Arizona State University American Indian Initiative

[conceptual design underway; programmatic design: 2003; program expansion: 2003-2004]

Arizona State University will gather and empower a large cohort of scholars focused on American Indian culture, social and economic issues. The cohort will lay the ground work for positioning Arizona State University as the leading academic institution in the nation in the heretofore undeveloped area of intellectual discourse in matters related to American Indian culture and its implications in the context of the broader American culture.

The presence of a critical mass of scholars encourages constructive dialogue and the evolution of a given sphere of inquiry. It is all the more essential in a developing field such as American Indian studies. The initiative will encourage scholars from a spectrum of disciplines to offer differing perspectives. Teaching and research related to American Indian culture has been underway at Arizona State University for decades, but the American Indian initiative will prove transformational in the development of the field, and confirm the university’s commitment to programs that are socially relevant.

Of particular interest to me is the discussion of enhancing cultural understanding and cultural linkages between the larger, broader general American cultural and the American Indian cultures of Arizona and the Southwest.