Yale Native American studies slowly growing

By Joshua Marks

Participants, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, addressed a variety of issues including "How should Native American culture be represented and to what audiences?" and "Is NAS a separate discipline from other cognate disciplines, such as American and ethnic studies?"

The Yale College Programs of Study lists only two classes focusing on NAS, both of which are taught by Weaver, and there is only one student organization for Native American on campus, the relatively small Association of Native Americans at Yale (ANAAY).

Though ANAAY may be small, "It's definitely become a stronger community," according to Ananda Drake, BR '98, who is of Native American descent. Approximately 11 of the 53 Yale students who registered as Native Americans on their admissions application regularly attend the ANAAY meetings. Drake noted that both Weaver and Richard Chazolla, dean of Native American and Chicano students, have showed support for the organization.

Yale's selection of courses in the field of NAS pales in comparison to that of some other Ivy League schools. Cornell, Dartmouth, and Harvard all have NAS programs. Since 1972, Dartmouth has also had an NAS major, a support program for Native American students, a student organization which holds a pow wow every year, and a Native American Council that sponsors national conferences. None of these universities, however, has its own NAS department. The University of California at Davis boasts the only such department in the country.

NAS programs across the country share certain fundamental problems. According to Professor Colin Calloway, director of NAS at Dartmouth, these programs are often plagued by a lack of institutional funding, misrepresentation, and the relatively small number of Native Americans in academia.

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, professor emerita at Eastern Washington University, believes that "there's a great deal of hostility in academics toward NAS as an academic discipline." Lara Neel, a Cherokee freshman at Amherst College, agreed. She said that one of her history professors at Amherst essentially told her that "the only reason why Native Americans exist is for gambling."

Lara Neel's sister, Lisa Neel, DC '01, believes that Yale's curriculum could profit from a NAS major. "I think it's something that would clearly benefit [Yale]," she said.

Other interdisciplinary studies which have faced similar struggles have grown in recent years. Most Ivy League schools, for instance, have African American studies majors, and many are forming women's studies majors. Dartmouth Professor Dale Turner believes the main reason this is that "women, and especially African Americans, have been fighting for a long time to be included. Native Americans have been fighting to be separate." He noted that lately, "we [Native Americans] are creating the intellectual space within the dominant culture."

Yale and other Ivy League universities seem to be creating environments which would foster the establishment and growth of NAS programs. "We have tremendous resources," Weaver said. There is a considerable number of Native American documents and artifacts in the Peabody Museum. The Beinecke Library houses the collection of Felix Cohen, a former Yale professor who is the father of modern federal Indian law. In addition, professors Alan Trachtenberg, Jay Gitlin, and John Mack Faragher have either done research or taught courses relating to NAS.

More universities are now taking an interest in NAS. "You wouldn't have had a conference like this three or four years ago," San Diego State University Professor Alan Kilpatrick commented. "By fostering NAS at Yale, we hope to add a new major presence in the East," Weaver explained. He does not, however, envision a separate NAS major at Yale in the foreseeable future.

Nevertheless, professors and students believe that Yale is taking more interest in the field. Noting last year's appointment of Weaver, Lara Neel said, "We're building momentum toward improving." As for the state of NAS across the country, Calloway said, "There is a lot of progress being made, but it's a long, slow curve."

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