Symposium Agenda
51st Annual Symposium on the American Indian
Indigenous Scholars Speak on Sovereignty: 100 Years after the Indian Citizenship Act
April 15-20, 2024
Agenda
Click to download full program
Native Student Awards Banquet (Invitation Only, RSVP Required)
Redbud Room (3rd Floor) | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Opportunity for our Native students to honor and recognize one another and celebrate their achievements.
Topic Area: Special Event
Storytelling: Turtle Island Liars’ Club
Webb Auditorium | 6:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Enjoy an evening of Cherokee Storytelling
Topic Area: Special Event
Opening Ceremony & Keynote Presentation | Hosted by the Native American Student Association
Ballroom (2nd Floor) | 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Emcee: Melody Proctor (Keetoowah/Mvskoke), Chair of the American Indian Heritage Committee and Interim Director of the Center for Tribal Studies
Presentation of Colors: Landrey Sweeney
Chandler Wilson
William Moyano
Tanner Reagan
Head Singer: Naoh Shadlow (Osage)
Welcome: Dr. Rodney Hanley, NSU President
Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma:
Chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians:
Introduction of Speaker: Leighton Bearpaw (Cherokee Nation), President, NASA
The Future of Oklahoma and Indian Country after McGirt v. Okla.
Robert Miller J.D. (Eastern Shawnee)
Topic Area: Opening & Keynote, Sponsored by the Oklahoma Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities
Miller Book Signing: “A Promise Kept”
Ballroom (2nd Floor) | 10:30 - 10:50 a.m.
Stoking a Fire: Student Presentations on Cherokee Language
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.
Dr. Candessa Tehee (Cherokee Nation), Associate Professor of Cherokee and Indigenous Studies at Northeastern State University
NSU Undergraduate Students:
Ray Miller (Cherokee Nation); Kynze Ross (Cherokee Nation); Melissa Whitekiller (Cherokee
Nation); Liam McAlpin (Cherokee Nation)
In this session, the students will lead presentations on Cherokee language designed to increase learning and promote real world, everyday use of Cherokee language by learners.
Topic Area: Language Revitalization
Abolition is Red: Indigenous Social Movement Art Against the Carceral State
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.
Dr. Michelle Brown (Cherokee)
From Red Nation to NDN Collective, and through a set of recorded interviews with Catawba, Lakota, Diné and Cherokee movement artists, questions of abolition mark temporal and spatial connections that open up past and future anti-colonial horizons.
Topic Areas: Cultural Preservation, Community Building, Indigenous Knowledge, Art, Justice
Indigenous Sonic Agency
Ballroom Lounge (2nd Floor) | 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.
Nathan Young (Pawnee Nation/Kiowa Tribe/Delaware Tribe of Indians/Cherokee Nation)
Indigenous Sonic Agency is the empowerment of Indigenous communities to control and shape their auditory expressions, reclaiming sound as a means of cultural representation and identity, challenging historical misrepresentations.
Topic Areas: Indigenous Knowledge, Art
Regaining Cherokee Sovereignty Through the Preservation of our Language on the Remember the Removal Bike Ride
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.
Kayce O’Field (Cherokee), President of RTRLA; Macie Sullateskee-Crowe (Cherokee), Vice-President RTRLA; Shadow Hardbarger (Cherokee), Treasurer RTRLA; Amaiya Bearpaw (Cherokee), Secretary RTRLA; Charli Barnoskie (Cherokee), Activities Coordinator, RTRLA; Trey Pritchett (Cherokee), Activities Coordinator, RTRLA; Will Chavez Jr. (Cherokee), Public Relations, RTRLA
Cherokee leaders believe to remain a true sovereign Native nation. The tribe must retain its language and ensure it is spoken by not only elders but youth as well.
Topic Areas: Indigenous Leadership, Cultural Preservation, Tribal Sovereignty, Education, History (from an Indigenous perspective), Language Revitalization
ᏅᏬᏘ ᎠᏂᎦᏘᏯ The Cherokee Medicine Keepers: Voices for the Land
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.
