When Scott Stevens attended college as undergraduate at Dartmouth College, he majored in English because there was no indigenous studies program. 

Now, Stevens, an associate professor and director of Native American and indigenous studies at SU, will be hosting “Why Indigenous Studies Matter.” The event will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Goldstein Student Center as part of the Native American Heritage Month’s lecture series.  

“We’re not doing our job when we don’t explain why the Haudenosaunee flag flies in front of Hendricks Chapel,” Stevens, a citizen of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, said. “Syracuse University students are on indigenous land after all, and the Onondaga Nation is only about four miles away from campus.” 

The lecture will discuss the importance of people learning about Native American culture and why its relevant, Stevens said. He added that he wants to inform the indigenous studies minor that SU offers. 

Stevens said students can pursue futures that involve native studies, such as a pre-law track along with a Native American studies minor. He added students could then go on to study Native American law or environmental studies. 

“There’s many different majors that tie into a Native American studies minor, it’s a broad field, and they might benefit from it in an unforeseen way,” Stevens said. 

Stevens was invited to speak about this topic by Regina Jones, who is the assistant director of the Native Student program at SU and a member of the Oneida Nation, Turtle Clan. 

Jones said she chose the topic and invited Stevens because he’s focused his career on Indigenous studies. 

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Nathan Abrams, a senior and member of the Seneca Nation in New York, said he would take the major if they offered it at SU. Abrams is currently a Native American Studies minor and magazine and digital journalism major. He said he’s looking forward to hearing Stevens speak. 

“Professor Stevens provides a really unique opportunity to learn these things in a way that you can’t at a lot of other institutions,” said Abrams. 

The topic of indigenous studies doesn’t just include Native American history, Stevens said, adding that the history is one “small component” of the topic. He said a lot of the topics are relevant to the general population. He added some topics pertain to the environment and sustainability. 

Stevens said Native American studies should be part of all American history and not just treated as something that happened in the colonial period and then disappeared altogether. 

“There are eight reservations in the state of New York, so it’s kind of phenomenal that we would get a few weeks of Colonial history and then we’re done,” he said. 

Stevens said to that the national average for education on Native Americans ends in fourth grade. 

“I find it quite shocking that the majority of people know nothing about the indigenous people of this continent,” Stevens said. “You live in a place that is indigenous and you know zero about the people. It should be shocking, but somehow it’s not.” 

Published on November 12, 2019 at 9:46 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs