From the Editors

This spring, Jim, his editorial assistant Kirby, and I all had the opportunity to attend both the Native American Literature Symposium (NALS) and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference (NAISA). They are two very different organizations, with distinctive but connected histories that are worth noting, especially in their relationship to our field and its current and future health.

NALS celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, a milestone that demonstrates how far our field has come since the first conference was held in Puerto Vallarta in 1999. Jim and I were fortunate to have been there, encouraged by our mentor and editorial predecessor, Malea Powell, who accurately predicted that the symposium would be important, though none of us, I think, could have anticipated the event's full impact until much later. It was a frustrating but enlightening occasion, one that was marked by intense and sometimes rancorous debate regarding not only the place of Indigenous perspectives in the critical study of Native literatures but also the degree to which scholars should take on particular responsibilities when engaged in such study.¹

The final roundtable at NALS 1999 was the heavy splash of a debate that continues to ripple through our discussions today. We had no easy answers, certainly, to the vital questions about the important links between our studies and the living peoples to whom those studies are connected. And it was that conference, more than any other event in my own scholarly trajectory, that affirmed my dedication to this field and its capacity for making space and constructive change for Native peoples and our allies, at home and in the academy. (I am certainly not alone, as there were a number of emerging scholars at that first conference who continue to be very active in the field and with SAIL and the association.)

The ten years since a committed independent group of Native scholars (originally Gwen Westerman Griffin, P. Jane Hafen, Ginny Carney, Malea Powell, Patrice Hollrah, LeAnne Howe, and Joanne Quiñones) took responsibility for NALS have certainly had their share of both success and challenge—change always does. Some of the critical conversations taking place at NALS over the years have revealed fault lines that extend beyond the academy to the difficult politics of Indian Country, but it could hardly be otherwise, given the importance of Native historical, cultural, and political contexts to the critical discourse. Even so, ten years on, NALS continues to be a vibrant scholarly conference dedicated exclusively to Native literary studies, to my knowledge the only one of its kind in North America. It is a place that brings together a wide range of scholars, writers, and artists, community members and tribal leaders, elders and youth and visitors, all to share specifically in the appreciation and understanding of the Native expressive arts in a Native-run venue (this year, the Isleta Pueblo Casino and Resort, just outside of Albuquerque).

NAISA has a much broader mandate than NALS, as its purview is the full range of scholarship in Native studies, to include any and all disciplines and fields. (I am happy to say, however, that literature and the related humanities are still very well represented!) Yet NAISA, too, is committed to the ongoing relevance of intellectual work to Indigenous communities, concerns, and values, and it demonstrates that commitment by placing rigorous research, criticism, and scholarship at the very center of its concerns. While Indigenous scholars comprised the founding Acting Council (Inés Hernández-Ávila, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Jean O'Brien, Robert Warrior, and Jace Weaver) and constitute the newly elected governing council, this first professional organization for the diverse confederation of disciplines constituting Native studies is open in membership and leadership to all committed scholars in the field, both Native and non-Native. In just a few short years, NAISA has transformed from the seemingly idealistic dream of the Acting Council members to a vibrant and global organization with an active and exponentially growing professional membership that includes Indigenous and non-Native scholars from at least forty U.S. states and at least...