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Chokma AISC Friends and Family,

Chokma! October is always an exciting month for us, as we launch a new academic year, welcome students to UCLA, and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, among other things. This month is packed with exciting events—please see below for details. While we miss welcoming our students physically to campus, we will welcome them virtually this year, and look forward to the time when we can all be together on campus again.

In the meantime, one positive change we have noticed in the virtual setting is that we have much greater community participation in our events. We’ll be looking for ways to ensure that we continue this happy trend once we return to some campus-based programming.

Chokma’shki/many thanks to all who contributed to our student COVID assistance fundraising. We are happy to have been able to support many UCLA graduate and undergraduate Indigenous students in this time of many challenges.

This month, we’ll be launching our long-awaited Hate Crime Map project, an open- access reporting platform for those experiencing discrimination and hate-related incidents. Stay tuned for more information!

There will no doubt be ongoing challenges this year with the elections in November, COVID continuing to pose health risks, climate change-driven wildfires, and financial hardship affecting so many. We are proud of the way the Indigenous community on campus (or remotely!) has pulled together to support each other, and we feel certain that this community will stand strong in the face of these challenges.

The AISC is also proud to be active in ongoing discussions and actions on campus around issues of racial justice. This is part of our heritage, as a center born of social struggle in 1969, and social and racial justice issues remain the driving force of our center today. We are honored to continue this work, contributing to the campus conversation in important ways. As we all know, Indigenous people have a unique and significant contribution to make.

Chinchokma’ni sabanna/Wishing you health,

Shannon Speed
Director, UCLA American Indian Studies Center

For up to date information on the COVID-19 outbreak, please access: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/coronavirus-information-for-the-ucla-campus-community

UCLA acknowledges the Tongva People

AISC at UCLA acknowledges the Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands) and are grateful to have the opportunity to work for the Taraaxatom (indigenous peoples) in this place. As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to Honuukvetam (Ancestors), 'Ahiihirom (Elders), and 'Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/ relations) past, present and emerging.

EVENTS FROM THE AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES CENTER

NATIVE BRUINS: PAST PRESENT & EMERGING

Dr. Foremost, I am a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo and a graduate from Haskell Indian Nations University. I hold an M.A. from UCLA in American Indian Studies with an emphasis on contemporary tribal cultural property protections. I am a very active member within my home community. My intentions are to break the historical barriers that are associated with Native students—so that a new generation can see themselves (fully) succeeding in prestigious institutions of higher education, working on Native-specific research.

I started my career in higher education as an assistant OMBUDS and Native Liaison at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where I established a long-term foundation for UNLV’s leadership to collaborate with national, regional, and tribal Indian educational initiatives in the state of Nevada.

Prior to arriving at UC Berkeley, I also served as the Resource Coordinator for the UNLV Intersection, Academic Multicultural Resource Center. In that role, I was instrumental in developing and implementing campus-wide strategies to enhance the academic outcomes of students and establish strong Native American engagement. One of the projects that I am most proud of in the state of Nevada is working on the cultural areas associated with both Gold Butte and Basin & Range Monuments. I am now at UC Berkeley as the Director for the American Indian Graduate Program. I recently invited Professor Angela Riley and Professor Walter Echohawk to highlight my new efforts at Berkeley for Native students.

“Attending UCLA was one of the most reinforcing experiences I have had as a Native student, considering where I started from in Northern New Mexico on the reservation. The mentorship I received at UCLA allowed me to feel confident in my leadership. I feel that as a Native man, I have a responsibility to my home community in Santa Clara Pueblo and to our youth. I want younger people to know that attending graduate school is always attainable, even if they don't have a lot to start with. One of my proudest moments was graduating with the ‘AIS Cohortness’ at UCLA along with my family, culture, and community.”

UCLA AMERICA INDIAN CULTURE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL

NEW PLATFORM LAUNCHES OCTOBER 6TH

On October 6, 2020, the online American Indian Culture and Research Journal (AICRJ) is launching its new website on the Meridian platforms. The new URL https://meridian.allenpress.com/aicrj, but you can still access the journal using the previous URL, https://uclajournals.org/.

If you are a subscriber, note that you must change your password. You should have received an email from Publications Assistant Cheyenne Suzukawa (editorial-assist@aisc.ucla.edu) with instructions explaining how to reset your passwords and asking you to send updated IP lists.

Tech Support: If you experience access problems, the new tech support address is meridiansupport@allenpress.com.

We hope you enjoy the ease and extra features of the new platform, which include:

• Mobile-responsive web design
• Optional split-screen reading experience
• Suggested articles based on browser history, saved searches, alerts and notifications

Please feel free to reach out to Managing Editor Pamela Grieman at grieman@ad.ucla.edu with any questions or comments.

NEW FROM AICRJ! FRAUD IN NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

Available online on October 6th at https:// meridian.allenpress.com/aicrj, this provocative new special issue of the American Indian Culture and Research Journal (vol. 43, no. 4) exposes the fraudulent claims of “faux Indians.” Emphasizing adoption of Native identities by artists in particular, this volume features a variety of academics and creative arts practitioners committed to creating a space for discussion of purposeful deception; its commercial, ethical, political, and social impacts; and the resulting multiple harms to Native communities. Print subscribers will receive their copies by October 30th.

American Indian Studies Center Publications

The Center's publications unit operates as a small independent press, one of the few that prizes Native voices in works of creative writing, community handbooks, and academic publications. Our flagship publication is the American Indian Culture and Research Journal (AICRJ), which has been recognized as one of the leading serial publications on Native American life and issues. In addition to publishing works on contemporary and historical American Indian issues, law, and politics, the press publishes books of plays, poetry, and fiction.

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