Native Americas, the award-winning journal edited and published through Cornell's Akwe:kon Press since 1995, has found a new home. The magazine has set up shop in Fredericksburg, Va., under the auspices of the First Nations Development Institute located there.
Jose Barreiro, editor in chief, and Brendan White, the journal's production manager, will continue with Native Americas in its new location. Barreiro is retiring from Cornell after 16 years.
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The journal's offices at the Akwe:kon house will be used for student activities, said Jane Mt. Pleasant, American Indian Program (AIP) director.
"AIP was an incubator for the journal, and this move represents another stage in the growth of this very successful publication," Mt. Pleasant, said. "It was always understood that this was a growing place for the magazine and not a permanent home."
Barreiro co-founded the magazine at Cornell's Akwe:kon Press in 1995 with Native American journalist Tim Johnson.
In recent years, the Akwe:kon Press won first place for "general excellence" and numerous other national journalism awards from the Native American Journalist Association. At the NAJA conference in 2002, Native Americas garnered top honors in nearly all major categories for the second year running.
Barreiro said the move to First Nations will strengthen the magazine's influence while increasing its reach. Current magazine circulation fluctuates between 4,000 and 5,000 readers (1,200 paid subscribers and 3,000-plus sponsored subscriptions). But special issues, such as "Global Warming, Climate Change and Native Lands," co-sponsored with a grant from NASA in Fall-Winter 1999, surged up to a circulation of 40,000.
Established in 1980, First Nations is a multifaceted agency that assists in the economic development of Native communities using a variety of programs which include financial consultation, grants and outreach education. Native Americas will enhance and expand the scope of the institute's publications department which currently publishes two newsletters and special editions.
"First Nations is very good fit for the magazine," Barreiro said. "Native Americas and the Akwe:kon Press are more than words on paper. We are a creative workshop that generates strategies and planning toward community development and empowerment. The idea is to process and make available useful information and useful contact between and among people working on similar issues and interests. It is the leading journal that reports on American Indian topics that transcend established political and intellectual borders within the Western Hemisphere and presents opinion-leading critiques of politics, economics, health, culture and the arts, while exploring traditional indigenous thinking to analyze and understand life, culture and nation in the Americas."
Mt. Pleasant said the magazine, while very good at what it does, has an editorial and journalistic mission that does not necessarily mesh with the more academic mission of AIP. She said the departure of Native Americas is both a positive sign of the magazine's growing influence in its field and an opportunity for AIP to expand its range of academic services.
Barreiro said Native Americas' founders raised more than $1.4 million dollars from private donors and foundations during their tenure at Cornell. The publication, now moving into its eighth year, continues to receive strong and loyal support from its core backers and is financially sound for the next several years, he said.
Barreiro leaves Cornell after serving a variety of academic and nonacademic positions for 16 years. He was AIP's associate director of communications, as well as editor in chief of the Akwe:kon Press. The press publishes books and, along with Native Americas staff and AIP, sponsors conferences and fields initiatives on related themes.
An author and journalist, Barreiro's writings have garnered journalistic prizes for best feature stories from the Native American Press Association and a best new fiction prize from the Los Angeles Times. In 1993, he was selected as one of the most influential 100 Latinos in the United States for his work in ethnic literatures.
Barreiro said he is proud of the accomplishments of the journal and the Akwe:kon Press, both journalistically and in terms of outreach. With help from AIP, Barreiro and the staff brought dozens of Native American leaders, educators, youth, culture bearers, community members and national organizations to the Cornell campus.
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