Most people here know me, some of you pretty well. So it always seemed an intro wasn't needed. But now there's news I need to share with everyone.
I'm Al Carroll, PhD, Mescalero Apache (unenrolled if that matters to you), Mexican, and Irish, a history professor at St. Phillip's College in San Antonio TX. I've also taught at San Antonio College and Arizona State University.
ETA: Now teaching at Northern Virginia Community College.
I've met Annika, Barnaby, and Ingeborg in person on the tour in Europe, as well as worked with Annika and Folke on two documentaries. I've spoken on the phone with some of you as well, Debbie, Pat, and others, and known many of you online since the beginning of NAFPS, some eight years ago or so. I'm proud to work with many of you and all the good work we've done over the years.
I'm one of the co founders, and because of that (plus a few other reasons) I often get the most flack for what NAFPS does. The other reasons are that I don't hide who I am, and am prepared to take any hits for the work we do. I don't believe I can hide or even should try, and I know that doing so would just lead to lots of bizarre rumors. In any case, a few nuts talking trash is a small price to pay for defending tradition.
Still, I'm only one of half a dozen moderators in here, and only one of now over 600 people, and one of at least 50 or 60 of the most active members. So if you hear anyone call this "my" group or forum, understand that that's a lot of nonsense.
Another reason for many of the bizarre rumors which get spread about myself and often about NAFPS by extension is because of another website I run,
www.davidyeagley.org. Yeagley, his followers, and partners in crime devote a great deal of effort against NAFPS because of my side project exposing him as the white supremacist imposter he is and his membership and ties to half a dozen of the worst racist organizations in the country.
One friend and supporter of Yeagley's is John Lekay, a racist English Nuage promoter who is in a number of threads in here. Yeagley and Lekay and co have vested interests in doing all they can to defame and sometime libel NAFPS and myself, Lekay as the promoter of a fraud named Suzanne Dupree that he wants to set up as the "true" owner of the Lakota sacred pipe, and Yeagley as a paid shill for the Far Right doing all he can to tear down and disrupt any and all Native causes in the name of his white supremacy beliefs.
I'm glad to say that all that Yealgey, Lekay, and others have tried to do to harm NAFPS and myself over the years has been a complete and utter FAILURE. In most ways it's completely backfired. NAFPS is stronger than ever and more respected than ever, constantly used as a resource by hundreds of sites and working with numerous other activists and institutions.
Personally, they haven't been able to touch me either. I continue to work and write works published in academia. And I'm proud to tell of you in here two very important new announcements.
The first is news some of you have known was coming for some time. My first book is being published. Originally my dissertation, it's been rewritten and taken out of the dissertation mold, done with both a Native and a general audience in mind. Above all I aimed for my book to support oral traditions, and be a work that Native veterans and their families would want to read and reread again, to understand the traditions in the broadest possible context, and refer to when a non-Native asks them why so many NDNs are vets. It's also still more than rigorously researched enough to be put out on an academic press. That's something the likes of David Yeagley and other professional liars and deceivers could never hope for.
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http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Medicine-Bags-and-Dog-Tags,673393.aspxMedicine Bags and Dog Tags
American Indian Veterans from Colonial Times to the Second Iraq War
Al Carroll
Hardcover
2008. 296 pp.
978-0-8032-1085-1
$45.00 s
Read an Excerpt (pdf)
As far back as colonial times, Native individuals and communities have fought alongside European and American soldiers against common enemies. Medicine Bags and Dog Tags is the story of these Native men and women whose military service has defended ancient homelands, perpetuated longstanding warrior traditions, and promoted tribal survival and sovereignty.
Drawing on a rich array of archival records and oral traditions, Al Carroll offers the most complete account of Native veterans to date and is the first to take an international approach, drawing comparisons with Native veteran traditions in Canada and Mexico. He debunks the “natural warrior??? stereotype as well as the popular assumption that Natives join the military as a refuge against extreme poverty and as a form of assimilation. The reasons for enlistment, he argues, though varied and complex, are invariably connected to the relative strengths of tribal warrior traditions within communities. Carroll provides a fascinating look at how the culture and training of the American military influenced the makeup and tactics of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s and 1970s and how, in turn, Natives have influenced U.S. military tactics, symbolism, and basic training.
Al Carroll is Mescalero Apache (unenrolled), Mexican, and Irish. He is an adjunct professor of history at St. Phillip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, and his articles have appeared in several contributed volumes.
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It's coming out in June, and is already widely available online at dozens of sites for ordering advance copies.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22medicine+bags+and+dog+tags&btnG=Google+SearchSo if any of you read it, let me know what you think of it. I'll likely be doing public appearances to promote it also.
The other piece of news is also something I'm pretty excited about. As of this week, it's official. I'm now a Fulbright Scholar. For anyone whose not familar with the Fulbright Program.
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http://www.cies.org/about_fulb.htmThe Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship program in international educational exchange....
Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching...chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential...to exchange ideas and to contribute to finding solutions to shared issues....
Both U.S. and Visiting Fulbright Scholars lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields ranging from journalism and urban planning to music, philosophy, business administration and zoology.
The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs....
The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 scholars and professionals each year to over 140 countries, where they lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
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To say this is prestigious is a huge understatement. This is one of the most highly acclaimed and respected awards anywhere in academia, and very hard to get. In fact I was one of only two awards for this year for the social sciences for this nation. Typically there are hundreds of people competing for any one award.
I'll be living in the city of Makassar (population 1.2 million) on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia from September of 2008 to June of 2009.
http://www.forumms.com/makassar_today.htm I'll be teaching at the University of Hasinuddan, which is described as the best university in the eastern half of Indonesia (population 235 million.)
http://www.unhas.ac.id/english/index.php I couldn't find out their exact enrollment numbers, but the site mentions dorms for 1500 students and an auditorium holding 3000. The number of alumni for all of their colleges is pretty impressive too. The campus looks pretty modern and they have a very prestigious history of research.
http://www.unhas.ac.id/english/index.php?menu=studentsI will be teaching Indonesians about the history of tribal peoples and other minorities in the US so they can compare it to their own country's history. And while I'm there I'll be doing research for my next book, looking at tribal soldiers in Asia. This means I'll be looking at how and why members of Indonesian tribal peoples like the Dayaks, Papuans, and Torangans join the military and what their experiences are like.
I want everyone to know that, although I'll be extremely busy both teaching and researching, I will still do my best to be a part of NAFPS. I believe very strongly in the work we do here and it always does my heart good to see all the people we help.
But if it takes a bit longer for me to get back to someone, or if someone wants to call me on the phone or ask me to call them on the phone, keep in mind that's much harder, both for the expense and the time difference (which I think is eighteen hours.)
Keep in mind that there are five other very good moderators here, lots of dedicated NDN actvists, our handful of good friends in Europe, and hundreds of just plain good hearted people and people eager to know more or do more on this issue.
In any case, I won't be leaving until mid August at the earliest and will still be a part of NAFPS. Always. The only thing the crackpots like Yeagley and Lekay and Holzwarth do is make me more determined to carry on.
