, Miget went to the UN and describes that experience, there is a conference to discuss, I am closing in on my ma thesis and I ramble on about that for waaaay too long, my apologies, Maile describes a paper she is writing and we sing a little REM to wrap it up!

Watch this space, Madel, Maile and I are doing another podcast tomorrow so that should be up this weekend. We haven't heard from Madel since last spring so you know she has plenty on her mind!

Indigenous Peoples Shut Out of Climate Talks

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:12:00 -0800

Published on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 by One World.net
Indigenous Peoples Shut Out of Climate Talks, Plans
by Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS - Global initiatives to reduce carbon emissions are bound to fail if the interests of indigenous communities are not taken into account, leaders of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples are warning.

“The success of efforts to lower carbon emissions from deforestation hinges primarily on whether indigenous peoples will throw their support behind proposed mechanisms,” said indigenous leader Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Permanent Forum.

Tauli-Corpuz told the UN Summit on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia, this week that indigenous communities are increasingly worried about plans by governments and international financial institutions to control forest degradation.

The indigenous communities, according to her, are particularly concerned about the World Bank’s Carbon Partnership Facility, which is likely to provide large-scale incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

The tropical and subtropical forest, the subject of the Facility, is home to 160 million indigenous peoples who are seen by many scientists as custodians and managers of forest biodiversity.

“While the Facility can be a good thing, we are very apprehensive on how this will work,” Tauli-Corpuz continued, “because of our negative historical and present experiences with similar initiatives.”

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes native groups’ right to control their lands and resources, including forests, but many governments and corporations continue to abuse the rights of forest communities.

“We remain in a very vulnerable situation,” said Tauli Corpuz, “because most states do not recognize our rights to these forests and resources found therein.”

Last week, a report released by an international advocacy group raised similar concerns about the role of governments and corporations.

In its report, London-based Survival International named and shamed countries where the violations of tribal peoples’ rights are most egregious, including Botswana, Brazil, New Zealand, Malaysia, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States.

The report entitled, “The Terrible Ten: Key Abusers of Tribal Peoples’ Rights in 2007″ says tribal people in West Papua are facing appalling violence at the hands of Indonesia’s army, including killing, torture and rape. The natives’ lands are often exploited by the government and foreign companies.

In Botswana, the government continues to prevent Bushmen from returning to their home in the country’s diamond-producing area, despite a landmark court ruling that declared their 2002 eviction ‘unlawful and unconstitutional.’

According to Survival, cattle ranchers occupying Guarani Indian land in Paraguay are committing armed violence against the natives. This year they killed two Guarani leaders and raped two Guarani women. Fear of rape has led many women to commit suicide.

In Peru, which is home to an estimated 15 of the world’s last uncontacted tribes, the government has opened up the indigenous peoples’ territories to oil companies and illegal loggers. Paraguay’s Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people face a similar situation.

In Malaysia, land has been taken from the Sarawak tribe to make way for logging, dam construction, and oil palm plantations. The government has told the nomadic, hunter-gatherer Penan people that they have no land rights until they ’settle down’ and start farming.

Meanwhile at the UN Summit in Bali, many indigenous groups protested against their exclusion from the climate change negotiations. They wore symbolic gags that read UNFCCC, the acronym of the United UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Last week, an indigenous delegation charged that despite having received an invitation, it was forcibly barred from entering the meeting between the UNFCCC executive secretary and civil society representatives.

“There is no seat or name plate for indigenous peoples in the plenary,” stated Hubertus Samangun, the representative for English-speaking Indigenous Peoples of the Global Forest Coalition.

“Indigenous peoples are not only marginalized from the discussion, but there is virtually no mention of indigenous peoples in the more that 5 million words of UNFCCC documents,” argued Alfred Ilenre of the Edo People of Nigeria.

“This is occurring despite the fact that indigenous peoples are suffering the most from climate change and climate change mitigation projects that directly impact their lands,” IIenre added in a statement.

UN Permanent Forum’s Tauli-Corpuz demanded the governments and corporations must obtain the “free and prior” consent of indigenous peoples before taking any initiative on forest protections.

