Tuesday, May 18, from 4:00-5:30 PM

Zoom link: http://tinyurl.com/committed5-18

Between 1902 and 1934, the United States confined hundreds of adults and children from dozens of Native nations at the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, a federal psychiatric hospital in

South Dakota. But detention at the Indian Asylum, as families experienced it, was not the beginning or end of the story. For them, Canton Asylum was one of many places of imposed removal and confinement, including reservations, boarding schools, orphanages, and prison-hospitals. Drawing on oral history interviews, correspondence, material objects, and archival sources, Burch reframes the histories of institutionalized people and the places that held them. Committed expands the boundaries of Native American history, disability studies, and U.S. social and cultural history.

Dr. Burch is Professor and Director of American Studies at Middlebury College. 

Everyone is welcome, and live captioning will be provided. For questions or for disability accommodations, please contact Allison Giffen at Allison.Giffen@wwu.edu.

This event is sponsored by Western Washington University’s Disability Studies Steering Committee in collaboration with the History Department, English Department, and Anthropology Department.