In what Nicky Belle, Native American Graduate Student Association president, called an “educational juxtaposition” to this trend, Native American Heritage Month occurs around these holidays during November.
The FNECC will be organizing events throughout the month to celebrate Native people, including its fifth annual powwow Nov. 7-8.
“It’s a great place for a gathering of Native American people to come together and celebrate our identity and culture, but it’s also great to share that with people who don’t know anything about Native Americans or want to know more,” Two Bears said.
The powwow will feature Native dancers, singing, artwork, craftwork and food. The event will be in the Indiana Memorial Union and will be free and open to the public.
Native people are scheduled to come from Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
“What we’re working to do with this powwow is to bring in people from other areas so the Bloomington community, the IU community, can be exposed to different groups of people, different styles of dance and see what’s going on out there in the modern powwow world,” Belle said.
Other events during the month include a panel at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 5 about the first prima ballerina in the United States, Maria TallChief, who was a Native American, and a basketry workshop Nov. 14, which requires pre-registration.
Two Bears said these events and NAHM help with educating people about Native people’s present lives, as well as their past.
“Our viewpoint of history is not appreciated and really even known about, so people need to recognize that this country came at a price and tribes are still here to this day living in this country,” Two Bears said. “It’s great to celebrate the original people of the Americas.”
One goal of the powwow and other programming is to show real Native people doing real things, whether that is dancing or giving a scholarly talk, Belle said.
Two Bears said this is important because people often think of Native people as in the past, not a part of the present, especially in a place like Indiana where there is a small population of Native people.
“Since you don’t see a lot of the Native people here in Indiana, and because most of them were removed, people don’t think of Native Americans existing anymore here in Indiana,” Two Bears said.
To make Indiana Native people more visible, the FNECC is bringing Ashley Falzetti, an assistant professor at Eastern Michigan University and member of the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana, as the keynote speaker before the powwow Nov. 6. The Miami people are a tribe native to a region including Indiana.
“It’s really important that people that live in Indiana, especially students, know something about the tribes that live here to this day,” Two Bears said.
