DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire will host its first conference on the indigenous people of New England, "First Nations, Lasting Nations: Community and University Partnerships in Indigenous New England," Sept. 17-18, 2010.

The conference will bring together community members and academics to discuss and learn about Native New England history, culture, and language as well as provide an opportunity to explore how university and indigenous community partnerships work. The conference will include formal talks as well as working roundtables on topics from collaborative archaeology to literature to environment. 
"Together, we aim to use this conference as a means for building long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships between UNH and local communities that enhance scholarship at UNH as well as make UNH more responsible to and accessible by local Native communities," said Meghan Howey, assistant professor of anthropology and archaeology. 

Co-sponsored by the University of New Hampshire, Gedakina, Inc., Winter Center for Indigenous Traditions, New Hampshire Humanities Council, and American Studies Association, the conference takes place in the Piscataqua Room of Holloway Commons. It is free and open to the public.

Renowned Native American historian Jean O'Brien (White Earth Ojibwe), professor at University of Minnesota and author of "Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England," will deliver the keynote address at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18. The conference also will include an evening performance with Joseph and Jesse Bruchac (Abenaki) on Friday, Sept. 17. The Bruchacs are well-known community members working to preserve Abenaki language, music and traditional culture.

In addition, the internationally known Seneca painter George Longfish is curating, "Invisible/Visible," an exhibit of contemporary indigenous artists who have lived in New England, in Dimond Library's Special Collection, which will run throughout fall semester.

The complete conference schedule is available at http://www.neculture.org/indigenous/2010/schedule.html. For more information, contact Siobhan Senier, associate professor of English, at ssenier@unh.edu or 603-862-2466.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

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