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Education Notes: Native American Issues and IdentityOctober 29, 2008 AUSTIN, Texas — November is National American Indian Heritage Month, which celebrates the culture, history and achievements of Native peoples in North America. Scholars at The University of Texas at Austin are available to address the identity, language and land issues facing Native American communities today.
American Indian Land Rights Torres is a leading figure in critical race theory and federal Indian law. He is the author of "Translating Yonnondio by Precedent and Evidence: The Mashpee Indian Case" and several other articles on domestic and comparative Indian law. He has been deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and counsel to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. DNA Testing and Native Americans Bolnick studies DNA ancestry testing, its implications for identity and the risks for Native Americans. In a policy article for Science last year, Bolnick called upon the scientific community to better educate the public about the limitations of the tests. Learn more in the feature story "Deep Roots?" Native American History Bsumek researches Native American history and is the author of "Indian-Made: Navajo Culture in the Marketplace, 1868-1940," which explores the meaning of the consumer brand "Indian-made." She also has published essays on Navajos and the global economy. Native American Literature Traditions Cox studies 20th- and 21st-century Native American literature. He is the author of "Muting White Noise: Native American and European Novel Traditions" and editor of the journal Studies in American Indian Literatures. He also leads the university's graduate program in Indigenous Studies. Native Americans in Texas The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) preserves artifacts from Native peoples who populated Texas throughout history. In 2001, TARL created TexasBeyondHistory.net, a virtual museum, to share the fruits of 80 years of archeological research from across the state. Learn more in the feature story "13,000 Years at Your Fingertips." Photographic Representations of Native Americans Hoelscher studies social constructions of geography and ethnic identity, and the history of photography. He is the author of "Picturing Indians: Photographic Encounters and Tourist Fantasies in H.H. Bennett's Wisconsin Dells." Literacy and Native American Culture Roy is the founder of "If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything," a national reading program for Native American children. Roy, an Anishinabe enrolled on the White Earth Reservation, is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Learn more in the feature story "By the Book." Native American Rights and Identity Strong examines Native American issues from a cultural anthropology perspective. She is the author of "New Perspectives on Native North America: Cultures, Histories, and Representations" and "Captive Selves, Captivating Others: The Politics and Poetics of Colonial American Captivity Narratives." For more information, contact: Jennifer McAndrew. |
