Increased attention for indigenous studies through JEDI fund
A grant from the JEDI Fund allowed university lecturer Jessie Morgan-Owens to design a lecture series on indigenous studies. ‘We filled a gap in the knowledge.’
'Last year, we had four students writing a thesis on indigenous studies', explains Morgan-Owens. 'We discovered we did have a lot of knowledge about the Latin America Indigenous cultures at Leiden University, but not about the Native American cultures of North America. That's why we decided to apply for a JEDI grant and create a lecture series about Native American studies.'
Partnering
By partnering with institutes as the John Adams Institute, Morgan-Owens was able to bring novelist Tommy Orange to Leiden. ‘Tony Platt was hosted by the Global Question Seminar, who invited us to join them for his visit. We hosted Laura De Vos to talk to students about “Environmental Activism, Indigenous Survival, and Settler Colonialism in the Unist’ot’en Camp’s Resistance against the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. By partnering with other organisations, we managed to draw a bigger audience. At the same time, the JEDI fund enabled us to make sure our students received some personal attention. Tommy Orange gave a ninety minutes one-on-one workshop with our students. They were instantly aware how special it was to spend an hour and a half in the room with an up and coming author.'
Future plans
Though the JEDI budget was quite small, Morgan-Owens made sure the gains won't be lost. 'We will join a new delegation of instructors who are working on indigenous studies in Europe, called the European Network for Indigenous Studies. We will get together on Thanksgiving for the first time. Now the JEDI funding is ending, I think we'll have to be more resourceful, but we will continue. For example, there will be an exhibition in the Rijksmuseum on native American photography and subjects. We were able to get a tour set up for April. We definitely want to keep it going, also because the student interest is still very high.'
We recognise that staff members and students within the Faculty often have bright ideas about how we can do things better. The Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Fund provides small grants to initiatives in support of our D&I priorities, with specific emphasis on creating an inclusive learning environment. All staff and students in the Faculty of Humanities are welcome to apply.