Japanese Translation

Conference Timeline

January 31, 2004

Conference Papers Submission Postmark Deadline

March 3, 2004

Call for Papers Acceptance Letters Out

May 1, 2004

Conference Early Registration Deadline

June 6, 2004

Conference Begins

Conference Postponed

The new conference dates are June 6-10, 2004. Click here for more information.

The Sustainable Development Institute at College of Menominee Nation will host the conference: Sharing Indigenous Wisdom: An International Dialogue on Sustainable Development. The conference design will bring together scholars and practitioners who are committed to the concepts of sustainable development. A forum will be created that encourages dialogue, learning, solidarity and cross-fertilization of ideas. It is planned for June 6-10, 2004 and will be held at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center near Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Conference Purpose

Indigenous peoples all over the world are steadily confronted with outside pressures of having both their land and cultures assimilated into the dominant cultural context. There is currently an acute need to explore successful models of sustainable development that allow for the preservation of indigenous lands, sovereignty and culture, while also allowing for the integration of economic development, institutional capacity-building and technological advancement.

The Menominee believe their model of sustainable development provides clues to the kind of values, economic system, and social order that might be necessary in a sustainable world. As the state of the world's environment becomes more critical, it is believed that this model as well as other principles derived from indigenous wisdom might offer clues from which the modern world can learn as it desperately seeks development alternatives.

Who Should Attend?

Scholars, policy makers, practitioners and concerned individuals from around the world, whether working in academia, the private sector, government or civil society organizations and other advocates of sustainable development. All will find topics of interest at this conference.

Sustainability Web Ring control panel

LAND & SOVEREIGNTY

Are integral to the process of sustainable development. The Menominee Nation has a firm experiential basis for their understanding of this process. They know first hand the horror of termination, and the struggle for restoration of their status as a federally recognized Indian tribe. While political restoration has been accomplished, other aspects of restoration are yet unattended. Central to our research and extension mission is the commitment to those topics and activities that re-affirm tribal sovereignty and preserves the tribal estate.

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

The long and successful Menominee experience in sustained yield forestry is the cornerstone of its community's sustainable development. SDI has prioritized forest products, forest ecology, enhanced commerce of timber products, and value added forest products as immediate topics relevant to its scholarship and research and extension mission.

INSTITUTIONS

In aiding in the development and maturation of the institutional life of the rural and reservation communities which we serve, we ensure the longevity of our efforts, maximize the impact of our initiatives, and position our own institution firmly within the community context which has chartered our mission.

TECHNOLOGY

SDI works collaboratively with the Menominee Telecommunications Design Team to enable a multi-media telecommunications infrastructure capable of serving our rural and reservation community institutions. The Design Team includes the College, the Tribal and County governments, and the Menominee Tribal Enterprises. We believe rural and reservation communities are dependent on the foresight of their institutions to assure access to the new wave of information technology. We are committed to forwarding the development of information infrastructure. We are attuned to the potential of electronic commerce, medicine, and judicial practice, advancing local access to technological innovations, and complementing our academic goal of advancing technological literacy.

ECONOMY

Initial entry into extension services to forward this dimension are in nascent development, with an initial emphasis on cooperating with the local business incubator, offering workshops for potential entrepreneurs and service as a research resource for tribal enterprise. We anticipate the local regions designation as an enterprise community will provide additional training opportunities.

HUMAN PERCEPTION, ACTIVITY & BEHAVIOR

A priority for research lies in projects which assure access to safe and reliable food and water resources. To that end, we anticipate complimenting research efforts in sustainable forestry with new initiatives in permaculture, ethnobotany, and preliminary investigation of the feasibility of aquaculture and hydroponics production.

Decision Making

Today we remain dependent on this land and water to sustain us. Therefore, we must make the necessary decisions to sustain it for future generations. We believe Menominee Autochthony is the centerpiece by which decision making must take place for successful sustenance of this nation and land.

AUTOCHTHONY - n. from the land itself; nativeness by virtue or originating or occurring naturally as in a particular place. (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913).