Dr. Clint Carroll (Cherokee Nation), Associate Professor in Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and 2024 Sequoyah Fellow; Phyllis Edwards (Cherokee), Translation Specialist; John Ross (Cherokee Nation), Translator Specialist for Cherokee Nation Language Center; Anna Sixkiller (Cherokee), Fluent Speaker and Translator
The Cherokee Medicine Keepers are an incorporated group of fluent-speaking Cherokee elders in Oklahoma whose mission is to preserve and perpetuate Cherokee knowledge of flora, fauna, and sacred places within the Cherokee Nation. They also serve as an advisory board to the Cherokee Nation Office of the Secretary of Natural Resources (OSNR) for the tribe’s ethnobotanical projects, which include the seed bank program, the heirloom garden and native plant area at the tribal complex in Tahlequah, and the Medicine Keepers Preserve—an 800-acre tract of tribal land in Adair County that was designated as the Cherokee Nation’s first cultural conservation area in 2022. This panel will feature their voices and perspectives on this work as well as their overall goals to protect Cherokee lands and perpetuate Cherokee environmental knowledge. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Clint Carroll, who, along with OSNR staff, has served as a facilitator to the group since its inception in 2008.
Indigenous Students in Higher Education: A Narrative Account
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 2:00 - 2:50 p.m.
Dr. Steven Byers (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), Associate Professor of Psychology at Northeastern State University
Narrative methods, seldom utilized in such research provides a rich contextual accounting of what works and what limits Indigenous pursuits in higher education. This presentation explores assimilation and enculturation along with collectivism as identity markers that educational institutions founded and operative in individualism and career models need to be deconstructed and modified in order to enhance low stress and efficacious experiences for Indigenous persons in higher education.
Topic Areas: Community Building, Education, Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous Sustainability
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 2:00 - 2:50 p.m.
Jenna Makes Good (Spirit Lake Nation), 2023 CNAY Brave Heart Fellow
This presentation will introduce new or old ideas of sustainability into the modern indigenous lifestyle. It contains useful information for both urban and city natives to learn about how they can fit different practices into their lives. We will also open up the floor for further brainstorming and discussion. Attendees are crucial when it comes to providing insight pertaining to the area, as well as past experiences and knowledge.
Topic Area: Sustainability
Chahta Anumpa: The Building of a Language
Ballroom Lounge (2nd Floor) | 2:00 - 2:50 p.m.
Jason Felihkatubbe (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)
The development and evolution of the Choctaw language.
Topic Area: History (from an Indigenous perspective), Indigenous Knowledge, Anthropology
Rising Stars Leadership Development/Building Healthy Social Networks
UC 222 (2nd Floor)| 3:00 - 3:50 p.m.
Kansas Middletent (Lower Brule Lakota Tribe)
Kansas Middletent has designed a training approach that develops workshops and implementation plans that specifically meet the needs of your school. These workshops will discuss the current research and best practices on supporting ourselves and others as we make changes in our lives. These concepts are the foundation for Prevention programming and can greatly increase a person’s success as they make changes, especially our young people.
Topic Areas: Indigenous Leadership, Community Building, Education, Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous Environmental Network: Protecting Mother Earth, a Discussion
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 3:00 - 3:50 p.m.
Kaleb Proctor (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians)
Presenter will provide an overview of the Indigenous Environmental Network, provide links to resources IEN has published, and share story to take to the Protecting Mother Earth conference.
Topic Area: Indigenous Leadership, Community Building, Education, Indigenous Knowledge, Environmental Justice
Language Revitalization in Film
Ballroom (2nd Floor) | 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Christopher Cote (Osage/Penobscot), NSU Student; Talee Redcorn (Osage); Braxton Redeagle (Osage), Director of Osage Language Department; Janis Carpenter (Osage), Teacher
This will be a panel of those who worked on the Osage language for the film “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
Topic Area: Cultural Preservation, Tribal Sovereignty, Language Revitalization
Soft Power: Proclaiming Tribal Sovereignty through Visual Arts
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 9:00 - 9:50 a.m.
America Meredith (Cherokee Nation), Publishing Editor; Stacy Pratt (Mvskoke), PhD, Contributing Editor, First American Art Magazine; Amber DuBoise-Shepherd ((Navajo/Sac & Fox/Prairie Band Potawatomi), Artist, Assistant to the Director at the University of Oklahoma School of Visual Arts.
