A. T. Hansen Lecture Series

The A. T. Hansen Anthropology Lecture Fund enables the Department to bring to campus speakers focusing on the native peoples and cultures of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. While the emphasis of the lectures is broadly anthropological, the series has traditionally sought to bring in native speakers as well as scholar-activists. Speakers have included Chief Glenna J. Wallace from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and Tyrone Smith II, Director of the Native American Center of Central Ohio.

The fund is named after Asael T. Hansen, Miami's first professor of anthropology. Prof. Hansen left Miami in 1944 to conduct research among Japanese-American internees at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp in Wyoming. Although he did not return to Miami, he greatly influenced two Miami students, George H. Fathauer ('40) and his wife Johanne Wainwright Fathauer ('42). Prof. Fathauer received his PhD at the University of Chicago and returned to Miami to teach anthropology from 1948-82. In 1990, the Fathauers decided to honor their former mentor by endowing this lectureship.

Lectures in Contemporary Anthropology (LICA)

Lectures in Contemporary Anthropology [LICA] gives students the opportunity to learn from anthropologists beyond Miami's faculty and provides opportunities for academic engagement and discussion of anthropological topics outside the classroom. LICA speakers have included Dr. Robert Lemelson, Documentary Filmmaker and Anthropologist; and Dr. Anthony Webster, a linguistic anthropologist and the author of Explorations in Navajo Poetry and Poetics.

Indigenous Speaker Series

In fall of 2010 the Department inaugurated this lecture series bringing prominent Native American artists, activists and scholars to Miami for public talks and classroom visits and extracurricular interaction with students. This is supported by resources from both the A.T. Hansen Fund and LICA, with support from the Center for American and World Cultures. Visitors in the series have included José Matus (Pascua Yaqui Nation) and Jennifer Nez Dezenetdale (Diné/Navajo).