Indigenous Peoples' Day 2021
Intercultural Center Land Acknowledgement
The Intercultural Center at Brandeis University acknowledges our occupation of Massachusett, Nipmuc, and Pawtucket homelands and territories. We recognize that the very existence of our university in Waltham has been facilitated by the dispossession, enslavement, forced removal, and dispersal of Native communities by settler colonialism. We acknowledge that the allotment of Native lands and termination of Native sovereignty emerged in New England during the Massachusetts Enfranchisement and Allotment Act of 1866, and we recognize that this land acknowledgement is but one aspect of our ongoing effort to take action to support Indigenous communities.;
At the Intercultural Center, we recognize the critical role we must play in repairing our relationships with local Native communities and with the land. We seek to understand the longstanding history of our occupation of this land, and we strive to amplify Native narratives, honor and respect Native sovereignty and cultural rights, and strengthen our relationships with local communities and organizations, and we do so with sincere reverence, humility, and gratitude.
Schedule of Events
The 2021 Indigenous Peoples' Day Teach-In was held over two days, October 11-12, 2021, to enable wider participation and to accommodate virtual and in-person events.
This event was co-sponsored by The Intercultural Center, the Department of Women & Genders Studies, the History Department, the Office of the President, the Dean's Co-Curricular Grant, the Anthropology Department, the Department of African and African American Studies, the German Studies Department, the Prevention Advocacy Resource Center, the Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation Program, the Peacebuilding and the Arts program, the Brandeis Student Union, the Brandeis Library, the Office of Graduate Affairs, the Gender & Sexuality Center, the Film, Television, and Interactive Media Studies, the Women's Studies Research Center, the Heller School Office of Equity Inclusion & Diversity.
October 11, 2021
The Nettukkusqk Singers
The Nettukkusqk Singers are an intertribal group of southern New England women performing traditional and contemporary songs accompanied by hand drums, rattles, and water drum. In the Natick dialect of Algonquin, “nettukkusqk” means “my sister.”
October 11, 2021
Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi)
Dr. Renae Watchman (Diné & Tsalagi) and Dr. Florentine Strzelczyk present on the phenomenon of Indianthusiasm in Germany, with particular emphasis on Indigenous presence across the pond. They explore contemporary Indigenous issues that encourage decolonial frameworks that challenge and reframe Indianthusiasm.
October 11, 2021
Mahtowin Munro (Lakota/United American Indians of New England)
A member of the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) leadership, Mahtowin Munro (Lakota) will present on Indigenous rights and the importance of climate justice.
October 11, 2021
Amanda Cobb-Greetham, (Chickasaw/Oklahoma University)
Amanda Cobb-Greetham of Oklahoma U is a citizen of the Chickasaw nation and has written about the history of education within the Chickasaw nation. Focused on nation-building, Amanda founded the Auntie Project, which organized support for migrant children separated from their families. Her presentation will explore "Decolonizing, Indigenizing, and Creating Space".
October 12, 2021
Cuauhtémoc Peranda (Mescalero Apache Nation, Mexika-Chichimeca/Cano/ UC Riverside)
Cuauhtémoc Peranda (Mescalero Apache, Mexika-Chichimeca/Cano; cihuaiyolo butch queen) will present on Indigenous Dance. Drawing on their research about the development of the House Ballroom Scene, and how queer, transgender and two-spirit black, and blackened indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere have deployed the dance form of vogue as a praxis of decolonization, realness, colonialism, transformational resilience via shade, and queering indigenous knowledge reclamation.
Photo Credit: Terez Dean
October 12, 2021
Chadra Pittman ( Seminole, Chocataw, The Weyanoke Association)
Chadra Pittman is Founder & Executive Director of The Sankofa Projects (where she works to preserve the legacy, history & culture of the African diaspora) and 4 E.V.E.R (End Violence End Rape), an activist organization that seeks to end sexual violence, eradicate rape culture while advocating for deaf and LGBTQIA+ inclusion across the 4 directions of the Earth. Ms. Pittman will discuss "African and Native Relationships throughout History. The stolen land, stolen people and forced migration of African and Native Peoples. Through her lectures and writing, Chadra gives voice to the neglected narratives, and ensures that they find their rightful place within the historical record.
October 12, 2021
Ivan Macdonald and Ivy Macdonald, (Blackfeet/Independent Filmmakers)
Ivy and Ivan MacDonald (Blackfeet) are siblings and independent filmmakers who will joins us in a brief screening of their short film: “When They Were Here: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2-Spirit People” The film is their latest of films bringing awareness to the Missing Murdered and Indigenous Women movement.
Event Recordings
Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice
Decolonizing, Indigenizing, and Creating Space
Indigenous Dance
I, Too, Am America
When They Were Here