November is Native American Heritage Month
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“I’ve done these installations all over the world. I feel very strongly that whenever you step out the door with art, it’s a dialogue. You have to allow people to respond to your work. If they graffiti it, well, that’s part of their response.” |
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― Hock E Aye Edgar Heap of Birds, on the vandalism of Native Hosts in New York in 1988 |
We began the semester learning that panels of the “Native Hosts” exhibition in front of the Spencer Museum of Art had been vandalized and later stolen. The series of panels created by KU alum Hock E Aye Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho) uses language to call viewers’ attention to the Native nations whose land they occupy. Heap of Birds created the piece hoping to highlight the roles of hosts and visitors and to envision generosity in contrast to the history of violence against Indigenous peoples. “Native Hosts” invites reflection on our relationships to one another and the past.
In that spirit, we invite you to use November – Native American Heritage Month – to explore and support the diverse cultures, histories, and contributions of Native peoples.
- Check out this interactive map to learn more about the Native hosts on whose land we stand as Kansans.
- Attend a special event with Inaugural Poet Laureate of the Diné Nation, Luci Tapahonso. Join friends from the KU Medical Center for this online event. Registration is open now for November 17 at 11 a.m.
- Listen to “Liberating Sovereign Potential in Indigenous Education: Building Capacity and Confronting Colonial Entanglements” with Dr. Alex Red Corn (Osage) on November 17. 2021 at 12 p.m. [Zoom link expired; current link leads to KU Today article with an email address].
- Join the First Nations Student Association and the Emily Taylor Center on November 4 at 7 p.m. for the Jana Mackey Distinguished Lecture, “Bodily Sovereignty: Survivors and Justice,” featuring Prof. Sarah Deer (Muskogee Creek). Held in Burge Union Forum A and online.
- Learn at “Community Learning & Practice: Native Ways of Thinking, Knowing, Being – Language as Culture” with Dr. Joe Brewer (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) and Dr. Ignacio Carvajal on November 18 at 12 p.m. We’ll consider how language is learned and shared across species, and how words shape our understanding. The zoom registration link will be posted on thecommons KU website.
- Read [the 2021-2022] Common Book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Citizen Potawatomi Nation).
- Register for Dr. Wall Kimmerer’s live-streamed talk on November 10 at 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
- Visit the Haskell Indian Nations University Cultural Center & Museum, 2411 Barker Ave. It’s open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. every other Friday. Call 785-832-6686.
- Donate to the KU First Nations Student Association emergency fund through KU Endowment.
- Volunteer your time with the Kansas City Indian Center, from general office help to specific programming and events. Email information@haicindian.com to sign up.
- Sign the “Not in Our Honor” Coalition’s petition to change the name of Kansas City’s pro football team.
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“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” |
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― Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass |