Displaced Indigeneity, Unsettling Histories

Displaced Indigeneity, Unsettling Histories

A workshop on the history of the enslavement of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas 

To be held at the University of Glasgow and Online 

June 26, 27 & 28, 2023

This workshop, focusing on Indigenous histories of enslavement and displacement, is one of the first of its kind in the UK, and it aims to bring Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous histories to greater attention of students and researchers and highlight the ways in which these histories have traditionally been sublimated by the majority of historical subdisciplines. This workshop speaks to urgent questions about the exclusion of Indigenous peoples and perspectives from mainstream academic scholarship and aims to promote Indigenous histories in the UK, to address the afterlives of Indigenous enslavement and ongoing process of settler colonialism, and to consider the legacies of these histories today.

We seek to make space for researchers – especially researchers who are Indigenous from postcolonial and contemporary settler states – to discuss the histories and legacies created by forced migrations and the critical fissures created by colonial pasts and presents. This space is intended to bring together historians and interdisciplinary scholars of Indigenous histories, broadly defined, from around the world, and for it to be the start of an ongoing conversation about Indigenous enslavement, displacement, and mobility from pre-invasion and colonisation to their resonances in the present day. 

The workshop includes, in hybrid format, a selection of panels, roundtables, and talks comprised of scholars from across the globe, including Kyle T. Mays (University of California, Los Angeles), author of An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States. We are also pleased to host two outstanding keynote speakers – Andrés Reséndez (University of California, Davis) and Nancy van Deusen (Queen’s University, Canada) – who are among the leading scholars in the field of global Indigenous enslavement studies, especially within the Latin American context. These keynote lectures will be free and open to the public with advanced registration. 

We invite you to attend online. Register here. 

Provisional Programme:

 June 26

 14.00–15.00:   GUIDED TOUR*

Visit of the Curating Discomfort Exhibition, Hunterian Museum, led by Zandra Yeaman, University of Glasgow, UK

 15.00–16.00:   GUIDED TOUR*

Visit of the World Cultures Collection, Kelvingrove Museum, led by Patricia Allan, Glasgow Museums, UK

16.00–17.00:   DISCUSSION & REFLECTION*

"Indigenous Histories in Glasgow’s Museums, Repatriation, and Racial Equity in the UK"

19.00–21.00:   BOOK TALK* – On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe

​​​​​Caroline Dodds Pennock, University of Sheffield, UK (Sponsored by Waterstones)

June 27

11.30–12.30:   Lunch*

12.30–13.00:   INTRODUCTION & WELCOME

13.00–14.00:   PANEL 1 – Indigenous Enslavement & Resettlement in the Long 18th Century

​​​​Chaired by Natalie Joy, Northern Illinois University, US; Noel E. Smyth, Vassar College, US, “Reconstituting Native Presence in Saint Domingue”; Joshua Jeffers, California State University, Dominguez Hills, US, “The Many Paths to Ohio Country: Power and Place-Making in a Shattered World, 1690-1750”; Camden Elliott, Harvard University, US, “Kidnapping a Wampanoag Woman: Indentured Servitude, Unfreedom, and Kin in Native New England, c. 1720”; Chris J. Gismondi, McGill University, CA, “The Life of Bob: Enslaved Indigenous Life in North America and Britain, 1764-1766”

14.00–14.15:   Break

14.15–15.45:   PANEL 2 – Displacement & Categorial Violence in the 19th & 20th Centuries 

Chaired by Sydney Beckmann (Cherokee Descent), University of Arizona, US; Jennifer Adese (Otipemisiwak/Métis), University of Toronto Mississauga, CA, “’Not True Indians’: Categorial Violence and the Material Displacement of the Papaschase Band”; Laurie Arnold (Sinixt Band, Colville Confederated Tribes), Gonzaga University, US, “Failed Erasure: The Sinixt People of Canada”; Kerri J. Malloy (Yurok/Karuk), San José State University, US, “Displaced Indigeneity: Manifest Destiny’s Legacy of Trauma”; Angela Pulley Hudson, Texas A&M University, US, “’Seeing the Indians’: Apache POWs in the 19th-Century Native South”

15.45–16.00:   Break

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​16.00–17.30:   ​​​​​​​PANEL 3 – Disrupted Indigeneity: Kinship & Care as Resistance to Colonisation

​​​​​​​​​​​Chaired by Julia McClure, University of Glasgow, UK; Meredith L. McCoy (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe Descent), Carleton College, “Colonial Disruptions of Indigenous Families and Knowledge Systems through U.S. Schooling”; Joanne Jahnke-Wegner, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, US, “Dematriation: Indigenous Women, Displacement & Racial Capitalism”;  Jennifer Graber, University of Texas at Austin, US, “Life in a Cannibal Country: Chinese and Paiute Rites of Care & Feeding”;  Silvia Espelt-Bombín, University of Exeter, UK, “Migration, Kinship, Labour and Ethnogenesis in Northeastern Amazonia”

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​17.30–19.00:   KEYNOTE 1 – The Other Slavery: Landscapes of Predation and the Pueblo Revolt of 1680

​​​​​​​Andrés Reséndez, University of California, Davis, US

​​​​​​​Introduced by Caroline Dodds Pennock, University of Sheffield, UK

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​June 28

 10.00–11.00:   GUIDED TOUR*

Viewing of the Tlaxcala Codex, University Archives & Special Collections

 11.30–12.30:   Lunch

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 12.30–14.00:   SPECIAL SESSION – Reparations, #LandBack, and Kinship as Solidarity

Kyle T. Mays (Afro-Saginaw), University of California, Los Angeles, US

In dialogue with Leila K. Blackbird, (LA Kréyòl/Apache-Cherokee Descent), The University of Chicago, US​​​​​​​

14.00–14.15:   Break

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​14.15–15.45:   PANEL 4 – Global Indios: War, Captivity, and Survival in Trans-Imperial Context ​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​​​​​Chaired by Mark Meuwese, University of Winnipeg, CA; Mark Dizon, Ateneo de Manila University, PH, “Kinship Networks: Dispersal as an Indigenous Strategy in Spanish Colonial Philippines”; Florian Wieser, University of Edinburgh, UK, “Reduced to Peace: Indigenous Resettlement & Imperial Rivalry in 17th-Century Central America”; Santiago Muñoz Arbeláez, University of Texas at Austin, US, “The Pijao Territory: The Making of an Andean Borderland”; André Luís Ferreira, Universidade Federal do Pará, BR, “Free from Their Nature: The Unjust Captivity of Indigenous and Mestizo People in Portuguese Amazonia”

15.45–16.00:   Break

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​16.00–16.45:   ROUNDTABLE – Indigenous Epistemologies: Dancing Our People Home

Chaired by Leila K. Blackbird, (LA Kréyòl/Apache-Cherokee Descent), The University of Chicago, US; Daisy Ocampo (Caz’Ahmo Nation of Zacatecas), California State University, San Bernadino, US, “Silver, Slaves, and Separation: Dancing Caxcan Creation”; Tania Lizeth García-Piña, University of Arizona, US, “’Your Indigenous Side Died Off’: Contested Indigeneity and the Mestizo Problem in Aztec Dance”

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​16.45–17.30:   DISCUSSION & REFLECTION​​​​​​​

"The Afterlives of Indigenous Enslavement and Ongoing Process of Settler Colonialism"

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​17.30–19.00:   KEYNOTE 2 – Indigenous Slavery, the Archive, and the Disappearance of the Past

Nancy van Deusen, Queen’s University, CA

​​​​​​​Introduced by Julia McClure, University of Glasgow, UK

* Only available to in-person conference presenters and invited guests Sponsored by the Beniba Centre for Slavery Studies and the Global History Research Cluster at the University of Glasgow And by Past & Present: A Journal of Historical Studies Organised by Leila K. Blackbird, The University of Chicago; Caroline Dodds Pennock, University of Sheffield; and Julia McClure, University of Glasgow