CFP: Engaging Indigenous Communities: Resources, Rebellions, and Resurgence

CALL FOR PAPERS

Engaging Indigenous Communities:
Resources, Rebellions, and Resurgence

August 9-13, 2010
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

This conference is being undertaken in honour of the 1850 Robinson Treaties. The vision of the Anishinabeg leaders to protect our heritage and resources while sharing with the newcomers. It is this vision that remains as relevant today as it was 160 years ago. Contact between different peoples has resulted in a multitude of responses including peaceful interactions, uneasy relations, and far too often to war and genocide. Recognizing the autonomy of nations to determine their futures, including the allocation of resources, or the lack of such recognition, has sometimes been mediated by various types of agreements and treaties. It is through access to, or exploitation of resources (i.e. human, land, forest, mineral, water, and animal), that the colonial project has had the greatest affect on Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples on the colonial project. Thus the focus of the conference will be on exploring Indigenous peoples’ perspectives on resources, and the moments in history (and in present day) when Indigenous peoples have fought (peacefully or otherwise) to protect those resources. It is the contemporary resurgence of Indigenous perspectives and understandings or appropriate relationships to resources that we hope informs the conference. The conference will begin on the 9th with registration and at conclude at noon on the 13th of August.

Presentations on the following themes are encouraged with other related proposals welcome

• How do Indigenous communities define ‘resources’?

• How do Indigenous communities regulate/relate/engage with resources?

• How have historical neglect, misrepresentation, misunderstandings affected Indigenous communities’ relationships with their resources?
  

• How have agreements and/or treaties protected/attempted to protect resources?

• Are treaties valid methods to protect resources?

• How have community-university partnerships advanced Indigenous access to and/or protection of resources?
  

• How have universities forwarded exploitation of Indigenous people and resources?

• How can a relationship between the larger society and Indigenous people be shaped to benefit the environment?
  

Individual papers and panel submissions are welcome. Please submit a 250-350 word proposal for individual papers and 250-500 word proposal for panels. Please submit you proposals electronically by email or mail to the address below. The deadline for submissions is 8 January 2010. For further information please contact

Dr. Karl Hele
c/o Organizing Committee
Engaging Indigenous Communities: Resources, Rebellions, and Resurgence
Department of Community Economic and Social Development
Algoma University
1520 Queen Street East
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Canada P6A 2G4
eicrrr@gmail.com

Indigenous Studies Engages Ethnic Studies

Due to the success of last year's Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World Conference, the UCSD Ethnic Studies Department will organize a symposium on May 8th, 2009 titled Indigenous Studies Engages Ethnic Studies. The intent of the symposium is to further the dialogue between scholars and students of these two disciplines, in the hopes of pushing Ethnic Studies to take seriously the place of indigenous people in modern racial politics and also indigenous theories of knowledge and social change. The link for the symposium website is below as well as the mission statement for the symposium:

Indigenous Studies Engages Ethnic Studies

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Mission

As scholars in the Ethnic Studies Department at UCSD, we stand incredibly proud of the cutting edge critical race and ethnic studies work developed in our department, and in its potential to push the limits of the larger Ethnic Studies project. In this spirit, we find that in order for Ethnic Studies to move beyond the usual emphasis on immigration, diaspora and slavery paradigms, the critical potential of Indigenous Studies should become an integral part of our intellectual agenda. Just as the scholarship ‘about’ people of color does not describe our notion and practice of Ethnic Studies, scholarship ‘about’ indigenous people must reflect more than merely the violent history of the academy within indigenous communities. It must, in fact, engage the sophisticated indigenous theories, which have been circulating for many years, especially those that confront the ways in which colonial power still operates in nation-states. In the last few years, a number of graduate students and faculty have taken important steps towards facilitating this integration. These include the creation of the “Voicing Indigeneity” podcast, the Post-colonial Futures in a Not-Yet Post-colonial World Conference, and the proposal for an indigenous studies focused cluster hire.

Building on these efforts, we are organizing a one-day critical indigenous studies symposium to be held on May 8, 2009. The symposium focuses on native feminism scholarship because we believe it offers a critical perspective missing in both indigenous studies and in most analysis of race, gender, sexuality, colonialism and citizenship. We have invited Andrea Smith, Audra Simpson and Noenoe Silva, scholars who are at the forefront of this field of thought. Additionally, we have invited 3-4 senior graduate students who are not only moving the field in new directions, but more excitingly are doing so by employing theories emerging from our Ethnic Studies department, thereby highlighting the critical possibilities that lie at the interstices of these fields. Furthermore, this symposium anticipates our desire to improve the recruitment of indigenous graduate students, post-docs and faculty.

