Historic Deerfield, Dublin Seminar
June 23 - June 24
Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife
Indigenous Histories in New England: Pastkeepers and Pastkeeping, to be held June 23-24, 2023
The seminar will address the gaps in Indigenous voice and visibility in public views of the past. We will critically consider who has claimed responsibility for “keeping” the Indigenous past in New England, including how it has been represented, how historical research can be decolonized and improved, and what museums and tribal nations have done to engage the public in better understandings.
Presenters will explore Indigenous forms of memory-making and pastkeeping, on landscapes and in oral tradition; Native American authors of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century, including autobiography and tribal histories; collections of material culture; histories of tribal museums; repatriation and cultural recovery; language reclamation; and artwork as vehicles for historical reflection.
The Seminar will give particular attention to the work of museums, archives, historic preservation organizations, cultural centers, and initiatives that over the past thirty years have worked to provide more holistic and inclusive representations of regional Indigenous peoples and histories.
The Seminar will convene in Deerfield, Massachusetts. This will be a hybrid program, with both on-site and virtual registration options for attendees. Speakers will present on site at Historic Deerfield.
The Deerfield Inn has a block of rooms dedicated to the Dublin Seminar. Room rates vary depending on the room. To make a reservation at the Inn call (413) 774-5587 and use the code “HDF11”.
