Message from UC Davis Chancellor Katehi:This year's Native American Studies Graduate Student Symposium, Remaking the Indigenous Universe: Vision, Praxis, and Tradition, was an immense success. Thanks to the hard work of the symposium's planning committee, this event was able to bring graduate students from all throughout the country to join in important discussions regarding Indigenous peoples issues, concerns, and lives. Therefore, a big, warm "THANK YOU!" is due to the amazing committee members: Vanessa Esquivido-Meza, Angel Hinzo, Cutcha Risling Baldy, Stephanie Lumsden, Daniel Cornejo, Spencer Mann, SimHayKin Jack, Kaitlin Reed, Rachael Nez, Deserea Langley and Rebeca Figueroa. Also, this event could not have been possible without our supportive and amazing sponsors who provided funds to ensure that we can continue this amazing symposium, which is the only one in the country that is exclusive to graduate students who are engaged in the field of Indigenous/Native American Studies.
Our symposium is continuously expanding every year, in order to make sure that it continues to be an annual event. We had a major impact on our home campus, UC Davis. We even received a personalized thank you note from our Chancellor. Please read the message below: Dear Native American Studies Graduate Student Symposium Committee, Thank you so much for all you did to make this year’s symposium such an extraordinary event! I was delighted to hear of your success, and of the way that the interdisciplinary dialogue at this year’s gathering brought together scholars from across the country. Sharing research and ideas with a large community of student and scholars can lead to unusually productive and dynamic collaborations, and I am pleased that you brought such enthusiasm and excitement to the symposium. Those who attended undoubtedly enjoyed the sense of energy and wonderful collaborative spirit that are hallmarks of our UC Davis community. Again, thank you and congratulations on a very successful event. Sincerely, Linda Katehi We are so excited to know that our work is impacting administrators (and beyond!) on this campus. This comes to show that our symposium is here to stay. Our graduate students will soon begin the planning process for the 5th Annual Native American Studies Graduate Student Symposium. We hope that you will all be able to join us for our next year's awesome symposium. We will be posting any updates and information regarding the next year's symposium on this site, so please be sure to check back with us soon! Thank you. 4th Annual Native American Studies Graduate Student Symposium
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2015 Symposium Artwork
Click to read about our symposium art work this year made by NAS Grad Student Angel Hinzo! SponsorsUC President Napolitano
UC Davis Office of the Chancellor
UC Berkeley
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8:30-8:50 am
Welcoming Session & Opening Remarks
9:00-10:20 am
Session 6 - Visual Representations of an Indigenous Universe
10:30-11:50 am
Session 7 - Looking Back: Historical Resistance of Settler Colonialism
12:00-1:20 pm
Keynote Luncheon -- Vincent Medina
I was born in my ancestral Jalquin Ohlone homeland. Strongly aware and proud of my Ohlone identity, I work to educate others of a continuous Ohlone presence and to dispel negative stereotypes of my people. While living in two worlds, both contemporary and traditional, I strive to bring Ohlone culture into the modern era in multiple ways, including working diligently to reawaken my native Chochenyo Ohlone language, and I am seeing meaningful success. In the last year, I have been a language teacher in my community as part of a multigenerational effort to bring our language back home. I work at Mission Dolores in San Francisco, where I have developed a fair, honest portrayal of the effects of the Missions on Ohlone people and the cultural resistance that came with that, straying away from misconceptions and lies to focus on a truthful story of Indian experiences during the Mission period. I serve on the Board of Directors for the Advocates of Indigenous California Language Survival, a statewide organization that aims to foster the restoration and revitalization of California Indian languages, and I was recently brought on to Yocha Dehe’s Living Language Circle Board, which connects teachers of California Indian languages together. To outreach to the broader community, I work at Heyday Books, a publishing company that has produced several books by and about Ohlones and other California Indians, such asThe Ohlone Way, and the magazine News from Native California. In my spare time, I share my personal experiences through social media on my blog Being Ohlone in the 21st Century.