Native artists serve as ambassadors for their tribal nations, exerting soft power by conveying district histories and worldviews. Three case studies explore strategies artists and tribes employ to support sovereignty.
Topic Areas: Cultural Preservation, Tribal Sovereignty, Education, Art
Inspirational Intelligence: A Narrative for Native Resilience
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 9:00 - 9:50 a.m.
Lori Riner (Pawnee), Author and Leadership Consultant; Justin Riner (Pawnee), Educator and High School Advisor, Crossover Preparatory School; Taylor Riner (Pawnee), Artist, Writer, and Musician
The potential of the Inspirational Intelligence leadership model in building resilient Indigenous leaders and communities will be explored, providing historical context and perspectives from Native scholars in art and education.
Topic Areas: Indigenous Leadership, Community Building, Education, Art
The Rehoboth Mission School at Atoka
Ballroom Lounge (2nd Floor) | 9:00 - 9:50 a.m.
Jason Felihkatubbe (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)
Education in the Choctaw Nation.
Topic Areas: Education, History (from an Indigenous perspective)
Keynote: Hosted by NSU AISES
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 10:00 - 10:50 a.m.
NAGPRA Groundwork for Healing: Sovereign Pasts, Presents, and Futures
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 11:00-11:50am
Jordan Poorman Cocker (Kiowa), Curator of Indigenous Art; Kalyn Fay Barnoski (Cherokee Nation enrollee, Muscogee Creek descent), Assistant Curator of Native American Art:Philbrook Museum, Evan Mathis, Director of Collections at the Museum of the Cherokee People, Lizz Toombs (Cherokee Nation) Tribal Historical Preservation Office, Cherokee Nation, and Christina Burk
The panel will offer reflections on the past, present moment, and collective future of museums in relation to modalities of collective healing informed by the new NAGPRA regulations announced in January 2024.
Topic Area: Indigenous Leadership, Cultural Preservation, Tribal Sovereignty, Community Building, Indigenous Knowledge, Anthropology, Art
Literary Sovereignty: Integrating Native Literature in Higher Education Classrooms
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.
Morgen Cloud (Cherokee Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians)
There is a plethora of indigenous literature that represents the cultures of indigenous peoples. These perspectives are needed in literature classrooms. I present a short pedagogy to Native literature.
Topic Areas: Tribal Sovereignty, Education, Literature
Homesteading Indian Country: American Indians, Land, and the American Dream
Ballroom (2nd Floor) | 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.
Keynote Presentation Hosted by NSU American Indigenous Business Leaders
Dr. Kasey Keeler (Tuolumne Band Me-Wuk Tribal citizen)
Topic Area: Opening & Keynote, Sponsored by the Oklahoma Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities
Book Signing with Dr. Kasey Keeler “American Indians and the American Dream”
Ballroom (2nd Floor) | 2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Teaching Indigenous History in a K-12 Setting
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 2:00 - 2:50 p.m.
Jon Ross (Cherokee/Navajo)
This presentation advocates for integrating Indigenous history into public education, emphasizing its transformative power, ethical responsibility, and broader educational benefits. It provides insights and tools for effective implementation.
Topic Area: Education
Rising Voices Presentation and Discussion
UC 223 (2nd Floor) | 2:00-2:50pm
Kaleb Proctor (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians)
The presentation will provide an overview of Rising Voices, key points from previous workshops, and a discussion with attendees to share story for the 12th Rising Voices conference.
Topic Area: Indigenous Leadership, Sustainability, Community Building, Education, Environmental Justice
Leveraging Educational Sovereignty in STEAM Fields Starts with Us: Exploring Scholastic eSports Education within Indian Country
UC 222 (2nd Floor) | 3:00-3:50pm
Kelly Berry (Apache Tribe of Oklahoma), Indigenous Initiatives Research Associate; Cornel Pewewardy (Comanche/Kiowa), Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Central Oklahoma
This workshop will explore eSports and how they unfold in educational systems throughout Indian Country with discourse of how eSports develop 21st Century skills and infuse Indigenous ways of knowing.
Topic Areas: Indigenous Leadership, Education, Indigenous Knowledge
"It Wasn't the School, It Was The People": Sharing the Stories of Native Graduate Students at a NASNTI
UC 223 (2nd Floor)| 3:00 - 3:50 p.m.
Sky Wildcat (Cherokee Nation/Mvskoke)
This presentation will share how Native graduate students experienced challenges, resilience, resistance, and community at a Native American Serving NonTribal Institution.
Topic Area: Education
A Screening and Discussion of _Cherokee Stickmaker_, featuring Cherokee National Treasure David Comingdeer
Ballroom (2nd Floor) | 4:00 - 4:50 p.m.
Chris Teuton (Cherokee Nation), Professor and Chair of American Indian Studies at University of Washington; Jeff Corntassel (Cherokee Nation), Professor, University of Victoria, Cherokee Nation
_Cherokee Stickmaker_ (2023) is a documentary short featuring Cherokee National Treasure David Comingdeer discussing his process of becoming a stickball stick maker and the importance of perpetuating Cherokee cultural traditions intergenerationally. The film was produced and directed by Dr. Chris Teuton and Dr. Jeff Corntassel, who will present the film and discuss its creation and message with the audience.
Topic Areas: Cultural Preservation, Indigenous Knowledge, Art
Indigenous Language Resurgence
Zoom | 9:00 - 9:50 a.m.
Miana Fay (Oglala Lakota and Sahiyela); Kaleb Proctor (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians)
A conversation to collaborate on revitalizing and sustaining Lakota, Keetoowah, & Mvskoke languages for future generations.
Topic Areas: Cultural Preservation, Education, Language Revitalization
"I Still Don't Feel Like I Know What I'm Doing": De-mystifying and Discussing the Experiences of Native Doctoral Students
Zoom | 10:00 - 10:50 a.m.
Sky Wildcat (Cherokee Nation/Mvskoke); James Wagnon (Cherokee Nation), Graduate Research Assistant, University of Oklahoma; McKalee Steen (Cherokee Nation) , PhD. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley; April Yazza (Dine/Zuni), PhD. Cohort Scholar, University of New Mexico; Jade Vann (Cherokee Nation), PhD. Candidate, University of Arkansas; Terry Chavis (Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina), PhD. Candidate, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Reflecting on a century of legal recognition, the panelists aim to demystify and discuss doctoral education from their lived experiences as first-gen Native doctoral students.
Topic Area: Education
Tó éí ííńá: Arizona v. Navajo Nation and Diné Water Rights
Zoom | 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.
Summer Powell (Diné (Navajo))
Tó éí ííńá: Arizona v. Navajo Nation and Diné Water Rights is presenting about the recent US Supreme Court case, Arizona v. Navajo Nation, and my relationship to this case.
Topic Area: Environmental Justice
Lost Among the Skeletons: Mapping the potential for live oak ghost forests in Southeast Louisiana & exploring cultural losses
Zoom | 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.
Rachel Billiot (enrolled United Houma Nation, mixed Houma and Chitimacha descent)
Explore the biocultural importance of live oak forests for Indigenous communities in southeast Louisiana and how relationships to these forests could be affected by saltwater intrusion.
Topic Areas: Indigenous Knowledge, Environmental Justice
Social Stickball (weather permitting)
Beta Field | 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Join us for two of our Symposium favorites, traditional games! Co-hosted by the NSU Native student organizations, the Native American Student Association, American Indian Science and Engineering Society and American Indigenous Business Leaders.
Topic Area: Traditional Games
NSU POWWOW
Event Center | 2:00-11:00pm
2 p.m. Gourd Dancing
5 p.m. Dinner Break
6 p.m. Resume Gourd Dancing and Grand Entry
Christopher Cote (Osage/Penobscot), Head Man
Chloe Tyner (Shawnee), Head Lady
John Arkeketa (Otoe Missouria), Head Singer
Kelly Anquoe (Kiowa/Cherokee), Arena Director
Billy Flint (Cherokee), Head Gourd
Archie Mason (Osage/Cherokee), MC
Topic Area: Powwow