Six years ago, a committee of students and staff from the American Indian Council, the Multicultural Resource Center and the Edmonia Lewis Center for for Women and Transgender People came together in order to raise awareness surrounding the history of U.S. and European imperialism in the Americans and Pacific Islands. The long-term goal of the series has been to increase the institutional awareness and support of Indigenous issues in the curriculum and among the campus community. The result of their groundbreaking work was Oberlin's first annual Indigenous Women's Series.

Over the last six years, the series has brought to Oberlin 17 scholars, artists and activists including Chrystos, Andrea Smith, Antoinette Charafauros, Haunani-Kay Trask in 2000-2001; Cherrie Moraga, LeAnne Howe, Stormy Ogden, J. Kehaulani Kauanui in 2001-2002; Inez Hernandez-Avila, Susan Applegate Krouse, Charlene Teters, Myla Vicente Carpio in 2002-2003; Mililani Trask, Sharon Day, Andrea Smith in 2003-2004; and Ellen Baird, Tiya Miles, and Davianna MacGregor in 2004-2005.

In its fourth year IWS evolved into a highly popular Comparative American Studies mini-course, taught by Dr. Andrea Smith of the University of Michigan at Anne Arbor, that examined Native American feminism in greater depth. This growing support for the academic study of indigenous issues was part of a larger effort that most recently has resulted in the approval of a Mellon Post-Doctoral position for the 2005-2006 academic year in Indigenous Studies, housed in the Comparative American Studies program.

The 2005-2006 Indigenous Women's Series Schedule:

ANNE KEALA KELLY
Public Lecture: Saturday, February 18th, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM/Root Room: A/PA Conference Keynote Banquet and Speaker
Closing Plenary Panel: Sunday, February 19th, 10:30 AM/Wilder 112: Activism - This panel will discuss what we as students and active agents in the global community are responsible for in addressing these issues.

DR. MICHELLE H. RAHEJA
Public Lecture: Monday, April 4th, “‘Molly Spotted Elk is a dancer… but she also knows how to punch a typewriter’: Gender, (Auto)biography, and Performance in 1930s Native America” 4:30 p.m. in West Lecture Hall.

DR. ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ
Public Lecture: Thursday, April 13th, “Geopolitics and the International Indigenous Movement” 4:30 p.m. in West Lecture Hall.

IWS 2005-2006 pamphlet

IWS 2004-2005 pamphlet