We hope the department will actively participate in this symposium in order to push the limits of our scholarship and political commitments, whether they directly fall within what is traditionally seen as the indigenous field or not. Ultimately, this symposium is an invitation to engage in a productive troubling of the ethnic studies project as well as to expand our understanding of what indigenous studies can be.

Conference Photos

Conference Audio #4

"The Audacity of Hope: Contemplating the Futures of Stateless and Refugee Peoples" was the closing plenary for the was the opening plenary for the conference, "Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World: Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies," which took place March 5-7, 2008 at the Ethnic Studies Department at University of California, San Diego. This panel hoped to highlight the political âin-between-nessâ shared by indigenous, stateless and refugee peoples. While the panel was interested in considering the productivity of âstatelessnessâ as a category for resistance and transformation, we would also like to discuss the different historic-political conditions that confront indigenous populations in settler and postcolonial societies, refugee populations formed through violent displacements and other global formations of statelessness. The panel took place on March 7, 2008 and consisted of Renya Ramirez (UCSC), Chandan Reddy (UW) and Jesse Mills (USD).

Click here for audio

Conference Audio #3

"Beyond the Fourth World Wall: The Global Practicing of Indigeneity," was a plenary panel for the conference, "Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World: Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies," which took place March 5-7, 2008 at the Ethnic Studies Department at University of California, San Diego. This panel hoped to put into conversation different notions of indigeneity as articulated within European settler/colonial societies and within postcolonial worlds. More specifically this panel was interested in discussing indigenous movements across the globe, in order to highlight the multiple and complex ways in which indigeneity is understood, positioned and practiced globally. This panel took place March 6th 2008 and consisted of speakers Denise Da Silva (Ethnic Studies UCSD), Vince Diaz (U Michigan) and Robert Perez (UC Riverside). Robert Perez by personal request, has been edited out of the audio.

Click here to listen to the audio.

Conference Audio #2

"Intersections: A Conversation with UCSD Faculty" was a plenary panel for the conference, "Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World: Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies," which took place March 5-7, 2008 at the Ethnic Studies Department at University of California, San Diego. This panel consisted of UCSD faculty who discussed their work, their ideas or the work of their departments in the context of the conference theme. The panel discussed in relation to the conference theme, what sort of work is or isnât being done here at UCSD, and what the panel members or other faculty, grad students or departments are doing to make this campus a more receptive place for doing cutting edge ethnic, indigenous and postcolonial studies, or work which straddles these intellectual disciplines. The panel took place on March 6, 2008 and its participants were Rosemary George (Literature), Ross Frank (Ethnic Studies) and Roberto Tejada (Visual Arts).

Click here to listen to the audio.

Conference Audio #1

"Global Histories/Local Designs: Contemplating San Diego as a Glocal City," was the opening plenary for the conference, "Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World: Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies," which took place March 5-7, 2008 at the Ethnic Studies Department at University of California, San Diego. This panel was billed as "A panel of activists from different local organizations who will discuss the ways in which San Diego through issues of militarization, borders, Native American tribes fits into the theme of the conference, or how these issues position San Diego as a site where different ethnic, postcolonial and indigenous world intersect, conflict or disappear." The panelists were Andrea Guerrero, San Diego ACLU and Mshinda Nyofu, UJIMA Institute for Civic Responsibility. This panel took place at the Duetz Room in the Institute of the Americas on March 5th.

Please click here to listen to or download the audio from this panel.

Acknowledgments

The conference was a great success and I'll be posting more info and photos on it soon. In the meantime the conference committee would like to thank and acknowledge the following groups and individuals for their support and help.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to William Runk, Yolanda Escamilla, Theresa Aitchison and Jackie Griffin, for sharing their knowledge, expertise and time, and for keeping the Ethnic Studies department running!

To K. Wayne Yang, Pat Washington, Yen Le Espiritu, Susan Gordon and Lisa Sun-Hee Park, thank you for encouraging your classes to participate!