“I imagine that donors and the private sector would not like to put their resources in high-risk projects which will not genuinely involve indigenous and other forest-dwellers,” she said. “If there is an acceptance of the Facility, indigenous peoples must have a representation in [its] governance.”

© 2007 One World.net

US Troop Increase, indigenous Rights Decrease?

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:56:00 -0800

Apex Express: Asian Pacific Islander radio
Thursdays 7PM-8PM, KPFA 94.1 FM, KFCF Fresno,
www.kpfa.org

Thurs. Nov. 29th:
US Troop Increase, Indigenous Rights Decrease? And will there be Pacific Islander Studies at UC Berkeley? Hear how Native Gumanians face military might as they try to re-claim land,
language, political power. We talk with Michael Lujan Bevacqua--who testified at the UN--as well as Michael Tuncap who will also talk about plans for starting Pacific Islander Studies at UC Berkeley. Island music and more during Indigenous Peoples' Month.
Contact: 510-848-6767x464; apex@... ;
for more stories: www.apexexpress.org . For Apex 's hip -hop
site: www.myspace.com/apexexpress

Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:27:00 -0800

CALL FOR PAPERS

"POSTCOLONIAL" FUTURES IN A NOT-YET POSTCOLONIAL WORLD:
Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous, and Postcolonial Studies

March 5-7, 2008
Ethnic Studies Department
University of California, San Diego

In September 2007, after twenty years of debate, the United Nations finally passed the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – a huge symbolic victory for indigenous peoples around the world who struggle under predatory and exploitative relationships with(in) existing nation-states. At the same moment, the UN was lumbering along in the 18th year of its impossible attempts to eradicate colonialism, with groups from around the world flocking to it to petition for the decolonization of their territories or to demand that their situations at least be recognized as "colonial."

Across all continents, indigenous and stateless peoples are struggling for and demanding various forms of sovereignty, as the recently decolonized world is sobering up from the learning of its limits and pratfalls. Postcolonial societies that were born of sometimes radical anti-colonial spirits, now appear to be taking on the role of the colonizer, often against the indigenous peoples that reside within their borders. In places such as Central and Latin America, a resurgence of Third World Leftist politics is being accompanied by a resurgence of indigenous populism. Meanwhile the recent arrests of sovereignty/environmental activists in New Zealand represents another instance where those from the 3rd and 4th worlds who dare to challenge the current make up of today's "postcolonial world" are branded as terrorists.

As scholars involved in critical ethnic studies engage with these ever more complex worlds, they are increasingly resorting to the lenses provided by postcolonial and indigenous studies. This engagement however is not without its limits or problems. As ethnic studies scholars seek to make their vision and scholarship more transnational and global, this push is nonetheless accompanied by gestures that, at the expense of indigenous and postcolonial frameworks, re-center the United States and reaffirm the solvency of its nation-state. In addition, despite their various commonalities, indigenous and postcolonial studies represent intellectual bodies of knowledge that are fundamentally divided over issues such as hybridity, sovereignty, nation, citizenship and subjectivity.

The purpose of this conference, then, is to create a space where scholars and activists engaged in these various projects, in various forms, can congregate to share ideas, hash out differences and move beyond caricatured understandings of each of these intellectual projects. It seeks to ask how, by putting ethnic, indigenous and postcolonial studies in conversation with each other, we may theorize new epistemologies that may better address the violences and injustices of the contemporary world.

To this end we solicit papers that address questions including, but in no way limited to, the following:

- What are the epistemological frameworks that inform postcolonial, ethnic and indigenous studies? What is their relationship to modernity and how do they challenge and/or complement each other?

- What constitutes the subject of postcolonial and ethnic studies? How does the construction of these subjectivities limit possible conversations with indigenous studies?

- What are the limitations and pitfalls of sovereignty as popularly envisioned? How do postcolonial and indigenous communities reaffirm or rearticulate sovereignty within their respective contexts?

- What are the different theories and strategies of decolonization as laid out by postcolonial and indigenous studies, and how do they inform each other?

- How does the political status of indigenous peoples complicate dominant discourses on immigration and citizenship? Moreover, with regards to settler nation-states such as the U.S., how does the "nations-within-nations" status of indigenous communities complicate the project of ethnic and transnational studies?

