Indigenous and Native American students may now study their heritages. The Native American and Indigenous Students Group said the university began addressing indigenous peoples’ concerns by creating a new native and indigenous studies minor.

NAISG long advocated for this, since there are currently no indigenous studies programs in New York City, despite it having the largest indigenous population of any city in the U.S.

NAISG worked for this new minor with the Native Studies Forum — a collaborative student and faculty organization started in 2006 —  but it was met with many challenges, such as a lack funding.

Gallatin adjunct professor Amalia Cordova, is a founding member of NSF, and she said the financial situation made it difficult for staff and students to rally around the effort.

“Because it’s not a center, and it’s not a paid position for the chair of the Native Studies Forum, it’s not a priority for anybody,”
Cordova said.

However, the program finally received attention when it was added to last year’s Black and Brown Coalition list of demands. It then piqued the interest of CAS Dean Gabrielle Starr, who advocated for the effort on an administrative level.

NAISG co-president and GLS junior Taylor Norman said that she and the rest of the NAISG team are very optimistic about the creation of this minor and expect it to form within a semester or two.

“It will take at least two years to get a major formed,” Norman said. “But right now [faculty members are] gathering up all the native and indigenous studies courses that NYU offers and compiling that into a minor.”

Both NAISG and the NSF hope this will lead to creating an entire center or space for indigenous student life. While a course of study within the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis is a great first step, they also worry the program might
be mismanaged.

NAISG co-president and SPS junior Khaila Moke-Sakamoto said that is because the organization is the closest thing NYU has to a center of Native American and indigenous student life, so she would like to see more student groups like this emerge on campus.

“We’re not exclusive, so other people who want to be allies and get involved or know more are all welcomed,” Moke-Sakamoto said. “I think the important thing is having our group as a place for students to come whenever they need support. Our main goal is to have an entire department for native studies.”

Cordova said that a multifaceted concept such as indigenous studies is interconnected with discussions of religion, culture, language and identity and deserves a space more like Africa or Deutsche House.

“I favor it becoming its own thing even if it’s small,” Cordova said. “Indigenous studies is the study of the world, it’s not a social science, it’s not art, it shouldn’t be subject to the classic Western division of knowledge of the world.”

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Nov. 7 print edition. Email Raven Quesenberry at [email protected].