American Indian communities in the Carolinas focus of WFU workshop

The free, public workshop, which will be held at the university’s Museum of Anthropology, offers an introduction to contemporary issues affecting American Indian communities in the Carolinas. Participants will be introduced to the history and present status of North Carolina’s eight tribal nations and the Catawba Nation in South Carolina.

Leaders for the workshop include:

• Barbara Locklear, a Lumbee cultural educator and traditional storyteller.
• Arnold “Tsa’ne Do’se” Richardson, a Haliwa-Saponi gourd carver, sculptor and renowned flutist and composer of traditional and contemporary American Indian music. Among his seven CDs, his 2002 “Spirit and Soul” received a national award.
• Rosa Winfree, a retired Lumbee community educator; past chair of the Lumbee Tribal Council; past chair of the board of directors for Catching the Dream National Indian Scholarship Fund and the North Carolina Indian Cultural Center; and founder of American Indian Women Inc.

The workshop is part of a summer seminar offered by Wake Forest’s humanities program and the American ethnic studies program titled “American Indian Sovereignty in Interdisciplinary Perspective.” The seminar, which runs from June 13-30, is designed to explore the central role that sovereignty has played in the process of American Indian nation building. As part of the seminar, participants are encouraged to collaborate on projects relevant to American Indian sovereignty issues in North Carolina and the Southeast.

David E. Wilkins, professor and chair of American Indian studies and an adjunct professor of political science, law and American studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, will lead the seminar at Wake Forest.

Wilkins, a Lumbee, has written several books and numerous articles dealing with the political/legal relationship between indigenous nations and the United States and state governments. He is the author of “American Indian Politics and the American Political System,” “American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court,” “Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law” and “Tribes, Treaties & Constitutional Tribulations.”

For additional information about the workshop, call the Museum of Anthropology at 336-758-5282. For information about the summer seminar, contact Ulrike Wiethaus, professor in the humanities program, at wiethaus@wfu.edu or 336-758-7169.

The workshop and the seminar are sponsored by Wake Forest’s humanities program, Museum of Anthropology and Pro Humanitate Center, a project of the Lilly Endowment. The seminar is also supported by the Wake Forest Office of Student Development.