Abstracts must be submitted to: futures0308@gmail.com

Requirements:
250-word abstract, specifying if the proposal is for individual or roundtable presentations
Information including name, institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number, e-mail address

Deadline for Submission: January 7th, 2008

For more information please contact: Michael Lujan Bevacqua at mlbasquiat@hotmail.com or Rashné Limki at rashne.limki@gmail.com

Website: http://futures0308.blogspot.com/

An Islander Daughter's Reading

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:16:00 -0800

Island Daughter Reading in San Francisco

Independent Press Spotlight
Sponsored by Intersection for the Arts

Tuesday, 20 November 2007
7:30 PM
$5 - $15

Intersection for the Arts
446 Valencia (btwn 15/16 St.)
Mission District, San Francisco
415.626.2787
http://www.theintersection.org

Reading an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Chamoru writer, journalist and children’s book author Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero joins fellow poets Truong Tran and Dustin Heron to feature this evening’s publisher, Achiote Press.

Victoria will be reading from Embodiment of Thoughts and Dreams, a love story that takes place on Guam during the 1950s, and flashes back to the Japanese occupation of the island during World War II. The story explores love in the backdrop of tragedy, and the effects of war and colonization on a young Chamoru woman and her family.

Victoria is completing her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at Mills College in Oakland, CA. She also works as a media coordinator at the California Reinvestment Coalition in San Francisco, teaches a basic composition workshop to freshwomen at Mills College, and is actively involved in Guam’s decolonization movement.

The excerpt from tonight’s reading will be printed in the Fall edition of Achiote Seeds, a journal published by Achiote Press. http://www.achiotepress.com.

NPIEN

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Fri, 2 Nov 2007 10:22:00 -0700

The National Pacific Islander Educator Network (NPIEN) annual education conference is on November 17, 2007, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Paramount High School in Paramount, CA.

Visit www.npien.com for registration, which includes breakfast and lunch.

Keynote speakers will be Dr. Maenette Benham, Michigan State University professor, who will discuss instructional strategies for teachers working with Pacific Islander students, and Dr. Aloha, Saitia Fa’aifo, Hawaii’s top motivational speaker, who will also conduct our student workshops Dr. Aloha’s book, The Riches of Respect, will be on sale.

Presenters include Uncle Henry Kamae, ukulele extraordinaire and instructor, Michael Lujan Bevacqua, College Student Networking facilitator, Zobeida Castillo and the Cabrillo High School Pacific Islander Club, Dance Workshop, and The Thompson Family, Arts and Crafts.

Major sponsors of the event are Majestic Realty, TEAM Referral Network, and the American University of Health Sciences.

Entertainment will be provided by the following Pacific Islander student clubs: Cabrillo High School, Long Beach, CA, Paramount High School, Paramount, CA, Carson, High School, Carson, CA, Davis Middle School, Compton, CA. Paramount High School’s Drumline will lead the processional, and Boy Scout Troop 348 the color guard.

DOOR PRIZES include Disneyland and Los Angeles Dodger Tickets!

Indigenous Politics: The Declaration of Indigenous Rights

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:51:00 -0700

~TUESDAYS from 4-5pm (EST)
"INDIGENOUS POLITICS: FROM NATIVE NEW ENGLAND AND BEYOND"
WESU (88.1 FM), Middletown,
CTLISTEN ONLINE LIVE from WESU website:www.wesufm.org

On Tuesday, October 30, join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for a critical exploration of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that was recently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The program will feature an interview with Tonya Gonnella Frichner(Onondaga Nation, Snipe Clan), founder and president of the American Indian Law Alliance. AILA is an indigenous, non-profit organization that works with Indigenous nations, communities and organizations in the struggle for sovereignty, human rights, and social justice. Topics for discussion will focus on the politics of indigenous self-determination under international law, the distinction between minorities and Indigenous peoples, and the decades-long struggle to draft and pass the Declaration,as well as the opposition by New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States (the only four States that voted against it).

