The 1st Annual Native American Studies Graduate Student Symposium was a tremendous success! In addition to the 5 moderators, 3 faculty participants, and 19 presenters, over 40 audience members from various departments across campus joined in the dialogues and conversations that took place in the Risling Room of Hart Hall.

For our inaugural year, the Native American Graduate Student Association transformed the Risling Room into a colorful display of student artwork, crafts, and presentations. Entering the room, attendees were greeted with California Indian basket weavings, Diné weavings looms and rugs, and 6 large pieces of Alicia María Siu’s canvas paintings, one of which was Iyat Pahtli (Tabacco Medicine), the symposium’s image for this years theme “Engaging the Indigenous Americas.”

Over the following eight hours, we listened, dialogued, ate, and began the steps of developing interdisciplinary communities. In addition to the stellar presentations from all participants and NAS faculty, moderators and audience members engaged with keen observations, questions, and suggestions that promoted much needed conversations on issues such as hemispheric philosophies, Native American literatures, visual sovereignty, approaches to Native histories, Indigenous epistemologies, and accountabilities to community.

Associate Professor Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie opened the space with a blessing reminding us of the footprints that we follow as scholars of Native American Studies. While the path through academia may be filled with obstacles, departments like NAS and events like our Graduate Student Symposium are helping to prepare us with tools to face the challenges and enjoy the travels.

Dr. Martha Macri’s keynote talk allowed for personal and professional insight to the hemispheric, interdisciplinary, and multi-lingual philosophies of the UC Davis Native American Studies Department. The day-long event ended with NAS student presentations of creative work, hosted by Dr. Inés Hernández-Avila who opened the session with a song, encapsulating the title of the session: “An evening of flower and song,” and closed the session with a reading for her mother. During the session, Alicia María Siu offered a keynote address about the artwork displayed throughout the day. NAS graduate students followed, highlighting their own creative activities such as California Indian basket weaving, Diné rug weavings, poetry, blog writing, and photography displays, reminding us that art is another facet of critical inquiry, knowledge, theory, and praxis.

After the symposium we left the Risling Room encouraged, not only because of the positive turn out but more importantly, because of the sense of community on the Davis campus. The work presented throughout the day was truly inspiring and reflected the solid work coming from UC Davis graduate students who critically engage Indigenous communities and ways of knowing. We are grateful to everyone who contributed in some form to the success of this event and look forward to next year’s symposium.

Archives of the day’s event will be available in the near future; so don’t forget to check back in with our symposium page.

Thank you from the symposium committee co chairs – Patricia Killelea and Christine M. Willie

Photos are courtesy of NAS Graduate Student Bayu Kristianto