Fairbanks, Alaska
April 7 - 9, 2017

“This year’s conference theme is ‘Sustaining Indigenous Livelihoods,’ and begins the centennial celebration of the University of Alaska Fairbanks,” said Sean Asiqłuq Topkok, an assistant professor of education at UAF and co-chair of the 2017 Alaska Native Studies Conference. “This theme celebrates our dynamic cultures, our intimate relationship with the environment and our contributions to academia.”

Keynote speakers included Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier and a panel of three, young Alaska Native leaders, including Marjorie Kunaq Tahbone, Samuel Johns and Olivia Piiyuuk Shields.

Watt-Cloutier is internationally known for her advocacy work showing the impact of global climate change on human rights, especially in the Arctic where it has been more immediate and dramatic than anywhere else in the world. An officer of the Order of Canada, she has received the Aboriginal Achievement Award, the UN Champion of the Earth Award, the Norwegian Sophie Prize and the Right Livelihood Award.