Recognizing the need to support and amplify Native American and Indigenous voices across all University of Miami (UM) campuses, our goal is to provide ongoing and varied opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and the University community at large, to consider the complex histories, lived experiences, and perspectives of Native peoples in relation to diverse areas of knowledge and, more importantly, to their own lives.
NAGIS developed out of an understanding that indigeneity comprises a compendium of social, political, and cultural realities and identifications with concrete implications for UM, South Florida, the Americas, and the world. Our commitment to anti-racism and social justice includes acknowledging and addressing the land theft, genocide, ethnocide, cultural erasure, and diverse sociopolitical challenges that Indigenous populations have faced in the US and globally. To this end, NAGIS brings together scholars, staff, and students from many schools and colleges to work together and in collaboration with Indigenous peoples locally, nationally, and internationally.
During AY 2020-21, the NAGIS Working Group is hosting a series of roundtable discussions with local, national, and international Indigenous scholars, activists, and artists; fostering new forms of UM engagement with Indigenous South Florida; and establishing a specialized, digital portal for scholarly, social, and creative resources related to a wide variety of Native American and Indigenous issues. We aim to provide visibility, coordination, and support for students, faculty, and staff working in all areas of knowledge while building the structures necessary to institute programmatic teaching and research in Native American and Indigenous studies across our institution.
Finally, NAGIS is working to connect scholarly, social, and creative matters of interest and concern in and to Indigenous South Florida—ranging from sovereignty and language preservation, to climate change and diverse forms of cultural production—to related interests and concerns among Native peoples across the hemisphere and around the globe. All are welcome to join these efforts.
For more information or to join our mailing list, please contact us at: nagis@miami.edu.