Fires Hits Reservations in San Diego

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:54:00 -0700

Tribal volunteers tackle blaze
By Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 26, 2007

LA JOLLA INDIAN RESERVATION, Calif. -- One by one, they returned from the fire lines and steered their clunkers into a gravel parking lot. The dust from their wheels rose into the Pauma Valley and blended into the smoke billowing from three mountaintops behind them.

One had two chain saws in the bed of a rusty pickup truck, another a portable generator and a shovel in the back of an SUV. One walked with a limp; another was covered in tattoos. Several had long, black braids swaying behind their helmets or from under the bandannas they had wrapped around their heads.

After the Poomacha fire started here Tuesday morning, the 10 members of the La Jolla Indian Reservation Volunteer Fire Department found themselves surrounded by flames and stranded without electricity or running water.

They decided to stay and fight. By Thursday, they had assembled a ragtag, 52-person army -- unpaid and, largely, untrained. It wasn't a bucket brigade, but it was close. Most, but not all, were La Jolla Indians. Some had firefighting experience, but many did not.

One worked as a chef at a nearby country club. The reservation's 65-year-old environmental officer, who typically coordinates trash pickup, among other tasks, was placed in charge of security. A young construction worker stood at a checkpoint to guard against looters.

One coordinated the maps, tracking the active fires and plotting a defense. Another ordered walkie-talkies and had them shipped overnight to her hotel room in nearby Rincon.

Someone brought sandwiches.

Someone brought bulldozers.

By Thursday evening, the Poomacha fire had destroyed 50 houses here -- about a third of the homes on the tiny, isolated reservation in northern San Diego County, southeast of Temecula. It's a forgotten pocket of the county, where it's far easier to find ostrich jerky than a latte.

Among the losses were believed to be irreplaceable artifacts, including handmade, fire-burned ceramic bowls that were used to carry water long before the reservation for the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians was established here by Ulysses S. Grant in 1875.

The crew members had ashes caked in their ears. Their leader had slept only nine hours from Monday through Thursday afternoon.

But even though they lost the 50th house Thursday morning after a flare-up, they were winning. No one had been hurt. No one had been killed. And unless conditions changed markedly, they were unlikely to lose any more houses, said their leader, 36-year-old Joseph Ruise, the youngest of seven siblings raised on the reservation and the acting chief of the volunteer fire department.

"Since the resources are so thin, we developed our own," he said Thursday. "A lot of us just decided to stay."

He spoke, a map unfurled on the table in front of him, inside the reservation's tribal hall. The pre-fab building, in the center of the gravel lot off California 76, is typically used for tribal government and reservation meetings -- the education committee, the water committee. It had been turned into a fire station, mess hall and, for several crew members, bunk house. A handwritten sign on the wall listed the newly appointed commanders: Wally, Bro, Tracy, Cat.

The fire erupted on the reservation at 3 a.m. Tuesday. At the time, the volunteer fire department had been summoned to fight the Witch fire and was trying to cut a fire break into a patch of woods south of the reservation. The firefighters sped toward the first call, outside a La Jolla home in the Poomacha Valley. The first firefighter to reach the scene radioed to the others: "5 acres. Rapid rate of spread."

Within 15 minutes, the fire grew to 500 acres and was spreading in every direction at once.

Tribal leaders had already evacuated many members as a precaution, and tribal firefighters, along with 40 state firefighters and sheriff's deputies, were able to roust everyone else and get them out of town. The firefighters then raced away from the flames on California 76.

The trucks were going 60 mph, and "the fire was passing us," said Calvin Rodriguez, 30, part of the initial firefighting crew. "I thought I was taking a one-way ticket to hell. The visibility went from 20 feet to the other side of the windshield."

As soon as they could, the volunteers returned to the reservation. Others soon followed. They couldn't stay away.

"It was the right thing to do," said Ryan Adams, 20, the construction worker currently deputized to staff a roadblock. "It feels good."

The reservation has by no means been abandoned by the outside world; there were state firefighting crews on the reservation Thursday, as well as sheriff's deputies assisting on the roads. Aircraft fought one nasty patch of flames a mile or so south.

"We're getting help from the outside," Ruise said. "But it's not enough -- which is understandable considering what's going on. So we had to do more. It seemed like a pretty simple decision. You've gotta take care of your own. You've gotta do what you've gotta do."

