Rio Grande

Winters Centennial Conference — Santa Anna Pueblo — June 9-12, 2008

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

THE WINTERS CENTENNIAL:
WILL ITS COMMITMENT TO JUSTICE ENDURE?
June 9-12, 2008
Hyatt Regency Tamaya — Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico

The year 2008 marks the centennial of Winters v. United States, in which the Court formulated the reserved water rights doctrine now broadly asserted by Indian tribes and federal agencies. The decision, because of its enduring promise of justice to Native Americans, marks one of the great achievements of American jurisprudence.  The decision made possible the continuity of many Indian communities and non-Indian communities alike, along with the protection of important environmental resources. Now, one hundred years later, the question is whether the promise of Winters will be fulfilled. In celebration of the Winters Centennial, the Utton Transboundary Resources Center and the American Indian Law Center will convene a major symposium in June 2008 along the waters of the Rio Grande near Albuquerque. The symposium will review the legal and cultural history of the decision, assess the contemporary consequences of the reserved water rights doctrine (both nationally and internationally), and project the significance of Indian water rights into the 21st Century. The goal of the symposium is to assemble Indian reserved rights policy makers and decision makers at all levels in order to deepen the understanding of the effect of Winters and to advance the dialogue regarding the future role of reserved rights.

Interview with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Towards Freedom:

Written by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Thursday, 03 January 2008

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a writer, teacher, historian, and social activist, is Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies at California State University, East Bay, and author of many articles and books, including Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War (South End Press, 2005), Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960-1975 (City Lights Books, 2001) and Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie (Verso, 1997). Her most recent book is Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico (University of Oklahoma Press, 2007).

In this interview, Dunbar-Ortiz talks about her new book, Roots of Resistance, indigenous land revolts in the US, international solidarity and the importance of learning about the history and current issues of Native Americans.

Toward Freedom: Please tell us a little about how you came to write the first version
of Roots of Resistance in 1980?

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