News

• [Democracy Now] As COVID Surges in L.A., Hard-Hit Indigenous Communities Fight to Preserve Life, Culture & Language
  

  As Los Angeles County reports record COVID-19 infections, overflowing hospitals and record death tolls, we look at how Indigenous communities there are among the hardest hit in working-class neighborhoods, where many are essential workers. “Indigenous people, we don’t have the privilege to stay home and not go to work,” says Odilia Romero, co-founder and executive … Read more



• Honoring the passing of Julia Bogany
  

  On behalf of the American Indian Studies Center, the AIS IDP, and the Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American and Indigenous Issues, we write with our deep condolences and to honor the passing of Julia Bogany, who joined the ancestors this past weekend. Julia was a Tongva cultural educator, innovative teacher, appointed cultural … Read more



• [PRIME from the Daily Bruin] On Tovaangar
  

  BY RANIA SOETIRTO // ART BY LAUREN MAN Spring 2021 “People of the land.” The natural setting of Kuruvungna Springs feels as if it resists LA’s urban landscape. Tucked between tight asphalt streets and a high school football field, the entrance to the springs sits between rows of buildings and apartment complexes of West LA. … Read more



• [Brookings] Missed opportunities to understand racism in the COVID-19 era
  

  Randall Akee and KJ Ward Thursday, May 13, 2021 Recent events have made clear the pervasive and continuing animus towards various race and ethnic groups in the U.S. The current COVID-19 epidemic has become the latest impetus for acting on old biases of “otherness” or not belonging towards Asians and baselessly holding them responsible for … Read more



• Professor Nancy Marie Mithlo Receives 2021 Chancellor’s Arts Initiative Grant
  

  Congratulations to Professor Nancy Marie Mithlo is a grant recipient of the 2021 Chancellor’s Arts Initiative! The Chancellor’s Council on the Arts and the Office for Research and Creative Activities are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 Chancellor’s Arts Initiative. The grant awards support projects from 12 UCLA faculty members, which range in … Read more



• Dr. Christine Samuel-Nakamura wins Best Poster at 2021 WIN Conference
  

  Congratulations to the 2021 WIN Poster Award Recipients! Dr. Christine Samuel-Nakamura, Assistant Professor, was awarded the “BEST POSTER” at the recent 2021 WIN conference held in April. Her poster was titled: Emergency Department Utilization in the Female Homeless Population in LA



• Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act
  

  Help support the STOP Act: Problem. Tribes have long faced illegal trafficking in their tribal cultural heritage items, which are essential to their religious and cultural practices and identities. Many dealers know that, once they export such items abroad, the federal government and tribes have little power to secure their repatriation. Congress through the PROTECT … Read more



• [UCLA Newsroom] 8 UCLA professors elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  

  Dear AISC friends and family, Everyone, please join me in congratulating our collaborators, Kelly Lytle Hernandez and Victoria Sork, along with the other UCLA colleagues elected to the AAAS! Dr. Shannon Speed (Chickasaw) Professor, Gender Studies and Anthropology Director, American Indian Studies Center UCLA Past President, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) 2019-2020 Stuart … Read more



• Native Bruins: Past, Present & Emerging – Heather Torres
  

  This April we are highlighting Native Bruin Heather Torres, a citizen of the San Ildefonso Pueblo, who also comes from the Diné and Mexican peoples. A graduate of 2011 with a BA in English and American Indian Studies, cum laude, and a 2017 JD, specialization in Critical Race Studies. A “Bruin4Life,” Heather Torres Esq. is … Read more



• [NPR] Randy Akee interviewed on “Relief for Native Americans will go beyond expanded vaccine distribution”
  

  Native Americans have been among the hardest hit by COVID-19. They have been more than three times as likely to get the virus as white Americans. In response to the crisis, many tribal communities pushed their efforts and are reporting high vaccination rates. On top of that, the most recent COVID-19 relief bill, which was … Read more