With the Santa Ana winds that fueled the initial fires ebbing, evacuation requests were lifted in many communities, and there was a sense that the firestorm was winding to a close. But in certain areas -- particularly in this corner of San Diego County -- that's nowhere close to true.

Nearby, state firefighting crews mounted a defense to save several hundred homes atop Palomar Mountain from the Witch fire. "There seems to be this sense that it's over," said Dave Sossaman, the police chief on the nearby Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. "We're still in crisis here."

Alleged Maori Plot Against Whites

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:14:00 -0700

Alleged Maori plot against whites
BBC News, October 17, 2007

Maori activist Tame Iti remains behind bars after the police raidsProsecutors in New Zealand have accused a group of Maori activists arrested on Monday of planning a violent campaign against the country's white majority.

Prosecutors allege one of the defendants sent mobile phone text messages saying he was going to declare war and that white men would die.

The man, Jamie Lockett, said his words had been taken out of context.

Police arrested 17 people on Monday, during anti-terror raids targeting Maori and environmental activists.

The raids were carried out in a mountainous region where it has been claimed that guerrilla-style training camps were set up.

Police commissioner Howard Broad said those arrested had used firearms and other weapons at the military-style training camps.

One of the text messages from Mr Lockett, intercepted by police, said: "White men are going to die in this country".

Another reputedly read: "I'm declaring war on this country very soon."

'Reality check'

Prosecutors also said police had intercepted phone calls from Mr Lockett in which he allegedly said he was training to become a commando, that he did not want to see any white faces in his country and that he would kill if he did.

The New Zealand media has also obtained documents relating to another of the men arrested, Maori sovereignty campaigner Tame Iti.

The documents show that police had been monitoring him for 18 months, videoing his training camps and intercepting his text messages.

Again they claim he intended to wage war on New Zealand.

But police sources describe the movement as "comical" and "amateurish", saying that at one stage the group had bought military uniforms from an army surplus store.

Most of the suspects remain in custody although Mr Lockett has been given bail, despite police opposition.

Tame Iti was denied bail and has been remanded in custody until 24 October.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the operation was a "reality check" for New Zealanders who dismissed the threat of home-grown terrorism.

"This operation has been triggered by credible intelligence of a serious threat to New Zealand's safety and security, and the Police Association fully supports the actions taken by police yesterday," he said.

"We need to realise there are fringe elements in our society, as in all others, that draw inspiration and encouragement from extremist activities overseas that most of us would find horrifying," he added.

World Indigenous Forum

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Tue, 2 Oct 2007 10:12:00 -0700

We are back for the new school year! If the forum I'm posting about below materializes, then we should probably make plans to attend!

*****************

Bolivia's president proposes convening UN world indigenous forum
26 September 2007 –

The President of Bolivia today called for the United Nations to convene a world indigenous forum to foster a new approach to economic relations based on an appreciation of natural resources and not their exploitation.

Addressing the General Assembly's annual high-level debate, Evo Morales welcomed the recent approval of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, thanking all countries, except the four which voted against it.

“Our culture is a culture of life,” said the President, the first indigenous leader of Bolivia.

He called on the UN to convene a world indigenous forum to “understand different ways of life.”

Questioning whether it was necessary to exploit and plunder in order to live well, he suggested instead that living well is living within a community – not having an excess of material wealth.

To indigenous communities, he said, the Earth is sacred, as demonstrated by their practices. “Let us gather these experiences to defend life and to save humankind,” he said.

President Morales said natural resources should be used to benefit nations, he said, adding that while companies have a right to profit, they do not have a right to plunder.

Natural resources should be accessible to all, he argued. “Water is a human right. Energy is a human right,” he said, stressing that these should not be considered commodities to be exploited by private businesses.

He said talk of biofuels was confusing. “I don't understand how we can produce food for cars. Soil should be for life! Because there is a lack of gas we are going to divert food for automobiles?” He called for giving up luxury. “We cannot continue to accumulate garbage,” he said.

President Morales spoke out against “economic policies that have caused genocide” and denounced the arms race. “War is the industry of death,” he declared.

He decried the economic imbalance of the world, where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. “Collective globalization that does not respect plurality or differences is the source of the problem,” he said.