Thank you to the following individuals for their generous support:
Kim Barrett, Dean of Graduate Studies
Beckie Callahan, VP of Finance, Graduate Student Association
Wayne Cornelius, Director for the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
Paul W. Drake, Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs
Jeff Elman, Dean of the Division of Social Science
Heath Fox, Assistant Dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities
Ruth Padron, Program Coordinator for Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies
David Pellow, Director for the California Cultures in Comparative Perspective
Thea Tagle, OGS Community Intern
Gershon Shafir, Director, Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies
Eric Van Young, Dean of the Division of Arts and Humanities

Many thanks also, for their strong interest and support, to:
Rosemary Marangoly George and Lisa Lampert, Department of Literature
Gary Fields, Department of Communication
David Gutierrez, Department of History
Roberto Tejada, Department of Visual Arts

Thank you to the following student organizations for their support:
Shae Lynn Zastrow from the Native American Student Alliance
The Ethnic Studies Collective

To Drew Hendricks and Scott Mosher of Hi-Rez Digital, and Jack Lujan Bevacqua of Pump Fake Nation – thanks for your awesome artwork!

Thank you to Angela Morrill, Madel Ngiraingas and Michael Lujan Bevacqua for sowing the seeds of this conference through their Voicing Indigeneity podcast.

To all our invited guests, presenters, and participants – thank you for making this possible!

Last but definitely not the least, thank you to the graduate students in Ethnic Studies and our fantastic faculty: Pal Ahluwalia, Roberto Alvarez, Yen Le Espiritu, K. Wayne Yang, Ana Celia Zentella. Thank you especially to Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Ross Frank, Denise Ferreira da Silva and David Pellow for their tireless support and guidance.

Conference Registration

Please click here for online registration form.

Registration closes February 29, 2008. We look forward to seeing you in March!

Conference Schedule

Wednesday, March 5

3.00 – 4.30 PM
Plenary 1: UCSD Ethnic Studies Colloquium: Meet some of our newest Faculty Deutz Room, CILAS*
- K. Wayne Yang
- Roshanak Kheshti

5.00 – 6.30 PM
Plenary 2: Global Histories/Local Designs: Contemplating San Diego as a Glocal City Deutz Room, CILAS
Moderator: Ross Frank
- Louis Guassac, Kumeyaay Border Task Force
- Andrea Guerrero, San Diego ACLU
- Mshinda Nyofu, UJIMA Institute for Civic Responsibility
- TBA, Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee

6.45 – 8.00 PM Reception and Undergraduate Film Screenings Deutz Room, CILAS
Moderator: K. Wayne Yang
- Joseph Ramirez, “Untitled"
- Lawrence Mojado, "Native America”
- Matthew Reiderer, "From your pen I sprang"
- Chris Marino, "Qui estamos y no nos vamos"
- Yusria Malik, "Care"
- Terri Phan, “Human Trafficking of Women & Children"


Thursday, March 6

8.30 AM Breakfast SSB** 103

9.00 – 10.30 AM
Panel A: A Critique of Colonial and Postcolonial Reason IR/PS*** 1328
Respondent: Long Bui, 3rd year, Ethnic Studies
- Post-colonial mindscapes and shifting burdens – whose frame is it anyway?
Garga Chatterjee, Harvard University and Somnath Mukherji, Association for India’s Development
- Demystifying the Post(colonial): An Examination of Myth as Meeting Point Between Ethnic, Indigenous, Postcolonial and Gender Studies
Amina Ben Ezzeddine, Washington State University
- Nativism: A Strategic History of Western Colonial Discourse
Sean Corbin, University of California, Riverside

Panel B: The Possibilities for Sovereignty and Resistance Against US Colonialism in the Asia-Pacific Region IR/PS 1428
Respondent: Cathleen Kozen, 3rd year, Ethnic Studies
- Transnational Feminism, Competing Domesticities: Circuits of Ethnicity, Indigeneity and (Post)coloniality
Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez, University of Hawai`i at Manoa
- Bridges are Made with Many Footsteps: Re-imagining Filipino Identity as Resistance to a Militarized Present
Ellen-Rae Cachola, California Institute of Integral Studies
- O La Ata: Shadows, Reflections, and Images
Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Independent Artist
- Spectacles of Citizenship: Native Hawaiian representations and rights
Maile Arvin, University of California, San Diego