1:30-2:15 pm
Session 8 - Envisioning New Patterns: Undergraduate Research and Perspectives
2:25-3:45 pm
Session 9 - Native Futurities: Sharing Indigenous Knowledges Through Social Media
3:55 - 4:55 pm
Session 10 - Ascendant Indigenous Alliances: Identities in Dialogue
Welcoming Session & Opening Remarks
9:00-10:20 am
Session 6 - Visual Representations of an Indigenous Universe
- No Silent Apologies: Decolonial Approaches to Political Dialogue in Layli Longsoldier's Installation "Whereas We Respond" -- Patricia Killelea (UC Davis)
- Indigenous Expression in Urban Spatiality: Little Earth of United Tribes -- Rachel E. Hill (UC Los Angeles)
- Visual Sovereignty: Two Pictures of Diane Batres (Martin) -- Vanessa Esquivido-Meza (UC Davis)
- "México” - A Conversation Between Flutes -- Cuauhtemoc Quintero Lule (UC Davis)
10:30-11:50 am
Session 7 - Looking Back: Historical Resistance of Settler Colonialism
- Flowing Blood and Mining Gold: The Campaigns of Extermination in Mariposa and El Dorado Counties, 1850-1851 -- Andrew Shaler (UC Riverside)
- Intertribal Activism in Contemporary Ho-Chunk/Winnebago History -- Angel Hinzo (UC Davis)
- How the Seven Nations of Canada Resisted Encroachment During the American Revolution -- Loren Michael Mortimer (UC Davis)
- Space and Nourishment: The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and Subsistence Economies -- Jennifer Smith (UC Berkeley)
12:00-1:20 pm
Keynote Luncheon -- Vincent Medina
I was born in my ancestral Jalquin Ohlone homeland. Strongly aware and proud of my Ohlone identity, I work to educate others of a continuous Ohlone presence and to dispel negative stereotypes of my people. While living in two worlds, both contemporary and traditional, I strive to bring Ohlone culture into the modern era in multiple ways, including working diligently to reawaken my native Chochenyo Ohlone language, and I am seeing meaningful success. In the last year, I have been a language teacher in my community as part of a multigenerational effort to bring our language back home. I work at Mission Dolores in San Francisco, where I have developed a fair, honest portrayal of the effects of the Missions on Ohlone people and the cultural resistance that came with that, straying away from misconceptions and lies to focus on a truthful story of Indian experiences during the Mission period. I serve on the Board of Directors for the Advocates of Indigenous California Language Survival, a statewide organization that aims to foster the restoration and revitalization of California Indian languages, and I was recently brought on to Yocha Dehe’s Living Language Circle Board, which connects teachers of California Indian languages together. To outreach to the broader community, I work at Heyday Books, a publishing company that has produced several books by and about Ohlones and other California Indians, such asThe Ohlone Way, and the magazine News from Native California. In my spare time, I share my personal experiences through social media on my blog Being Ohlone in the 21st Century.
1:30-2:15 pm
Session 8 - Envisioning New Patterns: Undergraduate Research and Perspectives
- PORK, the fountain of youth: Okinawan Foodways as Cultural Preservation -- Rachel Rockholt (UC Davis)
- Problematic Pedagogy: Examining Cultural Competency, Critical Race Theory and the Presence of Native American Studies Topics in 4th Grade Classrooms -- Valentin Sierra (UC Davis)
2:25-3:45 pm
Session 9 - Native Futurities: Sharing Indigenous Knowledges Through Social Media
- "The Memory is in the Land" - Mapping for Mapuche Autonomy and Cultural Recovery -- Cinthya Ammerman (UC Davis)
- Navajo Storyteller's Experience of Graduate School -- Franklin Sage (University of North Dakota)
- Indigenous Language Revitalization in the Media -- SimHayKin S. Jack (UC Davis)
- Buzzfeeding my research: Engaging Indigenous Methodologies and Native American Studies in Popular Media Formats or Lessons Learned from the Blogosphere -- Cutcha Risling Baldy (UC Davis)
3:55 - 4:55 pm
Session 10 - Ascendant Indigenous Alliances: Identities in Dialogue
- Reclaiming Dakota Identity: Language and Oral History -- Jessa Rae Growing Thunder (UC Davis)
- "Ethnic Indians": Rights and Responsibilities of de-Indigenized Peoples -- Rebeca Figueroa (UC Davis)
- Decolonizing Academia: How Changing Theoretical and Practical Applications of Anthropology Can Aid Native American Communities in Remaking the Indigenous Universe -- Dayna Y. Barrios (Cal State Sacramento)