The American Indian and Native Studies Program (AINSP) was instituted at The University of Iowa in 1993. AINSP is a broad, interdisciplinary area of research and scholarship that focuses on the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. It includes (but is not limited to) subject areas such as history, legal policy, culture, literature, and art. The diversity of cultures represented in this field is vast, as is the temporal depth of these societies. One goal of The University of Iowa's AINSP is to foster greater awareness of the richness of Native cultures, among Native and non-Native students. Given the dominant position of non-Natives in American society, American Indian and Native Studies takes the political stance of presenting material from a Native perspective as much as possible.