INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING PROPOSALS FOR NAISA

Please ensure your proposal fits these instructions before submitting it. Proposals that do not include this information may be considered ineligible for review.

 Select the category that best fits your proposal:

• Individual Paper
• Individual paper submissions are single presentations of no more than 20 minutes, which will be organized into sessions with other Individual Papers.
• Panel
• panels of at least three presenters, a chair, and (optionally) a commentator to present developed papers
• Roundtable
• A Roundtable brings together a group interested in some defined topic of discussion and opens that discussion up to include the audience. A Chair to moderate the discussion is strongly recommended.
• Creative Works/Film Screening/Performance/Video Games and Digital Works/Installations & Activations (Please note that there will be limited capacity for these kinds of presentations depending on the availability of appropriate venues)

See “Categories of Proposals,” below, for a definition of each category.

Additional Notes:

• Panel, Roundtable, and Creative Works time slots are scheduled for one hour and 45 minutes. Individual paper sessions are scheduled for 20-minute time slots.
• Sessions may be linked, but no more than two panels or roundtables can be included in proposals for linked sessions.

Information for all proposals

Presenter, organizer, commentator, author information

• Names, email addresses, and affiliations for all participants in session

Title For Your Proposal: 120 character limit

• The title should succinctly describe the topic of your presentation. The audience depends upon the title when choosing to attend papers/sessions. NAISA Council has received consistent feedback that titles that do not describe a paper or session make it difficult to choose what sessions/papers to attend. 
• For panels, you should have titles for each presentation

Abstract: 250 word limit

The abstract should answer the following questions:

• What Is this paper/session about?
• Who does it concern? Who is impacted by this research?
• When does it take place?
• Where is/are the geographic context(s), if applicable, to which your paper speaks?
• How? (What methods are used?)
  • Does your proposal represent a research collaboration? If so, what kind? Such as, with knowledge holders outside the academy? Within a team at your own institution? Within a team at multiple institutions? Something else?
• Why are the questions or inquiry or conclusions important? What is your contribution to scholarship in Native American and Indigenous Studies?
  • Is this proposal based on independent research, or is this proposal a literature review?
• For panels, you should have abstracts for each presentation

Additional Notes: 

• State your findings/conclusions explicitly; it helps the Program Committee evaluate your proposal and Program readers decide on which papers/sessions to attend.
• If you are working on a large project, focus your proposal on a chunk of it. It takes 2-3 minutes to read a double-spaced page: 20-minute paper = 10 pages, max. Structure your abstract so that your ideas can be covered in 20 minutes. 
• Begin your abstract with your topic/focus/question. Indicate clearly what you plan to argue/show/demonstrate. If there is necessary background or contextual information, put it at the end – not the beginning.
• To sum up: Is your abstract scholarly, focused, substantive, and descriptive?

Review Criteria:

In order to receive full consideration by the Program Committee, your proposal should:

• Avoid discipline- or area-specific jargon or terminology. NAISA is broadly interdisciplinary, international, and includes community-based as well as academic-based scholars. Try to avoid special terminology or explicitly define it if it is necessary. Our top criteria for acceptance is innovative, original scholarship that clearly explains its argument and scholarly contribution in terms accessible to a non-specialist.
• Ensure that the number of participants in your panel, roundtable, or creative session can reasonably be included in the one hour 45 minute schedule time slot.
• A positionality statement is required for all presenters at the NAISA conference. As part of your proposal, please include a positionality statement (150-words or less), describing the relationship to Indigenous communities of each presenter or participant in your proposal. This might include whether each presenter is a member of an Indigenous people and/or how each of you work with or alongside Indigenous communities. We invite you to share how the background, role, or lived experiences of each presenter inform her/his/their work and shape the way each of you engage with Indigenous communities and lands.
• Special Note: Due to space constraints, the Program Committee places a priority on panels and roundtables, as well as the work of graduate students (whether submitted as individual papers or as part of panels and roundtables). 

