Jan. 10, 2006 -- Dr. Philip Deloria, a professor and director of the program in American culture at the University of Michigan, and author of the book “Playing Indian,” will speak at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro on Tuesday, Jan. 24, as part of the Lecture~Concert Series.

The lecture, “From Nation to Neighborhood: Empire, Colonialism, and American Indian Studies,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Drama Theatre of Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, on the ASU campus. All Lecture~Concert events are free and open to the public.
His book, “Playing Indian,” discusses how Americans perceive and mimic American Indian identities and how those ideas have changed in history and how Indian people have reacted to the whole idea of “playing Indian.” The book was his doctoral thesis at Yale University, where he received his Ph.D. in American studies.

Deloria’s most recent publications are “Indians in Unexpected Places” (2004) and “The Blackwell Companion to American Indian History,” co-edited with Neal Salisbury (2002).

In addition, he has written, edited and contributed to numerous essays and articles.
His research and teaching focus is on the cultural and ideological intersections of Indian and non-Indian worlds. Deloria’s fields of study include issues of culture and representation, particularly concerning American Indian people, and environmental and western American history.

Deloria’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program and the Office of Diversity.

The Lecture~Concert Series presents diverse programs to enrich the cultural life of the campus, community, and region.

For more details, please contact Dr. Gil Fowler, associate dean of The Honors College, at 870-972-2308 or via email at gfowler@astate.edu or visit http://honors.astate.edu/.