UMass Boston’s Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) and Suffolk University Law School’s Indigenous Peoples Rights Clinic are pleased to announce a year-long, statewide project, Massachusetts Native Peoples and the Social Contract: A Reassessment for Our Times. Supported by a grant from Mass Humanities, the two organizations will host four roundtable discussions and listening sessions in areas of the state with substantial Native American populations.
The goal is to bring Native peoples’ voices to the forefront, engaging Natives in Massachusetts in looking at the past, the present, and the future through the lens of the social contract between the state and Native peoples whose homelands are within the borders of the state, and discussing issues affecting tribal members and the communities. In conjunction with tribal leaders from tribal communities, INENAS Director Cedric Woods and Nicole Friederichs, director of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Clinic, will lead the roundtable discussions and moderate the listening sessions in Worcester, Boston, Mashpee, and Amherst.
The first session will be held in Worcester Public Library on August 29, hosted by the Nipmuc Tribe. All are welcome to attend these important events; there will be an opportunity for those present to share their thoughts.
The four roundtable discussions will he held:
Worcester Public Library- August 29, 2-4 p.m.
Mashpee Wampanoag government building, Mashpee- October 3, 4-6 p.m.
UMass Amherst, Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall, Rm. 160 (Next to Roots Café) - November 5, 6-8 p.m.
North American Indian Center of Boston, 105 South Huntington Ave. Jamaica Plain- March 11, 2016, noon to 2 p.m.
(Boston, July 9, 2015)
CONTACT:
Cedric Woods, 617-287-5784, Cedric.Woods@umb.edu
Nicole Friederichs, 617-573-8100, nfriederichs@suffolk.edu
