International Fellowship Program will bring Latin American professors to OU to study US legal policies

Maria Prato-Gaines

Daily Staff Writer

The international community will soon be the beneficiary of the OU Law school's newest program.

This International Fellowship Program plans to bring professors from various Latin American countries to OU annually, to learn about US legal policies concerning Native Americans, said Lindsay Robertson, creator of the program and the director of the study for American Indian law and policy at OU.

Upon their departure, he said, these professors would be able to apply the Native American legal studies to the issues concerning the indigenous population in their own countries.

Teodora Zamudio, a professor of an indigenous people's rights course at the University of Buenos Aires, sat in on Robertson's class, Native American Federal Law, for eight weeks this past summer before returning to her native Argentina.

The course offers a comprehensive discourse on the history of tribal property rights and jurisdiction issues, economic developments, tax issues, gaming and tobacco, Robertson said.

"The OU program has been extremely useful for me and I expect for my country and the Argentine indigenous people," Zamudio said in the e-mail. "I think that many of our problems (concerning) this issue is the inexperience, that certainly the US has."

Zamudio said in the e-mail that she plans to start small in Argentina but expects big results.

"I will start letting some (of the) provincial government (know) about the American Indian Law. I am sure this will be enlightening for them," she said. "Maybe a deep reform (will) take place. Some governments may feel encourage to take advantage of the American experience and follow the goals and avoid the mistakes made here."

Both Zamudio and Robertson see themselves as co-beneficiaries of the program.

"What she got here was an exposure to solutions," Robertson said. "Failed experiments and more successful experiments. She's getting ideas that had direct application."

"This course of Professor Robertson's has been super productive for me and I think the beginning of a truly inter-American exchange," Zamudio said in the e-mail.

During her visit Zamudio had the opportunity to rub elbows with many of Oklahoma's higher ups, including Governor Brad Henry and Principle Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chad Smith.

"(Governor Henry) and Chief Smith have been very sensible people," Zamudio said in the e-mail. "They really care about building a solid link with Latin America and I think it is not only a wonderful idea but a very necessary one."

Robertson said Argentina's issues center around the location of its indigenous people, who have settled and expanded on both the Chile and Bolivian borders.

"They're a bit different from the issues we focus on," he said.

Zamudio noted the differences as well.

"They are 'native' but their similarities stop there. I think- American native people have a large and long experience in political, economic and social issues that our Indian people do not have," she said in the e-mail. "They never had the opportunity to grow politically and any other way as here."

Although the program was a success this year, Robertson said he is looking toward future developments.

"Next year I'm hoping to bring two professors," Robertson said. "I'm looking for candidates in Brazil and Bolivia."

These countries were not picked at random, as it was not a coincidence that Argentina piloted the program.

"I work alphabetically," Robertson said.

Bolivia is ripe for the picking as the country has the highest percent of indigenous people in all of Latin America, he said.

"I think (it's) something like 80 percent of the population," Robertson said.

He also said that Bolivia's newest president elect is of this indigenous population.

Brazil on the other hand, Robertson said is another prime nominee because of its growing Amazonian population.

Giving these countries even more incentive to participate, the OU Law School's Native American program is considered one of most elite in the country.

"There are probably half a dozen programs that offer Indian law programs," he said. "We have the highest number of enrolled Native American students in any public law school in the country and offer the greatest number of Indian law courses."

Looking toward the future Robertson hopes OU's program will have a global effect.

"I would like for it to bring and create a network of law professors who work in this area throughout the western hemisphere and an appreciation for the legal situation in other countries so we can all work together," he said.
hello there & you too