Throughout the world, ethnic minorities and Indigenous people have strived to protect their rich heritages and linguistic characteristics against colonial powers, expanding nation-states, as well as the homogenizing forces of globalization. It is increasingly being recognized, exemplified by UNESCO’s “Indigenous Languages Decade” (2022-2032) (https://en.unesco.org/idil2022-2032), that Indigenous languages and the epistemologies embedded in them are fundamental for the perseverance of biological and cultural diversities. The protection and promotion of linguistic diversity help to improve the human potential, agency, and local governance of native speakers of endangered languages, which is especially critical in the face of climate change and environmental degradation.
About Indigenous Studies
The History of the Network
The idea to the Indigenous Studies network sprang from a speaker series “Indigenous East Asia” in Fall 2021, organized by the East Asian Studies Center. The program quickly snowballed into having a global perspective through the involvement of the seven National Resource Centers in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.The Indigenous Studies network aims at bringing together scholars, activists, and policy makers to address questions of indigeneity from various disciplinary and regional perspectives and larger issues of identity formation, social agency, cultural resilience, and ethnicity in global and national policies.
Land Acknowledgement
We wish to acknowledge and honor the Indigenous communities native to this region and recognize that Indiana University Bloomington is built on Indigenous homelands and resources. We recognize the myaamiaki, Lënape, Bodwéwadmik, and saawanwa people as the past, present, and future caretakers of this land. For more information, please visit the IU First Nations Educational & Cultural Center.
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies