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The past twenty-five years have witnessed an explosion in research, publications, and popular interest in Native American Studies. Native American Studies programs and courses have proliferated around the country. In most colleges and universities, however, Native American Studies courses are restricted to a very few disciplines and Native American Studies programs sometimes remain "ghettoized" and feel marginalized. Non-Native students usually take courses in Native American Studies as a kind of special interest elective; they do not normally encounter Native American issues as recurrent features in their college curricula.
As Native American Studies has expanded in the last generation, we need to consider developing new areas and approaches in our programs and in the courses we offer. At the very least, we need to ask ourselves whether the courses we teach, the issues we raise, and the approaches we take are still the most relevant, appropriate and stimulating for Native and non-Native students. By bringing together directors of Native Studies programs from across the United States and Canada, this conference highlighted the multi-disciplinary basis of Native American Studies; assembled in one place a tremendous pool of talent and experience in initiating, running, and teaching NAS programs; and offered a unique forum for the exchange of ideas and information from different regions and institutions throughout North America.
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