Sovereignty and Autonomy in the Western Hemisphere: National and Regional Strubbles for Power, Identity and Space
Spring 2011-Spring 2012
For the last 500 years, the peoples of the Western Hemisphere have shared a common story. Disconnected from regular contact with Europe, Africa and Asia prior to 1492, this vast macro-region has been shaped by distinctive legacies produced by its global entanglements. Sovereignty and Autonomy in the Western Hemisphere, is a two-year initiative aimed at exploring this broad topic that has played an important role in this vast region throughout its history.
Spring 2011 programs focus particularly on the issue of indigeneity. Taking as point of departure similarities and differences in colonial rule and nation-building strategies across the Americas, events this semester will examine contemporary discussion of indigenous rights, different models of multicultural and intercultural citizenship from across the hemisphere, as well as the increasing impact of regional and global framings of indigeneity through the work of social movements, non-governmental organizations and international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.
Fall 2011 programs focus on language and expressive culture. Literary and other artistic media have played key roles in defining and asserting dominant national identities, postcolonial aspirations of modern refinement, as well as alternative expressions of national experience, sovereignty, and autonomy from subordinated groups. The rapid contemporary circulation of new genres of expressive culture through broadcast and digital media underscore the need for a more systematic macro-regional examination of literature and the arts across the Americas.
Spring 2012 programs focus on sovereignty in practice and will explore how indigenous sovereignty functions on the ground affecting Native and non-Native people across the hemisphere. In particular we will examine how Native initiatives and Native activists have resisted, altered–or even replaced–colonial rule and preserved enclaves of autonomy. Among the specific issues we will address are indigenous interactions with genomic science, the possibilites for autonomous indigenous governance, and community control of natural resources.
Cosponsored by: American Indian Studies Program, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Department of History, George A. Miller Endowment and Spurlock Museum
Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana
Center for Advanced Study
912 W. Illinois St
Urbana
Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana
Center for Advanced Study
912 W. Illinois St
Urbana
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum 600 South Gregory Street Urbana
Lucy Ellis Lounge 707 S. Mathews Avenue Urbana
Center for Advanced Study
912 W. Illinois St
Urbana
Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 West Gregory Drive
Urbana
Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 West Gregory Drive
Urbana
Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana
Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana
Center for Advanced Study
912 W. Illinois St
Urbana
Gregory Hall, Rm 319 810 S. Wright Street Urbana