10.45 AM – 12.15 PM
Plenary 3: Intersections I: A Conversation with UCSD Faculty SSB 107
Moderator: Rosemary Marangoly George
- Ross Frank, Ethnic Studies
- Rosemary Marangoly George, Literature
- Roberto Tejada, Visual Arts

12.15 – 1.15 PM Lunch Fireside Lounge

1.30 – 3.15 PM
Panel A: The Ghost of Guam in the Machinery of American Sovereignty IR/PS 1428
Respondent: Michael Lujan Bevacqua, 4th year, Ethnic Studies
- Antoinette Chafauros, Ursuline College
- Michael Perez, California State University Fullerton
- Michael Leon Guerrero, Grassroots Global Justice
- Michael Lujan Bevacqua, University of California, San Diego

Panel B: Immigrant and Indigenous Subjectivities in the Borderlands SSB 103
Respondent: Stevie Ruiz, 1st year, Ethnic Studies
- Strategic Reflections on Indigenous and Migrant Alliances Against Borders
Nandita Sharma, University of Hawai’i Manoa and Cynthia Wright, York University
- Sovereignty, border control and citizenship: Intersections of immigrant and indigenous rights talks in the United States
Monisha Das Gupta, University of Hawai’i, Manoa
- Peripheral Migration: Potentialities of Border Subject to Become Decolonial Subject
Keina Espiñeira Gonzålez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
- Identity Formation in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones and Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl: A Comparative Look at Two Contemporary African and Caribbean Novels
Chinenye Okparanta, University of Maryland

3.30 – 5.00 PM
Panel A: Futures Imperfect: Indigenous Interrogations of the Postcolonial IR/PS 3202
Respondent: Tomoko Tsuchiya, 3rd year, Ethnic Studies
- Indigenous Interrogations of the ‘Postcolonial’ in Mahasweta Devi’s “Imaginary Maps and After Kurukshetra"
Arumina Paul, University of Southern California
- Postcolonial Futures and the Pre-Modern Past in “Pterodactyl, Puran Sahay, and Pirtha”
Joanne Lipson, University of Michigan
- Encountering My (Colonized/Colonizer) Self: Reconciling Conflicting Subjectivities
Beenash Jafri, York University
- ‘See’ing the city as a contested landscape through the lens of Indigenous histories
Julia Nagam, York University

Panel B: Intersections II: A Conversation with UCSD Graduates SSB 103
Moderator: José Fusté, 5th year, Ethnic Studies
Provincializing Literature
- Neel Ahuja, Literature
Criminalization, Race and Citizenship in the Processo Mohoza, Bolivia, 1899-1905
- Nancy Egan, History
Beyond the Quandary of Nation/Post-nation: What Latin Caribbean Subaltern Thinkers Can Teach Us
- José Fusté, Ethnic Studies
Pollyanna in Ethnic Studies
- Angela Morrill, Ethnic Studies
The Coloniality of Cream Cheese: True Confessions of an (Almost) Grad School Drop Out
- Traci Voyles, Ethnic Studies

5.15– 7.00 PM
Plenary 4: Beyond the Fourth World Wall: The Global Practicing of Indigeneity Hojel Hall of the Americas
Moderator: Denise Ferreira da Silva
Angana Chatterji, California Institute of Integral Studies Americas
Denise Ferreira da Silva, University of California, San Diego
Vince Diaz, University of Michigan
Robert Perez, University of California, Riverside

7.00 – 9.00 PM Open Mic and Dinner Women's Center


Friday, March 7

8. 30 AM Breakfast SSB 107

9.00 – 10.30 AM
Panel A: (Un)Exceptional States SSB 107
Respondent: Kit Myers, 2nd year, Ethnic Studies
- Palestinian Predicaments: Jewish Immigration and Refugees Repatriation
Areej Sabbagh-Khoury, Tel-Aviv University
- Silenced Conversations: American-Israeli Exceptional Relation and What It Means for Arabs and Arab Americans
Magid Shihade, University of California, Davis
- Reconceptualizing the Refugee Figure Through the Intersection of Statelessness and Indigeneity
Ma Vang, University of California, San Diego
- (Many) Nations Within: Sovereignty and Nativism in the Rural U.S.
Rachel Ida Buff, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Panel B: Spaces of Resistance: Critical Responses to Contemporary (Post-)colonialism SSB 103
Respondent: Tere Ceseña, 7th year, Ethnic Studies
- The Amasizghs mainly known as “Berbers” The Education Policy of North Africa: The Case of Morocco, Algeria
Ed Larchgar, Tamaynut Morocco
- Comparative Maya, Nahautl and Latino Studies
Gabriel S. Estrada, Cal State Long Beach
- (Red)efining Boundaries: Representations of Contemporary Native Lives and Identities at the National Museum of the American Indian
Tere Cesena, University of California, San Diego


