JUNE 1, 2009
To Be Held At: The Kellogg Center, Michigan State University

This is the second in a three-year cycle of symposiums that situates American Indian Studies within a comparative, global perspective. We seek scholars whose research focuses on the ways that film has been employed to contest the cultural, racial, and class differences imposed by the colonization of indigenous peoples. We are especially interested in the layers of social, ideological, and political stereotypes that have created stereotypic images of Native people and how these depictions have been increasingly challenged by film. This symposium examines how this attempt to "talk back" has given birth to an emerging genre of recent films and documentaries.

Films that consider the multiplicity of indigenous voices from a global perspective form the focus of this second symposium. We welcome papers from international scholars, especially those whose work focuses on film as a mechanism of indigenous expression. Because mainstream films remain obvious sites of contestation, they often resist or impede indigenous expression. Therefore, this symposium encourages participants to investigate how knowledge is embedded in alternative films.

Papers will be submitted thirty days in advance of the conference (May 1, 2009) and will be distributed to seminar participants. Authors will be asked to provide papers in the range of 6,000-8,000 words. These papers will be included in the seminar proceedings that are being published by the University of Nebraska Press.

To be considered for inclusion on the symposium program, please submit a one-page abstract by March 1, 2009. Applicants will be notified of acceptance by March 16, 2009. Please send abstracts and/or questions to: cicaisc@msu.edu.