Newberry Consortium in American Indian and Indigenous Studies

Indigenizing Schools: Struggles of Native American and Indigenous Education

Newberry Consortium in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (NCAIS) Summer Institute

July 5-28, 2023
Dr. Farina King, University of Oklahoma

Dr. Kallie Kosc, Oklahoma State University

The 2023 NCAIS Summer Institute focuses on Indigenous schooling experiences in Canada and the United States to understand power dynamics, especially in struggles over defining gender, race, and sovereignty, that have imbued education and affected Indigenous identities. We study the context of Native Nations’ specific ways of learning and Indigenous education as well as the colonizing institutionalization of schooling to trace Native student experiences and Indigenous efforts to claim schools for and by their people. Contestations and negotiations between Indigenous communities and schools have characterized Native education in the cauldrons of colonialism throughout the world, as different drives for sovereignty aim to control and shape the younger generations.

This institute presents a window to diverse Native educational experiences from a sequence of eras and various regions and Indigenous peoples with a heavy emphasis on Native American and First Nations students, women, families, leaders, and activists. We will introduce resources and methodologies to research such crucial themes in Native American and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library as well as opportunities to connect with Indigenous communities in the Chicago area to support the students’ distinct projects. We also encourage comparative studies of Indigenous education and schooling.

The NCAIS Summer Institute is a four-week-long intensive graduate course held during the summer at The Newberry Library in Chicago. Participants are provided with housing in Chicago, receive a $600 living stipend, and will be reimbursed for travel expenses up to $600. Leftover funding will be used to more fully reimburse students whose travel accommodations exceed this amount.

If you have questions about the institute, please contact mcnickle@newberry.org.

Interested students should apply directly to Matthew Kruer at kruer@uchicago.edu by April 10, 2023.