Prof. N. Bruce Duthu, chair of Native American & Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth College.
In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, the Rudman Center presents a conversation on Nov. 6 with Professor N. Bruce Duthu on the significance of the Haaland v. Brackeen decision, a landmark victory for tribal sovereignty and native families. Professor Duthu is the Chair of Native American & Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth College.
Prof. N. Bruce Duthu, chair of Native American & Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth College.
In June 2023, by a vote of 7 – 2, the Supreme Court rejected all constitutional challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act, preserving the system that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving Native children.
The 1978 federal law was enacted to address a nationwide crisis involving the forced removal of Native children from their families and communities through foster care, adoption, and boarding schools.
Leaders of several tribal nations in a joint statement called the Haaland v. Brackeen decision “a broad affirmation of the rule of law, and of the basic constitutional principles surrounding relationships between Congress and tribal nations.”
Laura Knoy, Community Engagement Director for the Rudman Center, will moderate the conversation, which takes place 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. in Room 274. Lunch is included.
Registration is required. Please register here. A Zoom link will be available.
Watch the Emmy Award-winning documentary feature film, Dawnland, co-produced by Prof. Duthu: https://vimeo.com/571765470/d4721dac43 Password: UNHFP
Professor N. Bruce Duthu is the Samson Occom Professor and Chair of Native American & Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth College. An internationally recognized scholar of Native American law and policy, Professor Duthu joined the faculty of Arts & Sciences at Dartmouth in 2008. He served as Dartmouth’s Associate Dean of the Faculty for International Studies & Interdisciplinary Programs. Duthu earned his BA degree in religion and Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and his JD degree from Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans. Prior to joining the Dartmouth faculty, Duthu was Professor of Law at Vermont Law School where he also served as the law school's Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and as inaugural director of the VLS-Sun Yatsen University (Guangzhou, China) Partnership in Environmental Law. He served as visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School, the universities of Wollongong and Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, and the University of Trento in northern Italy.
Professor Duthu is the author of SHADOW NATIONS: TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY AND THE LIMITS OF LEGAL PLURALISM (Oxford University Press 2013) and AMERICAN INDIANS AND THE LAW (Viking/Penguin Press 2008) and was a contributing author of Felix S. Cohen's HANDBOOK OF FEDERAL INDIAN LAW (2005), the leading treatise in the field of federal Indian law. His co-edited special volume of South Atlantic Quarterly, Sovereignty, Indigeneity, and the Law, won the 2011 CELJ (Council of Editors of Learned Journals) award for Best Special Issue. He co-produced the documentary feature film, Dawnland (2018) that focuses on state removal of Indian children from their families. In 2019, Dawnland received an Emmy award for Outstanding Research. Duthu has lectured on indigenous rights in various parts of the world, including Russia, China, Bolivia, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Professor Duthu is an enrolled tribal member of the United Houma Nation of Louisiana.
