becoming good ancestors to future generations

We illuminate American Indian and Indigenous culture, the place of American Indian and Indigenous peoples in today’s world, and the changing demands of American Indian and Indigenous peoples in the pursuit of cross-cultural diversity.

Indigenous Studies at MSU

Undergraduate

graduate

community

Human beings need to belong to a tradition and equally need to know about the world in which they find themselves. Paula Gunn Allen
Human beings need to belong to a tradition and equally need to know about the world in which they find themselves.

 Paula Gunn Allen
Our actions today [...] are guided by our reflection on our ancestors’ perspectives and on our desire to be good ancestors ourselves to future generations. Kyle Whyte
Our actions today [...] are guided by our reflection on our ancestors’ perspectives and on our desire to be good ancestors ourselves to future generations.

Kyle Whyte
If a person wanted to get to the moon, there was a way; [...] it depended on whether you knew the story of how others before you had gone. Leslie Marmon Silko
If a person wanted to get to the moon, there was a way; [...] it depended on whether you knew the story of how others before you had gone.

Leslie Marmon Silko
The future of [humankind] lies waiting for those who will come to understand their lives and take up their responsibilities to all living things. Vine Deloria Jr.
The future of [humankind] lies waiting for those who will come to understand their lives and take up their responsibilities to all living things.

 Vine Deloria Jr.

featured News

Kristin Arola Named Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program
Kristin Arola has been named Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) at Michigan State University after serving as its Interim Director since Fall 2022. A first-generation descendant of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians, Arola also is the inaugural Karen L. Gillmor Endowed Professor in Professional […]
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AIIS GA Joins First Sherpa Woman to Complete Great Himalaya Trail
How is MSU AIIS connected to the first Indigenous Sherpa woman to complete the Great Himalaya Trail? AIIS graduate assistant, Sophie Huss, traveled to Nepal last month to join Mingmar Dolma Sherpa for 12 days of her historic 140-day trek of the Great Himalaya Trail (non-technical route)! Together, they hiked to Chomolungma (so-called “Everest”) Base […]
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AIIS Announces Spring 2025 Minor and Graduate Certificate Course Options
These courses count towards the AIIS minor and/or might be interesting for folks who want to engage with American Indian and Indigenous content. If you’d like to add the minor to your degree program, contact AIIS Advisor Patricia Walters at walter31@msu.edu GRADUATE CERTIFICATE These courses count towards the Graduate Certificate and/or might be interesting for […]
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AMERICAN INDIAN & INDIGENOUS STUDIES

375 Wilson Road #106
East Lansing, MI 48824

(517) 432-2193

Email aiis@msu.edu

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