Native-American expert caps 3-year ethnic series

Vine Deloria, a prominent spokesperson for Native-American nationalism during the last four decades, will lecture on "Parochialism and the Global Perspective," in Page Auditorium Thursday, marking the end of a three-year-long lecture series on diverse cultures.

Deloria will speak for the Pivotal Ideas of World Civilizations program, which is funded by a grant from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation of Reno, Nevada. Begun in 1999, the central focus of the program is a series of lectures called the "Wiegand Foundation of Distinguished Visitors." Deloria will mark the program's last speaker before the grant ends this semester.

"The goal of this grant is to allow people to explore the value of cultures from a variety of perspectives," said Lillian Spiller, an administrative assistant in the Department of Religion and an organizer for the Pivotal Ideas of World Civilizations Program.

Deloria is a retired professor of history, law, political science and religious studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder and also acted as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. He also has been a member of the Indian Rights Association. "Dr. Deloria brings a unique perception of Native American traditions," Spiller said.

Leaders of the Native American Student Coalition are particularly excited about Deloria's lecture. "I'm sure it's going to be very good," said junior Kelly Fayard, president of the organization. She added that Deloria's visit is a good sign for Native-American students at Duke, as one of the biggest issues facing these students is the lack of active recruitment by the University. For example, NASC has only 3 active members.

"This is a chance for Duke to show its interest in Native-American studies," Spiller said. She compared Duke to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which recently began a Native-American studies program. "We hope people will leave his lecture and talk to each other about the issues he brought up," she said.

Each semester, The Pivotal Ideas in the World Civilizations Program chooses a theme for its programming. This semester, it has chosen law and society, and aside from Deloria's visit, it will host a March 7 performance of "Skin," based on the writing of Patricia Williams.