The President also spoke of his own difficulties traveling to the UN Assembly. “I don't know how all of you managed to come here to the United States but at least my delegation had a great deal of visa problems,” he said, proposing that “perhaps we should change the site of the United Nations.”

The Indigenous View

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:29:00 -0700

It's been a long summer but we are back! In this short, nearly twenty minute podcast Miget, Angie and new graduate student Maile discuss our first Indigenous Epistemologies class, muse over where Madel is and what she is doing, Miget discusses indigenous language and sings his baby daughter a lullaby and Long provides a shout out to all our Asian studies allies! It's a new academic year and we are ready for it.

UN Adopts Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:31:00 -0700

Published on Friday, September 14, 2007 by OneWorld.net
UN Adopts Historic Statement on Native Rights
by Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS - Despite strong objections from the United States and some of its allies, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Thursday calling for the recognition of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and control over their lands and resources.

The adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples comes after 22 years of diplomatic negotiations at the United Nations involving its member states, international civil society groups, and representatives of the world’s aboriginal communities.

An overwhelming majority of UN member countries endorsed the Declaration, with 143 voting in favor, 4 against, and 11 abstaining.

The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand stood alone in voting against the resolution. The nations that neither supported nor objected were Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, Samoa, and Ukraine.

“It’s a triumph for indigenous peoples around the world,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after the General Assembly vote. “This marks a historic moment when member states and indigenous peoples have reconciled with their painful histories.”

In her comments, General Assembly President Haya Al Khalifa described the outcome of the vote as a “major step forward towards the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”

Pleased with the General Assembly’s decision, indigenous leaders told OneWorld they wanted the declaration to be adopted by consensus, but since certain countries remained unwilling to recognize their rights until the end, a majority vote was the only possible option left.

“If a few states do not accept the declaration, then it would be a reflection on them rather than the document,” said Les Malezer, an aboriginal leader from Australia, before the resolution was presented to the General Assembly.

Before the vote many indigenous leaders accused the United States and Canada of pressuring economically weak and vulnerable nations to reject calls for the Declaration’s adoption. Initially, some African countries were also reluctant to vote in favor, but later changed their position after the indigenous leadership accepted their demand to introduce certain amendments in the text.

The Declaration emphasizes the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their institutions, cultures, and traditions and pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations.

It also calls for recognition of the indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination, a principle fully recognized by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, but deemed controversial by the United States and some of its allies who fear that it could undermine their rights to rule over all their current territory.

In return for their support, the African countries wanted the declaration to mention that it does not encourage any actions that would undermine the “territorial integrity” or “political unity” of sovereign states.

Though the African viewpoint was incorporated into the final version, the Declaration remains assertive of indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and control over their land and resources.

“It is subject to interpretation, but we can work with this,” Malezer said last week.

Thursday, Malezer and his colleagues in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues described the world body’s decision as “a major victory.”

“The 13th of September 2007 will be remembered as an international human rights day for the indigenous peoples of the world,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the Permanent Forum, in an emotional tone filled with joy.

International civil society groups working for the rights of indigenous peoples also expressed extreme pleasure with Thursday’s vote.

“We are really very happy and thrilled to hear about the adoption of the Declaration,” said Botswana Bushman Jumanda Gakelebone of First People of the Kalahari, who works with the independent advocacy group Survival International.

“It recognizes that governments can no longer treat us as second-class citizens, and it gives protection to tribal peoples so that they will not be thrown off their lands like we were,” Gakelebone added in a statement.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said he hoped the declaration would raise international standards in the same way the Universal Declaration of Human Rights did nearly 60 years ago.

“It sets a benchmark by which the treatment of tribal and indigenous peoples can be judged, and we hope it will usher in an era in which abuse of their rights is no longer tolerated,” he added.

Vivian Stromberg, executive director of the New York-based rights group MADRE, said Thursday that the Declaration’s passage “will signal a major shift in the landscape of international human rights law, in which the collective rights of indigenous peoples will finally be recognized and defended.”

At the UN, indigenous leaders, however, cautioned against a possible gap between rhetoric and effective implementation of the Declaration.

