The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue: Voices and Images from Sherman Institute, is now available for pre-order. You can pre-order the book from several venues, including Oregon State University Press ($24.95) and Amazon ($22.52). Royalties from the book will go to support educational programs at the Sherman Indian Museum in Riverside, California. The Indian School on Magnolia Avenue is scheduled to appear this December.
I recently co-edited a book (with Clifford E. Trafzer and Lorene Sisquoc) on Sherman Institute. It will appear soon with Oregon State University Press. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover. The cover depicts a Navajo student reading a book entitled “Peter’s Family” (1930s). We uncovered this photo at the Sherman Indian Museum archive in Riverside, California. The title of the photo is “See How We Read.”
If you have a minute, be sure to visit Debbie Reese’s blog post where she writes at length about “Peter’s Family.” The photo was taken during the school’s Special Five-Year Navajo Program (late 1940s and 1950s). Jon Ille, an advanced Ph.D. student in history at UC Riverside, wrote a chapter in our book about this Program. I’ll write more about the anthology as the book’s launch date (Fall 2012) gets closer.
This week Victor Masayesva, Jr., from Hotevilla spent time at the University of Illinois. He is in the process of making a hemispheric film on indigenous corn. On Wednesday I went with Masayesva and my colleagues in American Indian Studies Robert Warrior and John McKinn to look at a university field (see below) that we are using for the film. In the photo above, Masayesva is talking to me about where to place different varieties of corn, including Hopi and “modern” corn, which will be planted in the plot. Planting will begin soon. Masayesva’s visit also coincided with a workshop on campus titled “Corn and Indigenous Communities in the Americas.” I’ll write more about the film as the project unfolds.
Education beyond the Mesas has been nominated for NAISA’s first best book in Native and Indigenous Studies prize for 2010. Regardless of the election outcome, I am honored by this nomination and grateful for your support. If you are a member of NAISA, you can vote for one of several great first books (including my colleague Vince Diaz’s book Repositioning the Missionary) at the following website: http://naisa.org/election-2012
Just so you know, the election ends April 2, 2012, at 23:50 PST. The winner will be announced at this year’s NAISA conference at Mohegan Sun in Uncaseville, CT (June 3-6, 2012).
On Friday November 4 at 12:00 noon at the University of Illinois Native American House, I will give a presentation titled “Hopi Runners and the American Sport Republic, 1908-1912.” The lecture will focus on Hopi runners, Louis Tewanima and Washington Talayamtewa (Talyumptewa), who competed for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School track team between 1908 and 1912. Both runners were from the village of Shungopavi on Second Mesa. The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided. Click here for additional information.
On Friday October 28 at 4PM, the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Illinois will host a book reception in the Author’s Corner (2nd floor) of the Illini Union Bookstore. I am scheduled to talk about Education beyond the Mesas. My AIS colleagues, Jodi A. Byrd, Vicente M. Diaz, and Robert Dale Parker, will also present on their publications. The gathering is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For those who live in the Champaign-Urbana area, it would be great to see you at this event!
Yesterday evening I discovered that the First Peoples New Directions in Indigenous Studies initiative featured BEYOND THE MESAS on their blog! If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out their website.
Their blog is a wonderful resource for those who want to stay informed about the latest books on indigenous studies, with an emphasis on books published by the University of Arizona Press, University of North Carolina Press, University of Minnesota Press, and Oregon State University Press.
One of the books that they recently highlighted was Jodi Byrd’s The Transit of Empire: Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism (University of Minnesota Press, 2011), which is due to come out in just a short few weeks. Jodi is my colleague and good friend at the University of Illinois.
Again, many thanks to Natasha Varner, Program Coordinator for the initiative, for spreading the word about BEYOND THE MESAS and other Native authored blogs!
Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
I am pleased to announce that Education beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 (University of Nebraska Press, 2010) is temporarily available for free download through Project MUSE.
It has always been my desire that people on and off the Hopi Reservation will have access to my research, and the University of Nebraska Press’s decision to allow my book to be featured on Project MUSE, is a major step in that direction.
However, free access to Education beyond the Mesas via Project MUSE will only last until January 2012. See the Project MUSE website for more details.
To download Education beyond the Mesas, please click on the above image or visit the following link: http://beta.muse.jhu.edu/books/9780803234444
Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
Nuvatukya’ovi Sinom Dance Group at 2009 4th of July Parade, Flagstaff, Arizona. Photographs by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
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