VIDEO & DISCUSSION: Boxers of Brule
Discussion led by Carolyn Fiscus, Winnebago elder & retired Native American Studies Professor and youth wrestling coach
At 23 years old, Shaionna Grass Rope lost her best friend Cheryl Ziegler to suicide. Cheryl- her cousin by blood and sister by culture- was an aspiring boxer who battled depression and addiction. Though facing the same struggles, Shaionna creates a boxing team for the girls following in their footsteps, determined to end trends of youth suicide within the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. The preteen squad faces the challenges of growing up on a reservation together with humor, sass and slushy-stained smiles.
A recording of this lecture is not available. The Question and Answer discussion is recorded at:
Connect to the Q & A discussion: Boxers of Brule
VIRTUAL Lecture: Growing Up With Heroes: A Daughter’s Journey with the Navajo Code Talkers
Zonnie Gorman, Historian, Consultant & Lecturer
Zonnie’s presentation is a touching and riveting story about the original famous Navajo Code Talkers. This very first group – the First Twenty-nine – was the pilot project in 1942 who created the first Navajo code. As a historian and the daughter of the oldest member, Carl Gorman, Zonnie expertly weaves her personal connection and intimate knowledge with thirty years of archival research and collected first account stories. You will experience the Navajo reservation of the 1940s, the federal boarding schools, and learn about the devastating U.S. Government policy of Assimilation designed to destroy Indian lifeways and languages. Most importantly, you will discover how the First Twenty-nine created the initial Navajo code and how their life experiences, cultural upbringing, and sheer ingenuity helped secure America’s freedom in the Pacific.
Recording only available to MCC personnel and students with current MCC ID/password through February 27, 2023.
Watch: Growing Up With Heroes: A Daughter’s Journey with the Navajo Code Talkers
VIRTUAL Lecture: Beyond Land Acknowledgement
Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, Oglala Lakota, Director of Native Student Services, University of South Dakota B.A. University of Pennsylvania, EdM, Harvard University
Land acknowledgements have become a powerful introduction to convocations, graduations, meetings, conferences, and more. Despite the intent, institutions must challenge themselves to move away from performative acts, and move into commitments of real transformative change. Actionable ideas and concepts for how to move beyond a performative land acknowledgement and towards genuine relationships with Native community members will be presented.
DATE: Monday, November 7
TIME: 10:30-11:45 a.m. CDT
Register for Beyond Land Acknowledgement
VIRTUAL LECTURE: Un-settling: A Story of Land Removal and Resistance
Gregg Deal, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Multi-disciplinary Artist, Activist, and "Disruptor"
Gregg Deal’s work is informed by his Native identity and includes exhaustive critiques of American society, politics, popular culture and history. Through paintings, murals, performance work, filmmaking, spoken word, and more, Deal invites the viewer to confront these issues both in the present and the past tense.
In a 2018 TED Talk, Deal described his work as “honoring Indigenous experiences, challenging stereotypes, and pushing for accurate representations of Indigenous people in art.” It is in these "disruptions" of stereotypes and ahistorical representations which Deal uses the term to describe his work.
Deal has exhibited his work at notable institutions both locally, nationally, and internationally including the Denver Art Museum, RedLine Gallery, and The Smithsonian Institution. He lives with his wife and five children along the Front Range of Colorado.
Watch the Virtual Lecture: Un-Settling: A Story of Land Removal and Resistance on YouTube.
LECTURE/STORYTELLING: using culture and story to model healthy relationships
Aldo Seoane, Yoeme -lineal descent, community advocate
Aldo has worked extensively in the areas of reclaiming culture and traditions to help heal trauma and provide safer spaces for women and children. Aldo worked for White Buffalo Calf Women's Society, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's Lakota Language and Cultural Preservation Project and to the First Nations Women’s Alliance.
Aldo Seoane is a co-founder of Wica Agli, a domestic and sexual violence awareness organization focused on engaging men in the conversation of ending violence against women and children located in Mission, South Dakota.
Aldo Seoane has been actively working with tribal organizations across the country to raise awareness of the intersections of domestic and sexual violence and the need to reclaim traditional teaching in indigenous communities that support healthy life ways.
Watch USING CULTURE AND STORY TO MODEL HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS again on YouTube
PROCLAMATION ON NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH 2021
Connect to the MCC YouTube page to view virtual recordings of International/Intercultural Education programming.
Contact interculturaled@mccneb.edu or 531-622-2253 for more information.
Additional International/Intercultural Education virtual programming can be found on YouTube.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Audience members requiring accommodations due to a disability must contact Barbara Velazquez, bvelazquez@mccneb.edu, 531-622-2253 at least two weeks prior to the program.
