Tag Archives: tribal communities

Oneida Nation hosts Fifth Convening Culture Keepers

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CCK5 Group Photo
Attendees of the fifth Convening Culture Keepers at Oneida, Wisconsin

On November 8 and 9,  over thirty Wisconsin tribal librarians, archivists, and museum curators at the fifth gathering of Convening Culture Keepers (CCK) hosted by the Oneida Nation.  Eleven SLIS faculty, staff, and students helped organize and attended the event.

Louise asks a little community member a question

Louise asks a little community member a question at the library

The gathering began on Thursday afternoon, with tours of the Oneida Museum, the Oneida Community Library, and Cultural Heritage’s restored log homes.

That evening, the Longhouse provided a delicious traditional meal of squash, beans, corn, venison, and bison, with strawberry drink and dessert.  The dinner was followed by a social dance led by the Oneida Longhouse Singers.

Social Dance

Culture Keepers, LIS students, and Longhouse dancers enjoy the social.

On Friday, Culture Keepers sat in on four professional development sessions.  Shannon Martin (Ojibwe) spoke about the process of designing and maintaining the award-winning Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways, of which she is director.

Her talk, “Building a Community-Driven and Participatory Tribal Museum” was an inspiration to those in the process of building new institutions, like the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa with plans for their new community space.

Debbie Reese (Nambe), author of the blog American Indian’s in Children’s Literature, taught Culture Keepers how to evaluate children’s books in her presentation “The Role of Children’s Books in Native Nation Building”.

Culture Keepers at Parish Hall

Culture Keepers at Parish Hall

Culture Keepers learned about how to create traveling museum exhibits and tours from Mary Olson, a freelance exhibit developer.  She had previously worked with the Arvid E. Miller Library and Museum of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.

Janice Kowemy (Laguna), president of the American Indian Library Association and director of Laguna Public Library in Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, spoke about tribal library advocacy.  Her expertise provided Culture Keepers with ideas on promoting their own institutions to their communities and beyond.

Omar, our Presenters, and Rita pose for a picture

The conference planner, host, and speakers pose for a picture: Omar Poler, Shannon Martin, Rita Lara, Debbie Reese, Janice Kowemy, and Mary Olson

Many participants noted that they are excited about future gatherings.  The sixth gathering will be hosted by Lac Du Flambeau in Spring 2012.

Tune in next week for a reflection by SLIS student Mary Wise on her experience at Convening Culture Keepers!

For more information about our fifth Convening Culture Keepers, including the agenda and presenter materials, follow this link.

Loriene Roy visits

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Loriene Roy the past president of the ALA and reowned Native American librarian, author, and professor came to visit and present to the SLIS community. Her presentation in the SLIS commons was an explanation of her past experiences in the ALA, IFLA, and many other oraganizations. She shared with us her understanding, knowledge and sense of humor concerning working with Native Americans as well as with indigenous communities all over the world.
In our personal class discussion with Loriene she conveyed to us more stories concerning indigenous librarianship around the world, but especially in New Zealand. This discussion was a fantastic opportunity for the class to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of Loriene’s wealth of insight and experience.
To find out about all that Loriene is working on, please visit her website:

http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~loriene/

Janice Rice presents Loriene Roy with a jingle.

Janice Rice presents Loriene Roy with a jingle at her talk at SLIS.

 

 

Past ALA President Loriene Roy addresses the audience gathered in the SLIS Commons for her address.

Past ALA President Loriene Roy addresses the audience gathered in the SLIS Commons for her address.

Archives

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On April 17th we had a meeting discussing the archives portion of our class investigation. Amy Cooper Cary, UW-Milwaukee archivist, Mark Theil Marquette University archivist and Troy Reeves Oral History and Archives at the WI Historical Society all joined us for brunch followed by a 3+ hour discussion.

Amy began the discussion and told us about her background working with the Dine (Navajo) people in Arizona, where she started an archiving project by basically sorting out a closet of archival materials. Amy also shared with us statistics concerning the number of archivists total in the US. There are about 10,000 archivists in the US and only 1.9% identify as Native American. We also discussed the difficulties of Native Americans becoming archivists, relating to history and culture. However, it was emphasized the importance of Native Americans being responsible for sensitive artifacts and issues that arise in the archival process.

After Amy’s discussion Mark began with his background and credentials. He noted that he was a non-indian adopted by the Ho-Chunk people and has worked with Native Americans professionally for many years. In 1973 he worked on the Pine Ridge Reservation and was working there during Wounded Knee. Mark discussed the difficulties of gathering archives as there must be trust gained between archivist/institutions and tribes/individuals. There are still many people who have archives and artifacts in personal collections that might benefit from being in a controlled environment. Also there are still issues surrounding non-natives possessing artifacts that were unlawfully attained.

Finally, Troy Reeves from the Oral History Program at the Historical Society told us his experience with recording oral histories. Although he has not yet worked with Native American communities he is looking forward to extending the oral history program to include more accounts from Native Americans. He thinks to break down the barriers that may exist between interviewer and interviewee tribes could be trained to record their own oral histories, thus enhancing the authenticity of the recordings.

This lively presentation and discussion following was an excellent opportunity for the class to understand more in depth the issues surrounding archiving Native American issues and oral histories.

 

Amy Cooper Cary, Mark Thiel and Troy Reeves were the guests for Archives Day. Amy is Archival Studies Program Coordinator at UW-Milwaukee. Mark is an archivist with Marquette University. Troy is head of the Oral History Program at UW-Madison.

Amy Cooper Cary, Mark Thiel and Troy Reeves were the guests for Archives Day. Amy is Archival Studies Program Coordinator at UW-Milwaukee. Mark is an archivist with Marquette University. Troy is head of the Oral History Program at UW-Madison.

Conference on Global Climate Change and Indigenous Communities

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On Friday March 6th, the law school held a conference addressing Global Climate Change. I attended a panel discussion on the effect of climate change on indigenous communities. Although this is off topic from libraries, archives and museums, I thought there may be some correlation in so far as education and information exchange is concerned.
The speaker addressed climate change in the Arctic and talked specifically of the Inuit peoples in northern Canada. These people depend on the ice for their livelihood. They are primarily hunters and are endangered by the melting ice, as this limits access to hunting territory and poses risks (i.e. falling through ice).
As of right now, traditional hunting practices are still being preserved, but more and more food is having to be shipped because of melting ice, reduction of hunting area etc…
Although it too soon to measure the affects this will have on the population researchers as well as the local population fear that this dramatic change of diet and lifestyle could have dire consequences to the overall health of the community.
Our speaker, Rica, from Ebling Library, on Thursday addressed issues of Native American Health in correlation with libraries and specifically what resources librarians can provide to tribes/communities. During the talk I pondered the consequences of climate change on this particular community and how information services could possibly be useful.
It seems that with more information the Inuit community could better prepare for the inevitable warming and melting of the ice. Unfortunately, it does not seem likely that life will be able to stay the same for this particular population, simply because the trends of warming are so drastic, seemingly irreversible at this point. But can the community survive and adapt to the rapid changes? The work being done now suggests that people are beginning to prepare for major changes of livelihood and lifestyle- but this is where libraries, archives and museums could be very useful for the community.
Libraries obviously can provide information and help people make more informed choices about anything from economics to healthy diets, but archives and museums are the places where the culture, stories, and artifacts can be preserved.
It is sad and unfortunate that museums and archives may one day soon be the only place that one can recall the original history of the Inuit, but it is better than having that information lost forever. It seems that until we as a global community start making efforts to slow down global climate change, libraries, museums and archives are going to be invaluable deposits for many peoples history.