Conference Themes

In consultation with the 2025 Local Host Committee, NAISA welcomes proposals that include one or more of the following themes:

• Land, Water, Territories
• Climate Change and Native Lands
• Artificial Intelligence and Indigeneity
• Authoritarianism and Settler Colonialism
• Indigenous Politics and the State
• Policy, Law, and Governance
• Colonial Violence, Militarization, and Criminalization of Indigenous Struggles
• Health and Indigeneity
• Indigenous Economies 
• Education and Colonialism
• Decolonization and Indigenous Pedagogies 
• Knowledge Systems and Land-based Knowledges
• Cultural Heritage and Preservation
• Indigenous Languages
• Memory, Community and Historical Methods
• Creativity and Indigenous Poetics
• Music and Sound
• Performance and Visual Arts
• Film and Media
• Technology
• Race and Racialization
• Gender and Sexuality
• The Body
• Critical University Studies

Please select the themes that apply to your proposal.

If your research does not fit into any of these categories or themes, we still encourage you to submit a proposal for the conference.

CATEGORIES OF PROPOSALS

Individual Paper Proposal

Include your name, institutional affiliation, paper title (120 characters max), and abstract (250 words max).

Make the scope of your presentation appropriate to the venue. Professional meetings are not an appropriate venue to present class papers that survey the scholarship within some academic field, unless some substantively new or creative interpretation is presented. The NAISA Program Committee has been skeptical of proposals that claim to survey all of American Indian/Native/First Nations/Indigenous Studies conceptually, methodologically, ethically, or otherwise. 

Panel Proposal

A panel brings together a Chair and presenters and (optionally) a Commentator, to present developed papers. A commentator who discusses the papers is recommended, but not required. The Chair briefly introduces each presenter; keeps each presenter on time; and moderates discussion/questions from the audience at the conclusion of the session. A Chair may also present a paper, but they or someone else on the panel must monitor their time. The Commentator may not present a paper as part of the panel.

The Program Committee encourages organizers to recruit Chairs who are well established in the field of scholarship the panel addresses, especially if there are graduate students on the panel, as a way for senior and junior colleagues to get to know one another. Because NAISA meetings facilitate interdisciplinary and international cross-fertilization of ideas, the Program Committee encourages panel proposals that mix junior and senior scholars, practitioners, graduate students, and others, and scholars from different institutions, communities, disciplines, and nations. No more than two panels can be included in proposals for linked sessions.

Panel proposals should be submitted by an organizer who confirms the agreement of all participants and compiles all necessary information (panel title and abstract; individual paper titles, authors, and abstracts; and contact information for panelists). Please be sure to include the panel chair and commentator/discussant (if relevant).

 Possible time frames for Panels

• 3 papers (20 min. each) + Comment (20 minutes) + approximately 20 minutes for audience questions and discussion;

• 4 papers (20 min each), NO Comment, approximately 20 minutes for audience questions and discussion;

• 5 papers (15 min each), NO Comment + approximately 20 minutes for audience questions and discussion; and

• Time might be scheduled for introductory remarks by the Chair.

 For panel submissions in All Academic: 

• The panel chair/organizer must submit the first entry and then add papers for other presenters.  
• You add each paper to the panel submission, by clicking the “add paper” option for the panel session and then you can select a “paper presenter” role for each.
• You must add each paper for the panel to your submission.

Roundtable Proposal

A Roundtable brings together a group interested in some defined topic of discussion and opens that discussion up to include the audience. A Chair to moderate the discussion is strongly recommended. Because NAISA meetings facilitate interdisciplinary and international cross-fertilization of ideas, the Program Committee encourages proposed roundtables that mix junior and senior scholars, practitioners, graduate students and others, and scholars from different institutions, communities, disciplines, and nations.

Creative Works/Film Screening Proposal

A Creative Works proposal without people to speak about the creative work does not qualify for presentation at the conference. Creative works proposals should include commentary by the artist, critics, and those who can provide scholarly context for or interpretation of the works, and/or those who teach the works in classes. It is expected that the artists are present for the session. Films will be classified as work-in-progress or rough-cut screenings and not official screenings, thus allowing for film festival submissions in Oklahoma. Because of space considerations, visual and material art cannot be installed for the duration of the conference as an exhibit, but artist talks and exhibits that can be presented within a single conference session are welcomed.