10.45 AM– 12.30 PM
Plenary 5: The Audacity of Hope: Contemplating the Futures of Stateless and Refugee Peoples Hojel Hall of the Americas
Moderator: Lisa Sun-Hee Park
- Jesse Mills, University of San Diego
- Renya Ramirez, University of California, Santa Cruz
- Chandan Reddy, University of Washington

12.30 – 1.30 Lunch Hojel Hall of the Americas


* CILAS – Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies/Institute of the Americas
** SSB – Social Sciences Building
***IR/PS - International Relations/Pacific Studies

Local Hotel Information

Sheraton La Jolla
(official conference hotel)
3299 Holiday Court
La Jolla, CA 92037
Tel: (866) 500-0335 (UCSD line)
Fax: (858) 453-5550
3 minutes or 0.77 miles
Special contract UCSD rate: $159/night
*Please ask for UCSD Ethnic Studies conference rate, limited spaces available

Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine
3777 La Jolla Village Drive
San Diego, CA92122
Tel: (858) 552-1234
Fax: (858) 552-6066
3 minutes or 1.17 miles
UCSD rate: $199-284/night
Special rate not always available.

Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa
9700 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla, CA 92037
Tel: (858) 550-1000
Fax: (858) 550-1001
3 minutes or 1.53 miles
UCSD rate: $180-210/night

Marriott Residence Inn La Jolla
8901 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037
Reservations: (800)-876-1778
Tel: (858) 587-1770
Fax: (858) 552-0387
4 minutes or 0.93 miles
UCSD rate: $149-219/night

San Diego Marriott La Jolla
4240 La Jolla Village Drive
La Jolla, California 92037 USA
Phone: 1-858-587-1414
Fax: 1-858-546-8518
5 minutes or 1.90 miles
UCSD rate: $162.00/night
Special rate not always available.

Hotel La Jolla At the Shores
7955 La Jolla Shores Dr.
La Jolla, CA 92037
Reservations: 1-800-666-0261
5 minutes or 2.57 miles
UCSD rate: $139-159/night

Hilton in La Jolla
10950 North Torrey Pines Road
La Jolla, CA 92037
Phone: 858-558-1500��
Fax: 858-450-4584
5 minutes or 2.86 miles
UCSD rate: $208/night
Special rate not always available.

Holiday Inn Express in Mission Bay
4610 De Soto St
San Diego, CA 92109
Phone: 858-483-9800
Fax: 858-483-4010
9 minutes or 5.70 miles
Regular rate: $106-110/night

Hampton Inn in Del Mar
11920 El Camino Real
San Diego, CA 92130
Phone: 858-792-5557
Fax: 858-792-7263
9 minutes or 6.06 miles
UCSD rate: $119/night

Homestead Sorrento Valley
9880 Pacific Heights Blvd
Sorrento Mesa, CA 92121
Phone: 858-623-0100
Fax: 858-623-9600
10 minutes or 5.26 miles
UCSD rate: $114/night

Holiday Inn Express La Jolla
6705 La Jolla Boulevard
La Jolla, CA 92037
Phone: 858-454-7101
Fax: 858-454-6957
12 minutes or 4.98 miles
Regular rate: $160-185/night

Days Inn San Diego at Sea World
3350 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA, 92110
Phone: 619-224-9800
Fax: 619-224-0706
12 minutes or 9.42 miles
Regular rate: $94-112/night

Almost Time

Less than a week now before the conference. The committee is hard at work on the last minute details to ensure the conference is a success! See everyone next week!

Guma'Famoksaiyan Gathering

Please distribute widely...

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Guma’Famoksaiyan
Gathering Strength for our Journey Ahead
May 23-25, 2008
San Diego, California

Famoksaiyan is a group comprised of dedicated and passionate people who work on issues of decolonization, cultural and language revitalization and the dissemination of information regarding the proposed military build up of Guam. The organization’s first conference was held in San Diego, California, on April 14-15, 2006, and was titled “Famoksaiyan: Decolonizing Chamorro Histories, Identities and Futures.” The people who attended that first gathering left with the desire to transform the energy and excitement of the conference into something more sustainable.

