Native American Studies Initiative

Vision

The Native American Studies Initiative (NASI) was founded in 2023 in order to support and promote the Native American scholarly community across Duke University’s campuses through national and international research, partnerships and engagement.

NASI focuses on three main areas: increasing the visibility and presence of Native Americans and Native American Studies work on these campuses; supporting faculty, staff, and students in their Native American Studies research; and forming collaborations across universities and colleges, and partnerships with Native Nations, to strengthen ethically-based, community engaged research on a national and international level.

Land Acknowledgement and Statement on Sovereignty

Please note that land acknowledgements are on hold at Duke University due to their problematic nature of contributing to erasure (/past-ifying) of contemporary Native people, amongst other issues. See this PDF for more information: https://indigeneity.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3782/2022/11/Rethinking-Land-Acknowledgements-by-Michael-and-Valerie-Lambert.pdf

Instead, we encourage faculty, students, and staff to encourage their audiences to actively support Native faculty, students, and staff on campus with a “calling in” for Duke accountability by promoting active engagement with the NAISA petition, which can be found here: https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/diversity/expand-your-knowledge/teaching/land-acknowledgements-an-exploration/

NASI supports the Duke Asian American and Diaspora Studies Program Statement on Affirmative Action. More information can be found here: https://asianamericanstudies.duke.edu/news/statement-affirmative-action

We endorse the Cherokee Scholars’ Statement on Sovereignty and Identity, which can be found here: https://www.thinktsalagi.org/blog/2020/2/13/-cherokee-scholars-statement-on-sovereignty-and-identitynbsp

NASI is generously supported by:

  • Office of Global Affairs
  • Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
  • Partnership for Less Commonly Taught Languages
  • Kenan Institute for Ethics