_NAS Graduate Student Christine Willie has been accepted to participate in the "Decolonizing Knowledge and Power: Postcolonial Studies, Decolonial Horizons" Summer Program in Barcelona, Spain.

The program is sponsored by the Center of Study and Investigations for Global Dialogues.  From their website: The international Summer School, “Decolonizing Knowledge and Power,” is an undertaking that aims at enlarging the scope of the conversation (analysis and investigation) of the hidden agenda of modernity (that is, coloniality) in the sphere of knowledge and higher education. This course is offered through the Center of Study and Investigation for Global Dialogues, in Barcelona, Spain, in collaboration with the Ethnic Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley. The seminar will be held at the UAB-Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Casa de la Convalescencia (Hospital de Sant Pau) .


Congratulations Christine!

NAS Graduate Student Christine Willie has received a Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) from the Social Science Research Council for her project Unheard Memories and Contested Spaces: Diné Historiography and the Spanish Arrival [ project summary ]

With this fellowship students will acquire tools and skills for designing dissertation projects that are methodologically sophisticated, ethically engaged, and politically attuned to Indigenous challenges to colonial legacies and enduring inequalities.

READ MORE about Christine here.

About:
 DPDF Student Fellowship Competition > DPDF Competition 2011 This DPDF research field on Global Indigenous Politics invites work that contributes to the examination of challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples through critical consideration of relationships between Indigenous Peoples and conventional models of politics and scholarship. Several ideas unite this field. First, indigeneity is not associated with primitive, romantic, or pre-modern rural worlds; Indigenous Peoples are as modern (or post-modern) as anyone else. Second, Indigenous politics is and has always been multi-scalar, articulating the local and global. Third, Indigenous Peoples are not passive objects of research, but active agents in the making, understanding, and decolonizing of the world. Finally, the stakes of Indigenous politics are high, involving issues like resources and territory, gender and racial politics, and state and Native regimes of law, rights, and sovereignty.

These themes raise questions about the epistemologies and practices of both Indigenous politics and academic work. How do Native forms of knowledge production provide alternative strategies for narrating histories, organizing struggle, and theorizing politics? How do Indigenous Peoples organize and represent themselves in debates over citizenship, resources, and participation? How have national and international regimes of recognition affected struggles for equality, inclusion, and self-determination? How do tensions within Indigenous movements shape these dynamics? Why have these struggles yielded a variety of outcomes?

The winners of the Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Symposium have been announced.  UC Davis Native American Studies Grad Student Lori Laiwa received the Dean's Prize for Best Oral Presentation, Division of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies for her presentation:

"Ya Hintil Ha Janon: We Are Speaking Our Language: Unsung Heroes of Language Documentation and Preservation Projects within Central Pomo Language Speaking Communities"

The Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Symposium (IGPS) is an opportunity for graduate and professional students at UC Davis to share their work with each other, the campus, and the wider community. The three day symposium featured presenters, performers and panels across disciplines and colleges. The symposium was held on April 21-23.