Faculty Director, Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative

Description

Brown University seeks an accomplished scholar to serve as Faculty Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative (NAISI), in partnership with an Executive Director and supported by a Steering Committee of NAISI faculty and a staff.

During a period of exciting growth and expansion, we look forward to welcoming an inaugural Faculty Director, beginning July 2022, who will provide the intellectual leadership and vision to help us create a dynamic and leading academic program in Critical Native American and Indigenous Studies. By contributing to the scholarly field of NAIS and by engaging with Native American/Indigenous communities that currently define the field of NAIS, this position will help transform Brown’s program in the coming years as it continues to grow, innovate and lead the field.

The Initiative was established in 2016 to integrate the strong constellation of interests at Brown in Native American and Indigenous Studies among students, faculty and administrators across a number of departments. These efforts are supported by an exceptional array of resources for research, teaching and study, student organizations, and increased engagement with Native American tribes and communities in the region.  The Initiative contributes to the university’s goals for greater excellence under its Building on Distinction strategic plan and Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP).  In 2019 NAISI was awarded a Mellon Foundation grant to help establish a concentration (i.e., major) in Native American and Indigenous Studies at Brown. A future trajectory will include developing a center that will serve as the focus of research, programming, student engagement and community convenings.

The Faculty Director will be a tenured member of the Brown faculty and work collaboratively with fellow faculty, students, departments, centers and administrative offices across the university. Working closely with the Executive Director and the faculty Steering Committee, NAISI’s Faculty Director will articulate and advance a vision in Native American and Indigenous Studies and oversee significant resources to support the goals of the Initiative, in partnership with the Executive Director (who oversees the administrative, logistical, staffing, budget management and outreach components of NAISI, working with colleagues and tribal partners across the University and region).

The Faculty Director will also provide leadership at the university in the areas of academic engagement, research and teaching in NAIS, and contribute to increased engagement with Tribal and Indigenous communities, with support from a small staff in NAISI (including a Tribal Community Member in Residence) and in their home department. Contributions to NAISI will include mentoring and professional support of graduate students, developing faculty and student seminar and workshop series, advancing the developing undergraduate concentration in Critical Native American and Indigenous Studies, and helping to develop a Native American and Indigenous Research and Cultural Center on campus. Academic and community engagement with Tribal and Indigenous partners and fundraising will also be integral components of the Faculty Director position.

Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown

NAISI is an interdisciplinary group of administrators, faculty, staff and students committed to teaching and research that explores, and increases understandings of, the historical and contemporary cultural traditions and practices, political experiences and issues connected to Indigenous peoples. Currently with a hemispheric focus, we seek to include a more global engagement in our courses, research and Indigenous partnerships.

The interdisciplinary Initiative includes faculty members and postdoctoral fellows from a range of disciplines: American and Ethnic Studies; Anthropology; Environmental Studies; History; Religion; Music; Theater and Performance Studies; Cognitive; Linguistic and Psychological Sciences; Development Studies; Portuguese and Brazilian Studies; Hispanic Studies; International Affairs and Law; and Behavioral and Social Sciences/Public Health. We also work closely with the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, the John Carter Brown Library and the Brown University Library, as well as other centers across campus (such as the Center for the Study of Sl