Muhlenberg Sponsors Student Internships and Native American Writers Panel at the United Nations
Muhlenberg College has a new internship program affiliated with the United Nations.Thursday, September 1, 2005 01:59 PM
Students can volunteer to work with non-governmental organizations at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The Permanent Forum is a new body within the UN system that oversees human rights and sovereignty issues for indigenous peoples around the globe.
The program, under the direction of English professor Dr. Mary Lawlor, was initiated this past spring, when six Muhlenberg students (Linda Barsik, Acacia Cochise, Meghan Courtney, Libby Hill, Katie Hesselink-Hicks, and Anna Makarova) worked at the Permanent Forum’s annual conference at UN Headquarters in New York from May 14th through the 27th. Representatives of world indigenous groups and non-governmental organizations participated in the conference, largely by reporting on violations of indigenous rights and on-going efforts by indigenous peoples to get their rights reinstated in the nation-states where they are located
During the conference, the students did volunteer work for the Indigenous Peoples Centre for Documentation, Research, and Information (DoCip), an organization within the UN that handles documentation and other logistical matters for indigenous people participating in UN programs on a temporary basis. The students, whose majors include American Studies, International Studies, Business, and Russian Language and Literature, helped with translation, data processing, and other tasks. Later this semester, they will offer accounts of their experiences at a panel hosted by the American Studies Program.
Muhlenberg was also involved in the May meeting of the Permanent Forum by sponsoring a Native American Writers panel. The College covered travel and hotel expenses for Anna Lee Walters, a Pawnee and Otoe fiction writer and Rex Lee Jim, a Navajo poet, to travel to New York to address participants at the Permanent Forum on issues at stake for American Indian writers in the publication of cultural knowledge, the efficacy of literature for political purposes, and the writing process itself, among other topics. Ms. Walters and Mr. Jim are both well known figures in Native American literary circles, and, in honor of global indigenous rights, both spoke pro bono.
Note: Muhlenberg students who are interested in the course or the program can contact Dr. Lawlor in the English department.