Famoksaiyan translates into “the time or place of nurturing or growing,” or “the time to paddle forward.” And it was in this spirit that more than 70 Chamorros and individuals of other ethnic identities from Guam gathered together to share their work, ideas and stories in hope of effecting a positive change for Chamorro communities in the Marianas Islands and the United States.

In a short period of time, Famoksaiyan has organized and assisted in organizing several historic meetings, trips and conferences. Most prominently amongst these have been the following:
• Three trips to the United Nations to testify to the international community on the question of Guam.
• The “Decolonizing Our Lives” forum held at the University of Guam, which gathered more than 250 people. The event served to educate individuals about what different organizations are doing to facilitate Guam’s political and cultural decolonization.
• A second Famoksaiyan conference held on April 20-22, 2007, in Berkeley and Oakland, California. Titled Famoksaiyan: “Our Time to Paddle Forward,” Summit on Decolonization and Native Self-Determination, the conference brought together more than three hundred people to share and learn about the struggles of indigenous people in the Pacific and the Americas.

As part of Famoksaiyan’s continuing commitment to the decolonization of Chamorro lands and lives, we are pleased to announce in cooperation with Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity (CHELU) Inc.:

Guma’Famoksaiyan
Gathering our Strength for the Journey Ahead

Day 1 Friday, May 23, 2008 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Famoksaiyan Sustainability Meeting
CHELU Inc. Office
334 Willie James Jones Ave
San Diego, CA 92102

Day 2 May 24, 2008 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
I Salud i Taotao yan i Tano’
Joyce Beers Community Center
1220 Cleveland Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103

Day 3 May 25, 2008 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Ma’cho’cho’cho’ para i Mamamaila
Sons and Daughters of Guam Club
334 Willie James Jones Ave
San Diego, CA 92102

In times past, knowledge, skills, family and village histories were passed down to the younger generations through different guma’ or houses, such as the guma’saga’ or the family home, or the guma’ulitao, the bachelor’s house. In these spaces young Chamorros, would be given the crucial knowledge of their family, clan and village genealogy, and also be imparted the necessary skills for tasks such as planting, fishing, navigation, debate and weaving. Through this inter-generational sharing, young Chamorros would be prepared to be productive, respectful and active members of both their clan and their village.

As Chamorros and their islands face uncertain futures due to various economic, health, environmental, military and social concerns, it is crucial that we come together to work towards developing progressive solutions to these problems. This year’s gathering hopes to continue the spirit of our ancestors by creating a guma’famoksaiyan, or a house where we can nurture each other, grow and strategize ways to continue paddling forward. We will do this by first, providing presentations and facilitating discussions about fundamental issues that are affecting our people and our islands, whether it be health and diet issues, the impending military buildup, the reality of Guam’s physical environment, the decolonization of Guam and the plight of the Chamorro language. Second, in the hopes of building a more progressive and critical Chamorro / Guam community, we will also convene working groups to discuss different projects and strategies to creatively and effectively confront the existing problems that face our island.

Attending the gathering is free, however donations will be taken throughout the weekend. Please contact Michael Lujan Bevacqua (mlbasquiat@hotmail.com) or Leiana San Agustin Naholowaa (leiana@gmail.com) or visit the Guma’Famoksaiyan website at http://famoksaiyan.blogspot.com for more information.

Chamorro Hands in Education Links Unity, Inc. (CHE’LU) is the official fiscal sponsor of Famoksaiyan and the Guma’Famoksaiyan gathering in May 2008 in San Diego, California. CHE’LU is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations made to Famoksaiyan are eligible for tax deduction. Neither CHE’LU nor Famoksaiyan support any political candidate, party or affiliation in compliance with the laws governing nonprofit institutions.

Airport Transportation

A Blue Shuttle
1-800-719-3499

Access Shuttle
619.282.1515 / 800.690.9090

Airport Shuttle
619.234.4403

Cloud 9 Shuttle
800.9.SHUTTLE (800.974.8885)

Coronado Livery
619.435.6310

EZ Ride
800.777.0585

Seatop Shuttle
619.222.2744

Sea Breeze Shuttle
619.297.7463

Xpress Shuttle
800.900.RIDE (7433)

The Flyer
800.COMMUTE (266.6883)

Directions to SSB from Sheraton La Jolla - Campus Shuttle

1. Take UCSD Nobel Shuttle from La Jolla Village Center (Villa La Jolla Drive) to Mandeville Auditorium on UCSD campus. (Please see map below or ask hotel for directions to UCSD Shuttle stop.)

