15th Annual NAIITS Symposium

The purpose of the symposium is to facilitate open dialogue about various aspects of biblical and theological contextualization in Indigenous thought, history, and experience. Symposium planners hope that participants will bring together academic and practical approaches to the issues being addressed in the symposium.

NAIITS invites proposals for papers and presentations from scholars, practitioners, and other interested peoples that address themselves to the contribution that Indigenous people can make, do make and, perhaps, should make, to contemporary expressions of racial discrimination, white privilege, and the resurgence of an aggressive form of white supremacy and neo-fascism in the North American context.

Our focus will be on overall health and well being of human beings with one another, the land, politics, and the rest of the creation of which we are a part. Of particular interest will be those topics and presentations that describe a holistic and corrective approach to dealing with injustice framed within historic and contemporary racism, racial prejudice and white supremacy.

Of interest will be how the interplay of theology and practice from Indigenous perspective, might transform our understanding of the human community environment, the practical issues of social context, and racial relationships. Papers that utilize any of a broad range of research and presentation methodologies will be considered. Submissions should address one or more of the following topic areas as noted above:

• Forms and focuses of racism, their impact on Indigenous communities and ways to address these impacts;
• White privilege and the suppression of racially equitable societies;
• The impact of the Indian Act in Canada and, counterpart legislations in the US, that maintain a perspective of Indigeneity which by default creates complicity in Indigenous leadership;
• White supremacy and the rise of neo-fascism, specifically in the North American context; a response from Indigenous values and ideologies;
• Indigenous values and perspectives that might contribute to alternative responses to those being offered elsewhere;
• Indigenous readings of the gospel and theologies that might offer a way forward.

DATES & TIMES: June 7, 2018 at 3:00 pm (beginning with registration) through to Saturday June 9, 2018 at 4:00 pm (closing ceremonies).

LOCATION: Campus of Acadia University, Wolfville, NS