Crossings of Breath

Crossings of Breath: Indigenous & Black Relations in North America

When: November 10, 2005

Where: Student Union Building, Lobo A and B (location may change; watch website for more information)

Time: 8:00 -4:30 and 5:00-9:30

http://www.unm.edu/~nasinfo/Conf%20Website/index.htm

A cultural exchange symposium at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. This gathering is part of an emerging scholarship that is changing the ways in which we have viewed race and cross-cultural relationships between Native Americans, Whites, and African-Americans. Much of the existing scholarship has focused on the southeastern U.S. and Oklahoma even though a history of Indigenous-Black relations exists in the Southwest, and these relations deserve to be explored.

This daylong symposium encourages scholarly investigation of the historical and cultural exchanges between Natives and Blacks and dialogue about the politics of identity and tribal sovereignty.

I think African-American and Native cultures have a lot to learn from each other, and I look forward to a dialogue that centers on relations between two ethnic groups that focus on our relationship to each other and not necessarily our relationship to White culture. I'll definitely be there.

(photo of Radmilla Cody, Ms. Navajo Nation 1997-98. I know Ms. Cody was dethroned under some noteriety and served time for her crimes. She may not be the best role model, but she is representative and she is speaking at the conference.)