Michigan Global Awareness

The Michigan Global Awareness Consortium contacted Mico Slattery, the Native American Studies instructor at Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College, last spring and invited him to deliver a series of lectures on the effect of globalization on indigenous people of the world. This spring, in March and April of 2006, Slattery gave a series of talks at various colleges in northern Michigan titled “Globalization and the Failed Policy of American Indian Assimilation: Same Animal, Different Stripes.” All of the talks were followed by an intensive discussion. He gave two lectures at Mid-Michigan Community College, one at the main Harrison Campus and one at their Mt. Pleasant Campus. He also spoke at Alpena Community College in Alpena, Kirtland Community College in Roscommon, Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, and North Central Michigan College in Petosky. Bay de Noc was on the original schedule, but due to weather constraints, that lecture was cancelled.
Slattery presented information to his audiences on several World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies that directly affect sovereignty, not only of indigenous people but also of different nations, like Peru. As he explained it, national policies of sovereignty do not exist for the International Monetary Fund, for the signatory nations to the World Trade Organization. His presentation at the schools was the final event of five in this year’s Global Awareness series, called The Impact of Globalization on Traditional Societies. The lectures/talks were well attended, ranging from the size of a small seminar to over a hundred people, depending on the size of the host school.