Each year, the Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAISA) organization holds a conference that involves faculty and students from colleges and universities (tribal and non-tribal), community-based scholars and elders, and professionals working in the field. Attending the annual NAISA conference has become a great opportunity for IPinCHers to get together with their colleagues and to connect with Indigenous community members, scholars, and students from around the world.This was the case at this year’s NAISA conference, held last week in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
IPinCH Project Ethnographer, Alexis Bunten, organized the IPinCH-focused session, “Who ‘Owns’ Indigenous Knowledge?”, chaired by Project Director, George Nicholas.
George provided an overview of IPinCH with his talk, entitled “The IPinCH Project – In Theory and Practice,” while Alexis spoke on “IPinCH Project Ethnography: Critical Reflections on Researchers Conducting Projects on Indigenous Heritage and Intellectual Property Issues.” Bonnie Newsom discussed, “Developing a Community-Based Infrastructure for Protecting Intellectual Property: Strategies and Tools from the Penobscot Nation in Maine.” The three other presentation, given in abstentia, were by Lena Mortensen, “Building Connections, Protocols, and Toolkits from Comparative Community-Based Research,” Charles Arnold, “'A Case of Access’—Gauging the Effectiveness of Digital Repatriation,” and Sheila Greer, “Yukon First Nations Heritage Values and Heritage Resource Management.”
The room was packed during this session and there was much interest in the work that IPinCH is doing.
Other panels at the conference included IPinCH team members: Jennifer Kramer speaking about “The Politicization of Aesthetics on the Central Northwest Coast,” Mique’l Dangeli on “Composing from the Sky: New Works in Northwest Coast First Nations Dance,” and Josh Smith with his paper, “‘Dear Bob’: The Mutual Politics of Robert K. Thomas and Sol Tax in Action Anthropology.”
An informal IPinCH dinner gathering was held with Jennifer Kramer (Associate), Darren Ranco and Bonnie Newsom (of the Penobscot Community-Based Initiative), as well as Alexis, and George.
IPinCH also had an information booth again this year, showcasing our new poster, brochure, a selection of our publications and the first of our Fact Sheet series.
Photo source: NAISA 2013 Conference website.
