Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Conference Highlights

I recently attended the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association 2011 Conference that was held at UC Davis in California. It was a great time catching up with my peers from the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona, and of course, meeting a ton of new folks in the field. I chaired a panel that focused on Native blogging. It featured Native Appropriations blogger Adrienne Keene and Not Artomatic blogger Lara Evans. The panel presentations went really well, we got some great questions from the audience, and it was nice to catch up with Lara and meet Adrienne. Here we are after our panel ended:

This year, the NAISA reception was held at the California State Museum, in conjunction with the recently inaugurated exhibit, California Indians: Making A Difference. I scoped it out and found some cool images and objects having to do with adornment. Here's some of what I found:

Jesse Gonzalez III, dancing at the opening of a new health center, 2010. Pomo/Miwok. Courtesy Jesse Gonzalez, Jr.

Hupa Mother and child. Photo by Edward Curtis, 1924.

Hupa man dressed for the white deerskin dance. Photo by Edward Curtis, 1923.

A 'princess' contest at Hupa, 1940s. Photo by Ernest Marshall. Courtesy Bradley Marshall.

German soldiers playing Indian, ca. 1914. Courtesy P. Christiaan Klieger.

Elk antler purse, used to hold dentalium shell money. Yurok, ca. 1970.