The 2026 NCAIS Summer Institute will examine historical, literary, and Native Studies approaches to Indigenous ecological methods of land management as a matter of tribal self-determination and sovereignty. Within the context of the #LandBack movement as well as the proliferation of Indigenous Environmental Justice work in the past decade, this course of study seeks to orient participating scholars within the complex matrix of terminology, research methodology, and praxis of Native and Indigenous approaches to land management. The course takes up the issue of environmental sustainability with a special emphasis on Native women’s knowledge production and relations, and it will start with a close look at the centrality of rematriation within the context of #LandBack efforts and other intersections of Indigenous ecological relations. We will look at the legal and political underpinnings of recent efforts toward sovereignty and land management and ground these ideas in the foundation of Traditional Ecological Knowledges (TEK)—Native sciences. The readings will include a number of applied cases and highlight sustained and emerging research methods from community collaboration to data sovereignty and seed-keeping to archival research.
Participants will have the opportunity to explore Newberry collections, including the extensive collection of maps, the American Indian and Indigenous Studies collection, and the digital archive. While selected texts and excursions will locate our inquiry in place as we spend three weeks on the shores of Lake Michigan, readings will include materials that go beyond the Great Lakes region.
The NCAIS Summer Institute is a three-week-long intensive graduate course held during the summer at The Newberry Library in Chicago. Participants are provided with housing in Chicago, receive a $600 living stipend, and will be reimbursed for travel expenses up to $750. Leftover funding will be used to more fully reimburse students whose travel accommodations exceed this amount. If you have questions about the institute, please contact mcnickle@newberry.org.
Cost and Registration
The Summer Institute is only available to graduate students in NCAIS-affiliated institutions.
Interested students should apply directly to their NCAIS Faculty Liaison by February 13, 2026.