For reasons that I won’t get into here, I didn’t get to attend most of
Saturday’s Keynote speech, delivered by the wonderful Native American Studies scholar Mark Rifkin. If anyone reading this was able to be there, please
share some of what he had to say, and your own thoughts of course, in comments!
I was however able to be at Friday’s Plenary Panel, and so wanted to highlight
briefly each of the three impressive speakers and a bit of what he or she had
to say:
1)
Linda Coombs: Wampanoag elder,
historian, and educator Linda Coombs got the plenary started on a fiery and
impressive note, situating the ongoing plans for the 400th anniversary of the
Pilgrims’ arrival in Plymouth within the parallel American traditions of
violence toward and silencing of Native Americans. Linda’s one of the most
inspiring Americans I’ve had the chance to meet in person, and she sure didn’t
disappoint here.
2)
Timothy Ives: Former NEASA
Council colleague and current Rhode Island State
Archaeologist Tim Ives shifted things up, highlighting some much more
positive ongoing developments between the Narragansett tribe, other Rhode
Island interests, and his office. As Tim’s work proves, better remembering and
preserving our collective past has present and political stakes as well, and it’s
nice to know we’ve got folks like Tim fighting for those goals.
3)
Steve Stonearrow: Lakota medicine man and healer Steve Stonearrow
ended the plenary with an evocative reminder of the power of words, stories,
songs, and belief—within one community, across all Native American communities,
and for all Americans and humans. We can be educated and inspired by histories
and ideas (as Linda reminds us) and by work (as Tim does)—but also, and just as
powerfully, by lives and voices (as all three speakers do).
A highlight among many at this great conference! This weekend, a post on
what’s next for NEASA,
Ben
PS. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment