Prominent Native American scholar Vine Deloria will speak on sovereignty issues to kick off Syracuse Symposium 2003: ‘Journeys’

Prominent Native American scholar Vine Deloria will speak on sovereignty issues to kick off Syracuse Symposium 2003: ‘Journeys’September 15, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Vine Deloria, senior statesman of Native American scholars, will visit the Syracuse University campus Sept. 18 to speak on “The Journey to Native American Sovereignty.” The presentation, the kickoff event for Syracuse Symposium 2003: “Journeys,” begins at 7:30 p.m. in Grant Auditorium and is free and open to the public.

Deloria, a Standing Rock Sioux, has been hailed as “one of the 11 great religious thinkers of the 20th century” by Time magazine. His first work, “Custer Died for Your Sins” (1969), was one of the most influential books written on Indian affairs and helped launch the field of Native American studies. He is the author of more than 20 books that explore a range of important social, historical, scientific and legal issues in the field. His most recent works, “Evolution, Creationism and Other Modern Myths” (Fulcrum, 2002) and “Red Earth, White Lies” (Fulcrum, 1997) challenge many accepted principles of traditional scholarship.

Deloria was one of the first executive directors of the National Congress of American Indians, and is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas. He previously taught at the University of Arizona and the University of Colorado.

The Syracuse Symposium is an annual intellectual festival celebrating interdisciplinary thinking, imagining and creating. The 2003 theme is “Journeys:” journeys of exploration and discovery, intellectual journeys, mythical and artistic journeys, migrations of peoples, exiles, liberations, pilgrimages and more. The series continues throughout the Fall 2003 semester and will include lectures, exhibits, performances and other special events.