The Hastie Fellowship at Wisconsin is looking for applicants. In full disclosure, I am biased and a cheerleader for this program, which I credit with having the biggest impact on my ability to enter legal academia. It's an LLM program, with a two-year residency at the University of Wisconsin School of Law. The program has an excellent reputation as THE pipeline program for minority law professors.
41st Annual Symposium on American Indian at NSU
This annual event will take place April 10-13, 2013 with the theme Technology Future, Technology Past: A Woven Link. In conjunction with the event, there will be a reception for Cherokee educators and scholars on Wednesday April 10th, details to follow.
Angela Riley Lectures at the US Supreme Court
Not exactly Cherokee-centric, but an Oklahoma Indian woman and Citizen Potawatomi Professor Angela Riley (UCLA Law) brings down the house at the US Supreme Court historical society lecture - available on C-Span. Her topic is native lands and kudos to Turtle Talk for the link.
Cherokee Scholars Stand in Solidarity with Idle No More Movement
On Jan 28, 2013, a group of Cherokee citizen scholars and educators issued this formal statement of support and solidarity with the Idle No More Movement:
In Solidarity with the Idle No More Movement
ᏗᎦᏓᏤᎴᎢ
We are writing as educators and Cherokee citizens from the Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokees and United Keetoowah Band. Digadatsele’i (“We all belong to each other”), which was formed in 2009, supports the ongoing, grassroots struggles of our Indigenous brothers and sisters across the medicine line as treaty-based, sovereign Nations. The Idle No More movement is more than a reaction to the harmful legislation passed or proposed by Canada’s Harper government – it is about standing up to new threats to First Nations’ treaties, self-determining authority, inherent rights, and responsibilities to our waters, homelands, communities, and cultures. Whether north or south of the medicine line, our struggles are shared. As treaty-based peoples, we recognize and reaffirm that:
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Idle No More originated and is sustained through the leadership of Indigenous women. Women are the strength of our communities and the colonial legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women on Turtle Island must be confronted and addressed. The recent refusal to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in the US further demonstrates a systematic failure to address ongoing violence against Indigenous women;
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All of our futures depend on upholding our ongoing relationships to our homelands and waters. This is also about respecting Indigenous forms of traditional governance and relationships grounded in gadugi and the seven clans that have sustained our communities for thousands of years;
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Indigenous treaties with governments such as Canada and the U.S. are not the only ones being challenged – our sacred covenants with other Native Nations and with the land, water, plants, animals, and all forms of life on our territories are at stake. The treaties must be upheld if our current and future generations are to thrive;
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Educational self-determination is vital to the health and well-being of Indigenous Nations. Teaching our languages, stories, and living histories to our current and future generations is critical to our survival;
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Several Indigenous Nations are split by the US/Canadian border, which crosses over their traditional territories. This transnational movement understands that borders cannot impede Indigenous liberation and unity. We also exhort Canada to recognize and practice its obligations to the provisions of the Jay Treaty (1794), Treaty of Ghent (1814), and other appropriate statutes when it comes to Indigenous peoples traveling across the medicine line.
We stand in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island fighting for the future of Indigenous Nationhood – we will rise together to meet these new challenges as persistent and enduring Indigenous Nations. Digadatsele’i.
New Book - Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club
Congrats to Professor Chris Teuton and contributors Hastings Shade, Sammy Still, Sequoyah Guess and Woody Hansen for a refreshing new book.
Here's part of the publisher's blurb:
"A collection of forty interwoven stories, conversations, and teachings about Western Cherokee life, beliefs, and the art of storytelling, the book orchestrates a multilayered conversation between a group of honored Cherokee elders, storytellers, and knowledge-keepers and the communities their stories touch."
Rob Porter Elected Seneca President
Not exactly Cherokee-centric news, but Rob Porter has been elected Seneca President. For the news article click here. Rob is a law professor and his ties to Cherokee Nation (beyond our cultural ties to our brothers and sisters in the northeast) go back to Cherokee Nation Constitutional Convention in 1999 - he was one of the first day speakers on tribal sovereignty. Cheers.
Steve Russell's New Book
Cherokee author Steve Russell's new book is out - as blogged by Matthew Fletcher. Steve humbly failed to shamelessly self-promote this, so I'll do it for him. Congrats Steve and happy semi-retirement! The book can be purchased (at a very reasonable price) by Carolina Academic Press here.
Slideshow from Cherokee Phoenix Celebrating Wilma Mankiller's Life
Sad News from Mankiller Flats This Morning
This message just went out to tribal employees at Cherokee Nation. Please lift up Wilma's family in your prayers. Unbelievably huge loss for the Cherokee Nation. Our personal and national hearts are heavy with sorrow and sadness with the passing this morning of Wilma Mankiller, our former Principal Chief. We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us. We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness. When we become disheartened, we will be inspired by remembering how Wilma proceeded undaunted through so many trials and tribulations. Years ago, she and her husband Charlie Soap showed the world what Cherokee people can do when given the chance, when they organized the self-help water line in the Bell community She said Cherokees in that community learned that it was their choice, their lives, their community and their future. Her gift to us is the lesson that our lives and future are for us to decide. We can carry on that Cherokee legacy by teaching our children that lesson. Please keep Charlie, Gina and Felicia in your prayers. Wilma asked that any gifts in her honor be made as donations to One Fire Development Corporation, a non-profit dedicated to advancing Native American communities though economic development, and to valuing the wisdom that exists within each of the diverse tribal communities around the world. Tax deductible donations can be made at www.wilmamankiller.com as well as www.onefiredevelopment.org. The mailing address for One Fire Development Corporation is 1220 Southmore Houston, TX 77004. Details of her memorial service will be forthcoming.
Check www.cherokee.org for news on services.
Tribal Law Conference in conjunction with Native Nations Law Symposium, Feb 11-12th, 2010
The Annual Tribal Law Conference at the KU School of Law will be held this year in conjunction with the Four Tribes in Kansas' Native Nations Law Symposium. Day one (Feb 11th) at KU Law. Day two (Feb. 12th) at Prairie Band Casino and Resort. Agenda and on-line registration here. Among the topics are tribal economic development, gaming, tribal court jurisdiction, probate reform and ethics in tribal government. Cherokee Nation tribal citizens Stacy Leeds, Mark Dodd, and Melody McCoy are among the speakers.