The UCLA American Indian Studies Center is excited to share the promotion of Dr. Ananda Marin to Associate Professor with tenure at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies. Dr. Marin is also an affiliated faculty with the American Indian Studies Center and Chair of the American Indian Studies Center Faculty Advisory Committee 2021-22. Congratulations, … Read more
Op-Ed on UCOP NAOP written by UCLA Professors Randall Akee, Paul Ong, Desi Small-Rodriguez and UC Berkeley Director of Native American Student Development Phenocia Bauerle. The University of California system is one of the largest and most prestigious post-secondary educational institutions in the country. Its beginnings 170 years ago were as fraught as they were … Read more
Out on the sunny patio at Wahpepah’s Kitchen, sizzling plates of bison and deer make their way down a table filled with Native American educators from across the country. The game meat joins other indigenous dishes on the kitchen’s menu, such as leafy salads topped with striped red corn and blue corn mush sweetened with … Read more
Christoper Soto, Assistant Director of Development for the Institute of American Cultures, gives an interview on his debut collection, “Diaries of a Terrorist” with the LA Times! By André Naffis-Sahely Christopher Soto is the living embodiment of the best poetry being written in Los Angeles right now: queer, punk, pro-migrant, irrepressibly rousing and political, with … Read more
The Interior Department documented more than 500 deaths of Indigenous children, but it’s far from a complete count. “We have a long way to go,” one expert said. At least 500 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died while attending Indian boarding schools run or supported by the U.S. government, a highly anticipated … Read more
Native American Indigenous artist and UCLA alumna Mercedes Dorame will deliver the keynote address at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture’s 2022 commencement on Saturday, June 11th at 4 p.m. This will be the first commencement ceremony to be held in-person since 2019. Dorame is a member of the Tongva people, and her heritage … Read more
Tujunga, Topanga and Cahuenga Three names from California Native Americans remain on big Valley streets — Tujunga, Topanga and Cahuenga. Tujunga is a tidy avenue from Universal City to Sun Valley, its name altered from the Tongvan language “tuhuunga,” meaning “place of the old woman.” This was per UCLA’s emeritus linguistics prof and Native American … Read more
Tribal communities in Arizona and Utah face environmental problems connected to the same radioactive resource: uranium. In White Mesa, Utah, at America’s last uranium mill, a pool of toxic waste is emitting dangerous amounts of radon to the surrounding communities, among them the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. This isn’t news: In November 2021, High Country … Read more
Native bruin – Past Present and Emerging This May we are highlighting Native Bruin James Riding In (Pawnee), class of 1985 and 1991. James Riding In retired from Arizona State University in May 2021. He received an A.A. degree in general education from Haskell Indian Junior College (now Haskell Indian Nations University, (1974), a baccalaureate … Read more
UCLA will offer students the opportunity to join a new Living Learning Community focused on the Native American and Pasifika student experience beginning in the fall. Sponsored by both the American Indian Student Association and the Pacific Islands’ Student Association, the American Indian and Pacific Islander LLC will be housed in the west half of … Read more