University of Montana to host summer institute on indigenous studies

Press release

MISSOULA — The University of Montana will host a National Endowment for the Humanities 2015 Summer Institute titled “Indigenous Literary Studies through Global Conversations” June 22-July 17. The tuition-free, four-week professional development institute will provide high school teachers and advanced graduate students with increased knowledge of indigenous people from those peoples’ perspectives.

For application guidelines visit the institute’s website at http://indigenouslit.org. Applications are due no later than March 2.

The institute seeks to engage participants in cross-cultural comparisons between and among indigenous people with further emphasis on civil discourse between indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Institute participants will study the Salish people of Montana through their expressive cultures — literatures, oral traditions and film — and broaden their intellectual inquiry to include the Kiowas of Oklahoma, Samis of northern Norway and Alaska Natives.

The institute was made possible through a $190,119 grant from the NEH awarded to Kathryn Shanley of the Native American Studies department and Phyllis Ngai of the Department of Communication Studies. It is designed to respond to the NEH’s Bridging Cultures initiative. Participants will study the historical, cultural and social contexts for the respective indigenous literatures through a framework provided by Montana’s constitutionally mandated Indian Education for All initiative.

For more information about the institute email Ngai or Shanley at [email protected] or call 406-243-5832.