UA Press Receives $1M Grant to Publish Works in Indigenous Studies

The grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support the publication of books in indigenous studies, which pertains to more than 370 million people from more than 70 countries

The University of Arizona Press and three other university presses have been awarded a collaborative publishing grant of more than $1 million from the prestigious Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to publish books in the underserved and emerging field of indigenous studies. The support is earmarked for works by authors who have not been published before.

The $1.03 million grant will assist the UA Press and its publishing partners in releasing titles that will expand the field to reflect the broader issues facing all indigenous peoples worldwide.

Indigenous studies encompasses scholarship by and about more than 370 million people from more than 70 countries.

With generous assistance from the Mellon Foundation, the UA Press will reinforce the vitality of a growing field that encompasses such critical topics as cultural and political sovereignty, the value of traditional knowledge, and ethnic identity.

These funds will allow for unprecedented collaboration among four university presses: the UA Press, the University of North Carolina Press, the University of Minnesota Press and the Oregon State University Press.

The presses will use the grant money in all aspects of the publishing process, from acquisitions to marketing.

The publishing partners will use the funds to attract the foremost scholars in the field, assist them with research and travel and craft manuscripts that will reach the broadest audience. The collaboration will also allow the four presses to significantly expand their marketing efforts to reach academic and indigenous communities worldwide.

The UA Press has been publishing critical works in indigenous studies since 1959. "Our long-standing history of publishing indigenous voices, as well as our relationship with such influential organizations as the Native Nations Institute and the Harvard Project on Native American Economic Development put the UA Press in an ideal position to utilize the Foundation's monetary support to continue to broaden the field,"said UA Press Director Christine Szuter.

From its first published title, George Webb's "A Pima Remembers," to more recent works in Native American history and Indigenous archaeology, including Jennifer Nez Denetdale's "Reclaiming Diné History" and T. J. Ferguson and Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh's "History Is in the Land," the UA Press has always produced indispensable research in this field.

According to Szuter, the press will continue this tradition through its work with other committed scholarly presses and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.