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Sovereignty and Autonomy in the Western Hemisphere: National and Regional Strubbles for Power, Identity and Space

Spring 2011-Spring 2012

Resident Associates

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

Events
Wednesday
Feb 23
Rudi Colloredo Mansfield
3:00 pm

Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana

Wednesday
Mar 02
Tiya Miles
4:30 pm

Center for Advanced Study

912 W. Illinois St

Urbana

Wednesday
Apr 06
Gilberto Rosas, chair
3:00 pm

Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana

Friday
Apr 15

Center for Advanced Study
912 W. Illinois St
Urbana

Tuesday
Sep 13
Heid E. Erdrich
,
Inés Hernández-Avila
4:00 pm

Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum 600 South Gregory Street Urbana

Wednesday
Sep 14
Heid E. Erdrich
,
Emilio del Valle Escalante
,
Inés Hernández-Avila
12:00 pm

Lucy Ellis Lounge 707 S. Mathews Avenue Urbana

Wednesday
Nov 02
J. Kehaulani Kauanui
,
Paul DeMain
,
Karla Palma
3:00 pm

Center for Advanced Study

912 W. Illinois St

Urbana

Tuesday
Jan 24
Monica Sans
4:00pm

Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 West Gregory Drive
Urbana

Wednesday
Jan 25
Jessica Bardill
,
Ripan Singh Malhi
,
Monica Sans
3:30pm

Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 West Gregory Drive
Urbana

Tuesday
Feb 21
Thomas Swensen
,
Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera
,
Frederick E. Hoxie
,
Andrew Orta
3:00pm

Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana

Tuesday
Mar 13
Matthew Gilbert
,
Korinta Maldonado Goti
,
Justin Richland
3:00 pm

Center for Advanced Study 912 W. Illinois St Urbana

Tuesday
Mar 27
Jolene Rickard
,
Jane Mt. Pleasant
,
Stephen Brush
,
Elizabeth Fitting
,
Scott Manning Stevens
9:30am - 4:30pm

Center for Advanced Study

912 W. Illinois St

Urbana

Tuesday
Apr 17
Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui
4:00 pm

Gregory Hall, Rm 319 810 S. Wright Street Urbana