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Statement of Purpose

The purpose of these meetings is to bring together scholars who work in the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies across the globe to share research and explore the possibility of creating an academic association to support our work. Sessions will be scheduled during the conference to discuss the possibility and logistics for creating a new organization. The steering committee has completed a draft of a proposed constitution and bylaws for the new association, so that you may read and consider them in advance of discussing them during our upcoming meeting in Athens.

Such an association, the steering committee believes, needs to arise from a critical mass of scholars who will give it shape and mold its agenda. At the same time, the steering committee has articulated a set of principles to guide its work. It is committed to facilitating a process that will result in an association that:

• is scholarly
• is interdisciplinary
• is governed by individual members
• has annual meetings that rotate among institutional hosts or other locations
• is open to anyone who does work in Indigenous/Native/American Indian studies
• has a program committee that takes primary responsibility for sending out an open call for papers and setting the agenda for annual meetings

Some existing organizations are concerned with similar issues. The steering committee is open to working with these and other groups who share a similar vision for the sort of academic association that can legitimate and institutionalize the work of our field.

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Background image from the Archaeo Art Gallery by James Q. Jacobs

Meeting website maintained by Laura Adams Weaver