2. From Mandeville Auditorium walk straight north to Social Science Building. Please see campus map for more detailed directions: http://maps.ucsd.edu/Default.htm





For additional UCSD shuttle and city bus routes, please visit: http://blink.ucsd.edu/Blink/External/Topics/Policy/0,1162,11788,00.html

Directions to UCSD from Sheraton La Jolla - Driving

Sheraton La Jolla to Pangea Parking Structure
1: Start out going WEST on HOLIDAY CT toward VILLA LA JOLLA DR.
2: Turn RIGHT onto VILLA LA JOLLA DR.
3: Turn LEFT onto LA JOLLA VILLAGE DR.
4: LA JOLLA VILLAGE DR becomes N TORREY PINES RD.
5: Turn RIGHT onto PANGEA DR.
6: Turn RIGHT onto SCHOLARS DRIVE NORTH
7: Turn LEFT into Parking Structure

Pangea Parking Structure to Social Sciences Bldg (SSB)
1: Walk on Scholars Drive North towards PANGEA DRIVE
2: Turn LEFT onto Pangea Drive
3: Walk uphill on Pangea Drive.
4: End at SSB

Pangea Parking Structure to Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS)
1: Walk on Scholars Drive North towards PANGEA DRIVE
2: Turn LEFT onto Pangea Drive
3: Walk uphill on Pangea Drive past first Stop Sign.
4: Take your next left (a small road/fire lane). Go to the end.
5: End at CILAS (on the left-hand side).

Directions to UCSD from L.A. - Driving

L.A. to Pangea Parking Structure, UCSD
1: Take I-5 S.
2: Take the GENESEE AVE exit- EXIT
3: Take the GENESEE AVE WEST ramp.
4: Merge onto GENESEE AVE.
5: Turn LEFT onto N TORREY PINES RD.
6: Turn LEFT onto THURGOOD MARSHALL LN.
7: End at [1-9] Pangea Dr,
La Jolla, CA 92037, US

Directions to Sheraton La Jolla from L.A. - Driving

1: Take I-5 S.
2: Take the LA JOLLA VILLAGE DR exit- EXIT 28.
3: Turn RIGHT onto LA JOLLA VILLAGE DR.
4: Make a U-TURN at LA JOLLA SCENIC WAY onto LA JOLLA VILLAGE DR.
5: Turn RIGHT onto VILLA LA JOLLA DR.
6: Turn LEFT onto HOLIDAY CT.
7: End at Sheraton Hotel La Jolla:
3299 Holiday Ct, La Jolla, CA 92037, US

Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Lujan Bevacqua
futures0308@gmail.com

‘Postcolonial’ Futures in a Not-Yet Postcolonial World:
Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies

Conference Will Look at the Futures of Indigenous, Ethnic and Postcolonial Peoples Across the World

(San Diego, February 10, 2008) On March 5-7, 2008, the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego will be hosting a conference titled “Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World: Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies.” This conference will bring together scholars and activists from the United States and from around the world, who are engaged in organizing and scholarly work across ethnic, indigenous and postcolonial communities.

Traditionally, Ethnic Studies deals with minority peoples in first world nations. Postcolonial Studies is about the formerly colonized, now developing world. Indigenous Studies engages with communities that claim ties to land which the modern world rarely respects and they constitute nations, but are not nation states. Each of these disciplines is widely thought to be divided because of the specific segments of the global population they represent.

Yet across the world, these communities are far from divided, but rather exist entangled with each other. Indigenous people, while often numerical minorities are nonetheless fundamentally different than other ethnic minorities around issues of sovereignty, citizenship and immigration. Postcolonial nations, which were born from fiery revolutionary fervor, now assume the violence of their former colonizers, against indigenous peoples. At the same time, in places such as Central and Latin America, a resurgence of Third World Leftist politics is being accompanied by a resurgence of indigenous populism.

The goal of this conference is to bring scholars and practitioners from each of these disciplines, as well as those who work at the intersections of these disciplines, into conversation with each other, in hopes of finding better ways to address the structures and systems of violence which mark the contemporary world.

