TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Northeastern State University and its Center for Tribal Studies are inviting people to the 41st annual Symposium on the American Indian on April 10-13 at its Tahlequah campus.

This year’s theme is “Technology Future, Technology Past: A Woven Link.”

“Indigenous societies have endured as technological innovations have effected massive cultural change. The spiritual paths taken are interwoven as living links between the past and the future,” the event’s website states. “As we enter the environment of cloud technologies, the rapid acceleration of computer engineering is in some ways leading us into a complex realm of little understood ecosystems through which we must, sometimes blindly, navigate. In the Native universe, we must carefully consider our trust relationship with technology.”

Confirmed keynote speakers are Charles “Chief” Boyd, Dr. Daniel Littlefield Jr., Dr. Daniel Wildcat, Bunky Echo-Hawk, Dr. Colleen Fitzgerald and Dr. Pamela Munro.

Boyd has been an architect with Thalden Boyd Emery Architects since 1978 and is a graduate of the University of Colorado-Boulder. He has experience with American Indian projects beginning in 1963 with the Cherokee Heritage Center, and his keynote symposium address will observe its 50th anniversary. He has worked with 45 tribes across the country and is a renowned Native American architect. Since 1964, he has been the official architect to the Cherokee National Historical Society and serves on its board. He is the architect of the CHC’s Ancient Village addition.

Littlefield is a history scholar and director of the Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, home to the American Native Press Archives, which he co-founded in 1983. The ANPA contains newspaper and periodical publications from more than 2,100 titles by American Indian nations, individuals and organizations. It also contains American Indian manuscripts, scholarly works and records and biographical information on about 4,500 Native American writers.

Wildcat is a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., with published works on indigenous knowledge, technology, environment and education. He is also co-director of the Haskell Environmental Research Studies Center, which he founded with colleagues from the Center for Hazardous Substance Research at Kansas State University. A Yuchi citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Wildcat is co-author of “Power and Place: Indian Education in America” and co-editor of “Destroying Dogma: Vine Deloria Jr., and His Influence on American Society.”

Echo-Hawk is a multifaceted creator of art whose work spans media, lifestyle and pop culture. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts, he is an artist, graphic designer, photographer, writer and a nonprofit professional. He is also a Pawnee/Yakama singer and dancer.

Munro is a professor of linguistics at the University of California-Los Angeles specializing in American Indian languages. She helped create the dictionaries for the San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec, Chickasaw and Wolof tribes.

Leading the annual Indigenous Language Documentation and Revitalization Seminar, co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Native Language Association, is Fitzgerald from the University of Texas-Arlington and Dr. Brad Montgomery-Anderson of the NSU College of Liberal Arts. Fitzgerald and Montgomery-Anderson will conduct the seminar from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 11 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12 in the University Center Morgan Room.

Participation is free and open to Native language practitioners, speakers, students and others interested in language revitalization. The seminar is supported by an Oklahoma Humanities Council grant and is open to the public.

Other scheduled presenters are Becky Chandler and Karissa Pickett of Chickasaw Nation Communications and Creative Services, as well as Tom Mooney, Mickel Yantz and Tonia Hogner of the CHC. Luncheon speakers are Chris Samples of Redstone Construction and Cherokee Nation storyteller Robert Lewis.

A pre-symposium film series is set for April 8-9 with the symposium schedule running April 10-13.

The annual powwow is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on April 12 and 2 p.m. to midnight on April 13 in the University Center Ballroom. The Friday schedule includes gourd dancing at 6 p.m. and the grand entry at 8 p.m. Saturday opens with gourd dancing, the powwow dinner at 5 p.m. and the grand entry at 7 p.m. All activities are free and open to the public.

The Center for Tribal Studies and the American Indian Heritage Committee organized this year’s symposium. In collaboration with the CHC, this year’s event will highlight the CNHS’ 50th anniversary.

For more information, call the Center for Tribal Studies at 918-444-4350. Vendor, sponsor and agenda information is available at www.nsuok.edu/symposium.