 The Proposal Must Include

• Time: how long the creative works performance or presentation is, plus time for the commentary/discussion (preferably by more than one speaker).
• Link: to a preview, trailer, prescreening, or visual images from the work.
• Spatial & Technical Requirements: Your request for the room, A/V, and/or type/setup/dimensions of space — please outline the specific preferences for your proposal, keeping in mind the Program Committee may not be able to accommodate all requests/combinations:
  • Studio/Movement space

• Projector

• Wired Microphones

• Wireless Microphones and/or headsets

• Single or multiple screens – indicate number

• Audio requirements including speakers

• Flexible furniture/seating for audience space

• Lighting – total darkness / dimmable/adjustable lighting

• Outdoor space

• Paint/Painting Surfaces

• Other

To sum up: Include title, artist, length of performance, screening, creative works presentation and summary.

 The Program Committee is open to suggestions for alternative formats for creative and scholarly presentations at the annual meeting. Please contact the NAISA Council well in advance of the proposal deadline to discuss your ideas. Go to naisa.org for contact information.

GOOD RELATIONS AT NAISA 

When you submit an abstract proposal, you are making a professional commitment to  attend the conference if your abstract is accepted. If a presenter who has been accepted to  the Program is not able to attend the meeting, please contact the NAISA OFFICE (contact.naisa@gmail.com) as well as the session CHAIR as soon as possible. Emergencies happen, but the rate of late cancellations and no-shows has become an issue of serious concern at NAISA meetings. In the last week before the annual meeting, panels have been left with only one presenter. Late withdrawals from the Program for other than emergency reasons seriously impact your colleagues within your session and the audience and may disqualify your future submission to NAISA. See the conference website or Registration website for directions and deadlines for requesting a refund of the Registration fee.

It is the policy of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) that all participants in NAISA activities will enjoy an environment free from all forms of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. As a professional and scholarly association, NAISA is committed to providing an atmosphere that encourages the free expression and  exchange of ideas in respectful ways, as well as an environment that nurtures community, accountability, and protection of the vulnerable. In pursuit of that ideal, NAISA opposes violence in any form. NAISA is dedicated to the philosophy of equality of opportunity and  treatment for all members, regardless of gender, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion or religious belief, age, sexual orientation, disability, or any other reason. Harassment, sexual or otherwise, is a form of misconduct that undermines  the ethical integrity of NAISA meetings. 

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING NAISA!

FAQ: Using All Academic

1. How do I log in to the All Academic submission site? 
   1. Go to: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/naisa/naisa25/ and log-in with an existing account (if you have already visited this year’s site) or select the “create a new account” option. 
   2. You must login to the site to submit a proposal
2. How do I navigate the submission site? 
   1. Before you begin, you will need: 1) your proposal’s title and abstract; 2) your author or presenter’s information (name, affiliation, email address, etc) and 3) all paper abstract(s). These should be ready to “cut and paste” where requested in the online form.
   2. Always use the navigation menu at the top of the All Academic page. In the top right corner, you will see three tabs: "Logout," "Main Menu," and "Help." These three options will be available throughout the submission process.
   3. Avoid using the “back” button on your web browser. All Academic has its own “back” button that members should use. Please note: if you use your browser’s “back” and “refresh” buttons, you will not always land on the page you would expect and you may be booted out of the system altogether.
   4. Save often. If you make changes by typing information or clicking links to move items around a page, you will lose those changes if you do not save them. Your actions are also saved each time you click "Accept and Continue."
   5. When you create sessions or edit proposals, you must click all the way through the process until you land on the status menu. Your changes are not written to the database until you complete the process.
   6. Your submission is complete and ready for review only when you have clicked the "Accept and Continue" button on the Submission Summary page at the end of the process. You must finish this process without logging out, closing your browser, or beginning another submission.
3. How can I edit my proposal?
   1. Session submitters may edit their proposals prior to the October deadline. To edit a session that you have already submitted, click "Submit or Edit a Proposal" on the Main Menu. A list of your submitted proposals by title will appear at the bottom of the page. Select the desired "edit" link. The next page will display the Submission Summary. You can edit data using the “Edit” link to the right of each item of session information (title, abstract, etc.). Edit the desired data and follow the forms back to the Submission Summary using "Accept and Continue" on each page. Once all the data on the form is accurate, click "Complete Submission.”
4. How will I know if I’ve successfully completed my submission?
   1. Once you have completed a submission you will receive an automated email from "do_not_reply@allacademic.com." The email will arrive within minutes of completing your submission.