Last week First Peoples was thrilled to spend time at the Native Nations Media Conference, a week-long joint meeting of the Native American Journalist Association and Native American Public Telecommunications, held in St. Paul, Minnesota. More than 150 journalists, videographers, and journalism students came together to discuss hands-on techniques and big-picture issues facing Native media makers today. Throughout the sessions we attended, participants returned often to issues of sovereignty and the necessity of telling stories–vital reasons for why they do the important work that they do.

Clockwise: Keynote speakers Valarie Fast Horse, director of IT for the Coer d’Alene Tribe, and Syd Beane, Native Public Media advisory council member, discussed the power and possibility of digital communications for tribal communities; videographer Patty Loew gave hands-on training in video editing; University of Minnesota Press authors Jean O’Brien and Robert Warrior listened in as author Mark Trahant discussed his new book; summer in St. Paul provided a colorful backdrop for the week-long conference.

Today our partners at the University of Minnesota posted a reflection from editor Jason Weidemann on last month’s meeting of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) in Tucson, Arizona. He wrote:

“In May I had the opportunity to attend the annual Native American and Indigenous Studies meeting in Tucson, Arizona. Always an energetic and passionate gathering, this year’s was even more so given that the meeting took place against the backdrop of Arizona’s recent passage of a stringent new immigration law and a measure banning ethnic studies courses in public schools….”

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The annual meeting of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) was held last week in Tucson, Arizona. It was yet again a dynamic and exciting meeting, bringing together scholars from a wide range of disciplines and from universities, research organizations, and communities all over the world. Overall, there were nearly 800 registrations and over 100 sessions on topics ranging from Indigenous ethics and methodologies to sovereignty and literary criticism, and much more.

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12th International Congress of Ethnobiology (May 9-14, 2010)

This week the International Society of Enthnobiology (ISE) convenes in Tofino, British Columbia. The congress brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from around the world to tackle the key issues of our times, such as community-conserved areas and food sovereignty. The organization, which held its inaugural congress in Belém, Brazil in 1988, has a stated mission to recognize the central role of Indigenous peoples in all global, regional, and local processes, and the ICE works to support and promote  the critical efforts of Indigenous peoples, traditional societies, and local communities in the conservation of biological, cultural and linguistic diversity.

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The First Peoples publishing initiative is headed to Albuquerque to attend the 2010 Native American Literature Symposium, which will be from March 4-6 at the Isleta Hotel and Casino. The schedule is packed with panels exploring cinema, fiction, poetry, and performance from both theoretical and pedagogical angles. To get ready for this three-day event, we’ve made a recommended reading list of books by panelists, as well as titles that will be the topic of sessions or readings:

Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko, 1992, Penguin Editions
Beyond the Reach of Time and Change by Simon Ortiz, 2005, University of Arizona Press
Blood Run by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, 2007, Salt Publishing
The Last Report on the Miracles from Little No Horse, by Louise Erdrich, 2001, HarperCollins
Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita by Jennifer Nez Denetdale, 2007, University of Arizona Press
Night Sky, Morning Star by Evelina Zuni Lucero, 2000, University of Arizona Press
A Radiant Curve: Poems and Stories by Luci Tapahonso, 2008, University of Arizona Press
Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism by Craig S. Womack, University of Minnesota Press
Shell Shaker by LeAnne Howe, 2001, Aunt Lute Books
The Truth about Stories by Thomas King, 2008, University of Minnesota Press

Grab your books and we’ll see you in Albuquerque. We’ll have a table of books from our partner presses, as well as information about our initiative. Please stop by and say hello. To view the complete conference program please click here.