Issue 23: Connections in Practice

Issue 23, “Connections in Practice,” highlights work conducted during the Mellon Foundation-sponsored, multiyear “Environmental Stewardship, Place, and Community Initiative.” As Phyllis Mauch Messenger notes in her Introduction to the issue, “...a group of faculty began with the question, ‘What might the impact be if a major research university were to center Indigenous methodologies and approaches in humanities scholarship?’ The answer is revealed in the articles in this issue.” The contents of the issue transcend humanities scholarship, touching on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, policy issues such as what obligations are entailed on the University from its location on Indigenous land, and the work of students in conducting research and teaching. As the issue’s title suggests, there is a strong emphasis here on the practices of creating and sharing knowledge, practices which are collaborative and take into account community knowledge as well as perspectives originating from academia. 

Two other attributes of this journal issue merit special consideration. One, as Messenger states so eloquently in her introduction, is that most of the authors are Indigenous. The journal has a longstanding commitment to highlighting Indigenous voices and perspectives, and “Now, with Issue 23, “Connections in Practice,” a majority of the authors—faculty, staff, and students—are enrolled members or descendants of Tribes and Nations from throughout North America. They represent a growing cohort of university faculty and other professionals who work in two worlds, creating networks, honoring their traditional ways of knowing and being, while also nudging their non-indigenous colleagues to expand their own worldviews.” The second important fact about this issue and the work it discusses is that all three University of Minnesota campuses that have American Indian Studies programs–Twin Cities, Duluth, and Morris–are strongly represented. The work described here is indeed a start at institutional change.