Institute for Indigenous Knowledge Fund

College of Arts and Sciences General

The Institute for Indigenous Knowledge (IIK) at IU Bloomington carries out research projects that involve the languages, cultures, and histories of Native American and Indigenous nations of the U.S. and Canada. We engage in critical self-reflection and affirmative action toward Indigenizing the academy and decolonizing research methods. Your gift will support this work as we strive to contribute to Native American and Indigenous autonomy, sovereignty, self-determination, and wellness.

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Institute for Indigenous Knowledge Fund

College of Arts and Sciences General

The Institute for Indigenous Knowledge (IIK) at IU Bloomington carries out research projects that involve the languages, cultures, and histories of Native American and Indigenous nations of the U.S. and Canada. We engage in critical self-reflection and affirmative action toward Indigenizing the academy and decolonizing research methods. Your gift will support this work as we strive to contribute to Native American and Indigenous autonomy, sovereignty, self-determination, and wellness.

Additional Info

As a physical and digital hub of research activity, IIK is a center for scholars on the IU Bloomington campus and in Native American and Indigenous communities that prepares the next generation of scholars through education and mentorship. In partnership with collaborating nations, we advance knowledge and understanding through print and digital resources that are vital to current and future efforts to sustain and revitalize Native American and Indigenous languages and cultures. IIK's Center for the Documentation and Revitalization of Indigenous Languages (CDRIL) is central to such work.

We aspire to continue IIK-CDRIL's present collaborative partnerships with several Great Plains tribes, institutions, and individuals from diverse nations, while expanding the number and geographic scope and depth of our partnerships. As the Bloomington campus sits on the homelands of the Bodwéwadmik (Potawatomi), Lënape (Delaware), myaamiki (Miami), and saawanwaki (Shawnee) peoples, IIK-CDRIL will devote special attention to and resources toward creating additional collaborations with nations who wish to work with us to support their research interests and needs.

As it has with its Great Plains partners, IIK-CDRIL will actively seek to produce and share resources for language and culture revitalization, opportunities for research cross training and education, and an organizational structure for coordinating research activities. Our products include: monographs, research articles, biographies, histories, stories, ethnographic and linguistic fieldnotes, audio and visual recordings, dictionaries, grammars, language curricula and instructional materials, and language planning documents.

We aim to expand IIK-CDRIL's research activity to include not only language, culture, and history, but also current topics of particular interest to contemporary Native American and Indigenous people and their allies, such as:

  • health and wellness
  • environmental sustainability and justice
  • food security and sovereignty
  • housing
  • community and economic development
  • land rights
  • legal justice
  • social justice
  • education

With your gift, you are championing our mission to build the community of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and students at IUB, and partner with them and with Native American and Indigenous people not yet affiliated with IIK-CDRIL in a mutually supportive community designed to bring about lasting good for all of those involved in, and affected by, our research. Thank you!

Important Disclosures

Please note, the name and purpose of the fund displayed on this page constitute the authorized description of the fund by the Indiana University Foundation, Inc. Your gift supports the fund as described herein.