Our conference will open with a panel of representatives from different local organizations who will discuss the ways in which San Diego, fits into the theme of the conference by addressing issues related to immigration and borders, militarization, and local Native American tribes.

The conference is made possible through support from the following UCSD offices, departments and programs: Dean of Social Sciences, California Cultures in Comparative Perspective, Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor, Graduate Student Association, The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and the Departments of Ethnic Studies, History, Visual Arts and Literature.


What: “Postcolonial Futures in a Not Yet Postcolonial World: Locating the Intersections of Ethnic, Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies”
Time and Place: Wednesday to Friday, March 5-7, 2008. Social Sciences Building and the Institute of the Americas Complex, University of California, San Diego
Admission: Free and Open to the Public

For more information please contact Michael Lujan Bevacqua at futures0308@gmail.com.

Keynote Speakers:
Angana Chatterji, California Institute of Integral Studies
Denise da Silva, University of California, San Diego
Vicente Diaz, University of Michigan
Jesse Mills, University of San Diego
Renya Ramirez, University of California, Santa Cruz
Chandan Reddy, Washington State University

Local Org. Panel:
Louis Guassac, Kumeyaay Border Task Force
Bernice Paipa, Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee
Andrea Guerrero, American Civil Liberties Union
Mshinda Nyofu, UJIMA Institute for Civic Responsibility

Published on Monday, February 11, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
Biofuel Demand Leading to Human Rights Abuses, Report Claims
by Jessica Aldred

EU politicians should reject targets for expanding the use of biofuels because the demand for palm oil is leading to human rights abuses in Indonesia, a coalition of international environmental groups claimed today.

A new report, published by Friends of the Earth and indigenous rights groups LifeMosaic and Sawit Watch, said that increasing demands for palm oil for food and biofuels was causing millions of hectares of forests to be cleared for plantations and destroying the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.

The report, Losing Ground, said many of the 60-90 million people in Indonesia who depend on the forests are losing their land to the palm oil companies.

Pollution from pesticides, fertilisers and the pressing process is also leaving some villages without clean water.

“The unsustainable expansion of Indonesia’s palm oil industry is leaving many indigenous communities without land, water or adequate livelihoods. Previously self-sufficient communities find themselves in debt or struggling to afford education and food. Traditional customs and culture are being damaged alongside Indonesia’s forests and wildlife,” the report reads.

It claims that oil palm companies often use violent tactics as they move in to convert the land to plantations.

“Human rights - including the right to water, to health, the right to work, cultural rights and the right to be protected from ill-treatment and arbitrary arrest - are being denied in some communities.

“If palm oil is to be produced sustainably, the damaging effects of unjust policies and practices in the Indonesian plantation sector must be addressed,” the report said.

The alleged human rights abuses come after several recent reports have highlighted the environmental problems caused by the conversion of land for farming palm oil.

Last week a study by the University of Minnesota and Nature Conservancy, published in Science, found that the carbon lost through the clearance of forests, peat lands or even grasslands far outweighs the greenhouse gas savings that can come from biofuels.

Conversion of land for corn, sugarcane, palm oil or soybeans released 17 to 420 times more carbon than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels with bioethanol or biodiesel, the researchers said.

Last month the Commons environmental audit committee called for a moratorium on targets for the use of biofuels until their impact could be better assessed.

The EU currently wants biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel to make up 10% of transport fuel by 2020. Britain has a separate target of 5% of biofuels in petrol and diesel by 2010.

In its energy directive last month, the commission proposed the introduction of sustainability criteria because of fears about the environmental impact of growing fuel crops.

But Friends of the Earth and LifeMosaic said the targets would drive a huge increase in palm oil in Indonesia, adding there were plans for a further 20m hectares of plantations by 2020 - an area the size of England, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined.

Friends of the Earth biofuels campaigner, Hannah Griffiths, said: “As well as being bad for the environment, biofuels from palm oil are a disaster for people.

“MEPs should listen to the evidence and use the forthcoming debate on this in the European parliament to reject the 10% target.

“Instead of introducing targets for more biofuels the EU should insist that all new cars are designed to be super-efficient.

“The UK government must also take a strong position against the 10% target in Europe and do its bit to reduce transport emissions by improving public transport and making it easier for people to walk and cycle,” she added.

© 2008 The Guardian