Indigenous Peoples' Day 2025
On Indigenous Peoples' Day, we:
- Honor our Indigenous students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners.
- Celebrate the important teaching, research, creative work, and collaboration that involves and studies Native cultures, history, languages, and issues.
- Recognize that our University and society have work to do to continue to move toward reconciliation and healing with Tribal Nations.
Land Acknowledgement
Hau mitákuyepi! (Hello, our fellow creation!)
Boozhoo indinawemaaganag! (Hello, my relatives!)
We call upon our neighbors in the University community and the good people of the state of Minnesota to acknowledge and reflect upon the fact that the University of Minnesota stands on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. We call upon our neighbors to acknowledge that the river that winds through campus links us to the sacred site of the Dakhóta people’s origin at Bdote, where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi. Our Dakhóta hosts invite us to say “Bdote,” to say “Miní Sóta Makhóčhe,” to acknowledge the Dakhóta Oyate’s sovereignty and their spiritual ownership of this homeland, their place of origin. This sovereignty, this place, and this water is sacred, and the Department of American Indian Studies wants to share this fact with those who may have forgotten that.
Opening lines to the Department of American Indian Studies' "On Purpose" statement, 2018
The TRUTH Report
The Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing—TRUTH—project is a Native-organized, Native-led, community-driven research movement that offers multiple recommendations on how the University of Minnesota community can be in better relation with Indigenous peoples.
The Department of American Indian Studies fully endorses the TRUTH Report and calls upon the University community and the public to join us in demanding that the Board of Regents and upper administration take immediate action to stop and repair the University of Minnesota’s historic and ongoing harm that continues to be perpetrated against Dakota, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, and other American Indian and Indigenous peoples of this area.
- Learn more about the TRUTH Project
- Read the full TRUTH Project Report (PDF)
- Read the Executive Summary of the TRUTH Project Report (PDF)
Meet a few of CLA's Indigenous students, alumni, & faculty
Regents Professor Jean O’Brien of the Department of History discusses how studying history can change your perspective of the world.
Read “‘Everything Connects to the Future’: Jean O’Brien on Studying History”
Taylor Fairbanks is a double-major in American Indian Studies and Sociology and an Honors student. She expects to graduate in Spring 2026. Last May, Taylor was awarded the 2025 President's Student Leadership and Service Award for her outstanding leadership and service to the community and the university.
Read "American Indian Studies Undergraduate Q&A with Taylor Fairbanks"
The Department of American Indian Studies is pleased to announce the first graduate cohort of our American Indian & Indigenous Studies (AIIS) PhD program. Our PhD program is the only one of its kind in the Midwest, housed within the first American Indian Studies department in the country.
Learn more about the 2025-2026 American Indian & Indigenous Studies PhD Cohort
New PhD Program in American Indian & Indigenous Studies
Situated in the first fully established American Indian studies department (founded in 1969), our programs are uniquely positioned to provide research-intensive, community-engaged training in American Indian and Indigenous studies. Our graduate students also live and study in one of the most high-profile indigenous urban/activist communities anywhere, and our students, faculty, and staff have existing relationships with Tribal Nations, organizations, and communities across Minnesota and beyond.
More stories
The department celebrates a historic move into its own building.
David Aiona Chang’s website invites viewers to learn more about the historical figure at the heart of the Apple TV+ series.
Read "Who Was Ka‘iana? A Historian's Perspective on the Real 'Chief of War'"
Learn with us in spring ‘26
Did you know that you do not need to be an enrolled student to take our courses? Learn more about getting started with the Ojibwe & Dakota Language Courses Guide and by reviewing the resources below.
Registration begins on November 11 for students admitted to degree or certificate programs and on December 5 for visiting and non-degree-seeking students.
1000-Level
3000-Level
- AMIN 3201W: American Indian Literature
- AMIN 3401: American Indian Art
- AMIN 3402: American Indians and the Cinema
- AMIN 3872: American Indian History: 1830 to the Present
- AMIN 4231: Color of Public Policy: African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, & Chicanos in the U.S.
- AMIN 4501: Law, Sovereignty, and Treaty Rights
5000-Level
A Living Language Resource
The Ojibwe People's Dictionary is a searchable, talking Ojibwe-English dictionary that features the voices of Ojibwe speakers. Established by faculty and students in the Department of American Indian Studies, the dictionary supports language education and encourages new speakers among the present generation.
Support these languages
You can help ensure that these languages are passed down to future generations.
Make a gift to the Dakota Language Program
Make a gift to the Ojibwe Language Program
Make a gift to the Ojibwe People's Dictionary
Department of American Indian Studies
The Department of American Indian Studies strives to cultivate Native leaders and allies by providing a critical and comprehensive education in the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies. American Indian Studies majors receive training in contemporary Native literary and artistic expression, legal and political issues, and historical experiences.
Learn about the country's oldest American Indian studies department.
Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies
Learn about how the Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies brings together faculty and students to pursue lines of inquiry that challenge systems of power and inequality, assert human dignity, and imagine social transformation.
Circle of Indigenous Nations
Part of the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence, the Circle of Indigenous Nations is a student services office that works to recruit, retain, and graduate American Indian/First Nations/Alaska Native students.
Upcoming events
In-Person Event
October 13, 2025
Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day + National Coming Out Day
In-Person Event
October 19, 2025
Join the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies for a talk and tour of the Bdote, the site of Dakota creation and their ultimate removal from Minnesota.
