UCLA, Occidental College present conference on Native American history, anthropology

Some 300 scholars from around the globe will present new research on the indigenous peoples of the Americas at a conference sponsored by UCLA and Occidental College. The event is part of the annual meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory , the largest scholarly organization for this interdisciplinary field, which melds history, anthropology, archaeology and linguistics.

Presentations at the conference will focus on new cultural, legal, medical, political and religious research, spanning the period from American colonial times to the New Deal era. The event will also include a salute to UCLA historian Gary Nash, director of the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA , for his efforts to improve K–12 instruction in Native American and African American history.

The American Society for Ethnohistory meeting marks the first time the society has convened in Los Angeles County since its founding in 1952. Some 1,200 international scholars are expected to participate. The meeting’s organizer is society President-elect Kevin Terraciano, a UCLA professor of history and director of UCLA’s Latin American Institute. Additional sponsorship was received from California State University, Los Angeles; the Autry National Center; the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles; the Huntington Library; and the Los Angeles branches of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Universidad de Guadalajara.