Kahwatsire: Empowering New Narratives and Restoring Realities Call for Papers 10th Annual Indigenous and American

Studies Storytellers of the Americas Conference April 11 & 12, 2014- University at Buffalo (SUNY)
Haudenosaunee, Onkwehonwe, and allied scholarship will once again center this years 10th anniversary Storytellers Conference with the Kanienkeha (Mohawk) concept of kahwatsire: all of our fires are connected. As frequently highlighted by this year s keynote speaker, Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) scholar Taiaiake Alfred, placed before many Onkwehon we peoples in all walks of life is the lofty task of transforming negative reality into a positive strategy so that we may confront the privileges and legacies of empire and settler-colonialism that effect all peoples, not only Indigenous peoples, into today. In order to restore our realities and empower the narratives that drive us, our personal, national, and geographic narratives, we must move past the rhetoric of un-doing associated with decolonization and instead create new actions to re/indigenize. We must turn to kahwatsire that turns embers into fires, that turns individuals into families, clans, communities and nations. The 10th anniversary of the Storytellers conference calls us to reflect upon the legacy of the founders of our program, John Mohawk (Seneca) and Barry White (Seneca). Mohawk and White, amongst others, envisioned Native Studies as a framework to examine our varied histories, knowledges, and current realities of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples alike. This vision continues to center the Storytellers Conference as well as our department here at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). Maintaining this tradition, we see this years gathering as a celebratory renewal of our predecessors work and commitment to community, story, and scholarship. We encourage abstract submissions from all academic disciplines. All scholars, activists, educators and community members are invited to submit theoretical, practical, traditional, and non-traditional presentations that broadly address this theme. Potential areas of interest include: Addressing the colonial legacy, colonization, and decolonization Issues of national identity, citizenship, borders, racism, whiteness, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and ability Indigenous traditional knowledge, sovereignty, nationalism, politics, citizenship and border crossings Land reclamation and use, ecological /environmental protection and restoration Oral traditions, stories, culture, and history Community work and community development projects Language recovery and revitalization Media and technology Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and wellness Please submit a 250 word proposal by January 15, 2014 via email to ubamsconference@yahoo.com
* This is a graduate student run conference. We are unable to provide travel or lodging funds as this is outside of our ability and resources. Thank you. *Coordinated by: The UB American Studies Graduate Student Association and the Native Graduate Association