“It will be the test of commitment of states and the whole international community to protect, respect, and fulfill indigenous peoples’ collective and individual human rights,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

“I call on governments, the UN system, indigenous peoples, and civil society at large to rise to the historic task before us and make the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples a living document for the common future of humanity,” she said in a statement.

Though pleased with the General Assembly’s decision, some indigenous leaders seemed unhappy that the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand did not accept the Declaration.

“Canada has shown its true colors on our human rights,” Arthur Manuel, a leader of Canada’s indigenous peoples, told OneWorld.

Those in opposition have said the Declaration is “flawed,” mainly because of its strong emphasis on the right to indigenous self-determination and full control over lands and resources. In their view, these clauses would hinder economic development efforts and undermine so-called “established democratic norms.”

The United States has also refused to sign on to a UN treaty on biological diversity, which calls for a “fair and equitable” sharing of the benefits derived from indigenous lands by commercial enterprises.

Meanwhile, threats to indigenous lands and resources persist, say rights activists, in the form of mining, logging, toxic contamination, privatization, large-scale development projects, and the use of genetically modified seeds.

“The entire wealth of the United States, Canada, and other so-called modern states is built on the poverty and human rights violations of their indigenous peoples,” said Manuel. “The international community needs to understand how hypocritical Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States are.”

Recent scientific studies have repeatedly warned of devastating consequences for indigenous communities in particular as changing climates are expected to cause more floods, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events across the world.

The United States and Australia have taken particular criticism also for their refusal to join the majority of the world’s nations in efforts to combat climate change.

© 2007 OneWorld.net

Dakota Commemorative March

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Thu, 6 Sep 2007 00:46:00 -0700

Bunita na Pinenta-Ku, Bunita na Tano'-Hu

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:16:00 -0700

Bunita yan taiparehu i tano’-hu, ko’lo’lo’ña annai siña hu siesiente na para Guahu ha’ na mafa’tinas.

Bunita yan fotte i kinalamten i hinasso-ku siha, pi’ot annai manhuhuyong siha gi i pinentå-ku siha.

List of Podcasts

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 05:49:00 -0700

For those of you lamenting our absence over the summer, or for those of you who at least noticed that we were gone, I'm pasting below links to all of our podcasts over the past year. We did 17 total, which is pretty good considering how many classes, proposals and thesises the three of us had to complete.

The summer's almost over and so I'm sure we'll be back soon.

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17. A Visit From Long: Defining Indigeneity
Special Guest: Long Bui

16. Ethnic Studies and Sovereignty: The Difficulties in Critiquing a Settler Society

15. Sovereignty and Decolonization

14. Airport Thoughts: Indigenous Studies Conference Wrap Up

13. Good Morning Norman! The Indigenous Strike Back...With a Conference!

12. A Visit To Hogwarts: Group Guest Lecture at a Social Movements Class Special Guest: Roberto Alvarez

11. The Wrath of Ross: A Reportback from The Ghosts, Monsters and the Dead Conference Special Guest: Ross Frank

10. Lost Podcast: Decolonization and Decoloniality Special Guest: Jose Fuste

9. Harry Potter and the 45th Generation Roman: Live from The Ghosts, Monsters and the Dead Conference

8. Onward Indigenous Soldiers: Let's Talk About Religion, Ba-by

7. Harry Potter and the Indigenous of Azkaban: Home, The Military, and a Surprise

6. Sound of Indigeneity: Songs From Our Lives

5. East of Indigenous: Special People in Our Lives

4. Indigenous Jane: Our Work

3. The Indigenous of the Ring: Why We're Here (in Ethnic Studies)

2. Second Podcast: Describing Indigeneity

1. First Podcast: Madel's Kitchen Table

Antiwar.com

atmorril@ucsd.edu (Michael Lujan Bevacqua) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 07:26:00 -0700

The website Antiwar.com is having some financial difficulties and so they're looking for donations to keep them going for another quarter.

If you've got some extra money in your bank account head over to their donation page at, http://antiwar.com/donate

Last year, they featured an article on Guam by Aaron Glantz titled "Natives of Guam Decry US Military Expansion," which had a quote from me and other members of Famoksaiyan.