Native American and Indigenous Studies

Native American students and supporters gather at UO to celebrate resiliency of Indigenous culture

NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - On Indigenous Peoples Day, about 100 people gathered at the EMU Amphitheater to watch Native American dancing, and hear speakers talk about Indigenous culture, history, and issues including the Land Back movement and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). NAIS alumna Tiera Garrety, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, spoke with local NPR affiliate KLCC about the event.

Have You Acknowledged This Land?

NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - The University of Oregon celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Special Hours event and campus art walk, showcasing a new Indigenous art exhibit by Steph Littlebird. The exhibit is part of the museum’s multi-year series “Art Acknowledgement of the Land,” it will allow students to learn more about the culture they may not realize surrounds them.

Recognizing outstanding research

ANTHROPOLOGY, HISTORY, LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation announced this year's Outstanding Research Awards, many of which went to College of Arts and Sciences faculty members: Professor Carlos Aguirre (history and Latin American studies) and Assistant Professor Gabriel Sanchez (anthropology).

UO faculty earn grants for language preservation, health equity research

HISTORY - A historian and a linguist have received National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) awards, a prestigious honor that goes to only 16% of applicants in a given year. The grants were awarded to Gabriela Pérez Báez, associate professor of linguistics and director of the Language Revitalization Lab, and Arafaat Valiani, an associate professor in the Department of History and affiliated faculty in the Global Health program.

Protecting First Foods, Navigating Two Cultures

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - Meet Keyen Singer, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Her Indian name is Wáašaša qmɨmsalí ptínits, Dancing Hummingbird Girl. Singer is Miss Indigenous UO and her major is environmental studies. Singer endeavors to embrace the interconnectedness of tradition and modernity, while committed to her cultural legacy and the sanctity of first foods.

NAIS professor receives endowed chair, will support research

NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - A three-year endowment fund is supporting Kirby Brown's work on his family’s Cherokee oral history and material archives to better understand Cherokee Nation literature, history, intellectual production, and lived experience in the 20th and 21st centuries. Brown is an associate professor of Native American and Indigenous literary and cultural production in the Department of English and the director of Native American and Indigenous studies.

NILI co-founder Átway Tuxámshish/Dr. Virginia Beavert (Yakama Nation) Walks On at 102

NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - It is with a heavy heart, but with an enormous sense of gratitude and love, that we send prayers for a good journey for Átway Tuxámshish/Dr. Virginia Beavert (Yakama Nation), who walked on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. She was 102. During her life, she co-founded the Northwest Indian Language Institute, earned a PhD in linguistics at 90 years old, was an instructor and founder of the Ichishkíin language classes at UO—and more.
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New book showcases creativity, diversity in New Zealand

INDIGENOUS, RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES, NATIVE AMERICAN AND INDIGENOUS STUDIES - Edited by Lana Lopesi, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, the book shows a mosaic of narratives that delve into the complex and unique history of Aotearoa New Zealand. “What’s unique about this book is that it includes the artists' voices themselves. With this diversity of voices and perspectives, you get a truer understanding of the range and complexity of the voices presented," Lopesi said.