On November 16, the Emory Wheel featured an article about the Indigenous Language Path Listening Session at Emory’s Oxford and Atlanta campuses.
Emory held Indigenous language path listening sessions to honor Muscogee Nation
Category Archives: Voices and Viewpoints
Indigenizing Emory: University Welcomes Muscogee People for Indigenous Language Path Listening Sessions
Emory University hosted its second series of Indigenous Language Path listening sessions on October 27th and 28th at Emory’s Oxford and Atlanta campuses. The events culminated with the Muscogee Teach-In on the academic quad.
Elected officials, spiritual leaders, teachers, and citizens of Mvskoke Etvlwv (Muscogee Nation) who flew from Oklahoma to their ancestral homeland in present-day Georgia for the listening sessions and teach-in. This process of community consultation and relational accountability guides the Indigenous Language Path Working Group as it takes next steps in its efforts to assimilate Emory to Muscogee knowledge through the original language of the land.
Dr. Iris PrettyPaint (Blackfeet), from the Native-led consulting firm KAI, facilitated the listening sessions at the Oxford and Atlanta campuses. The sessions began with a welcome and an acknowledgement of Emory’s history of Native removal and slavery from Dr. Greg McGongle, Dean of Religious Life and University Chaplain This segued into the purpose of the Listening Pathway Session: to create physical, visual, and digital reminders of Muscogee present, past, and future. The mission is to correct the “past tense” histories of Native people commonly taught in schools. This session continues the work started November 2021 to engage Emory’s campus in open dialogue and furthering the commitments of the land acknowledgement. During the Listening Sessions, leaders of Emory University asked students to provide input on how the Language Path can be refined to meaningfully honor Indigenous presence on campus. Reverend Chebon Kernell, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and of Muscogee Creek ancestry, spoke of our responsibility to respect and honor the earth just the earth provides for us.
The Muscogee Teach-In began with welcome and opening remarks by leaders from both. This segued to traditional Mvskoke hymns by Muscogee elders. The language teachers shared traditional stories, such as why the opossum has a bare tail or how the animals divided the day and night. Each was told in Mvskoke with English translation in Mvskoke Language Preservation Program. This was followed by the Mvskoke Cultural Lab & Stories sponsored by Brittney Cuevas (owner of Four LOCV) and Denise Barnett (assistant for Four LOCV) where participants created corn husk people. The event ended with a Stomp Dance led by Rev. Chebon Kernell. Students and faculty were invited to join the Muscogee dancers in the final social dances.
This Indigenous Language Path is one of several efforts at Emory to indigenize the campus in ways that honor and respect Indigenous peoples and their rights within their ancestral homelands
Support Brittney Cuevas and Indigenous craftsmanship here.
The Emory Wheel Features the Southeast Woodlands Stickball Summit
On October 31, The Emory Wheel published an article on the historic Southeast Woodlands Stickball Summit.
Southeast Woodlands Stickball Summit explores history and variations of classic game in Atlanta
Emory Hosts Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Muscogee Delegations for Historic Stickball Summit
The Southeast Woodlands Stickball Summit Exhibition Game took place on October 15th at the Historic Fourth Ward Activities field along the Atlanta Beltline. Related to the modern game of lacrosse, Native American stickball (toli) is one of the oldest sports in North America.
Visitors to the Activities Field were greeted by the newly installed sculpture of two Chickasaw toli sticks created by event co-organizer Addison Karl entitled Itti’ Kapochcha To’li’.
The October 15 Stickball Summit brought together Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee communities to play their traditional sport on Muscogee land for the first time in two centuries. The first game played was the Chickasaw version of stickball. The object of the game was to hit a fish on the top of a pole in the center of the field. It is a social game: players were broken into men and women teams of which anyone could join to play. Teams encircled a 15-foot pole to throw the ball up to turn the fish. Second was the Choctaw version. In this variation, each team has a goalie to defend their side’s pole and the offense players attempt to hit the top of the 10-foot pole of the other team. Players threw the ball over longer distances to cross the field while others centered around their pole to protect it. The last game played followed Cherokee rules. Their version was in set teams of nine and the first team to twelve points (passing the goal line) won. This game consisted only of men, and they play barefoot wearing only athletic shorts so their full body is connected to the earth. Wrestling is important in this version as this was the most tactile form to release aggression built over disputes. At the end of the game, all players purified themselves with water to wash away their dispute and resume peace.
Later the same day, the Carlos Museum at Emory University hosted a panel discussion. It began with a documentary of women reclaiming stickball within the Cherokee community. Afterwards, a youth delegation from the Boys and Girls Club of the Mississippi Band of Choctaws performed the Snake Dance in full regalia. This led into the discussion led by Dr. Natalie M. Welch, Ph.D. (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), Addison Karl (Chickasaw/Choctaw), Casey Bigpond (Mississippi Band of Choctaw), Ace Greenwood (Chickasaw/Cherokee), Tosh Welch (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), and Dr. Monte Randall (Muscogee Nation). They spoke of their connection to stickball and how impactful it was to play with each other in brotherhood. It ended with wisdom and strengths each panelist gained through stickball and how they pass it onward to future generations.
Atlanta Beltline sponsored the 2022 Stickball Exhibition with the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative and the Carlos Museum.
LeAnne Howe (Choctaw) Discusses Native Resilience Through Stories and Sports
How do we learn? Who do we learn from? How do we carry their lessons? These are some of the thought-provoking questions Dr. LeAnne Howe asked the group of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates gathered for her recent talk at Emory, “Embodied Tribalography in Fictional Characters and in Native History” on October 12. Dr. Howe is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation and the Eidson Distinguished Professor at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Howe’s talk began with an acknowledgment of Emory’s occupation of Muscogee land and reaffirmed Emory’s commitment to build relations with the original caretakers of this land. She then read selections from her new novel, 1918 Union Valley Road. Weaving evocative imagery of their family’s farm in Ada, Oklahoma, Dr. Howe recounts her grandmother’s stories life, love, and the lessons the birds taught her during the 1918 flu pandemic. Through a dramatic reading of the text, Howe connected directly with her grandmother’s anguish on the night her first husband succumbed to the deadly influenza.
Afterward, Dr. Howe spoke about embedded historical and spiritual knowledge in Choctaw games, particularly “base and ball.” She narrated a traditional Choctaw story about a dispute between the animals and the birds at the Nanih Waiya Mound. In this origins story, the central themes of hospitality, sportsmanship, and consensus formed the basis of Choctaw cultural identity. At the pivotal point in the story, the birds were short a player. Eagle granted squirrel wings, and the flying squirrel played for his adopted team with as much dedication as his own. This story is embodied in the position of the Fani Mingo/Miko (squirrel chief) within traditional tribal governance, as this office served as an advocate for other communities outside the Choctaw Nation. In this way, sportsmanship ensured all views had representation in council discussions. These values enabled the Choctaws to persist through the traumas of colonization and removal. Dr. Howe concluded by noting how these embodied stories enable resurgence and return of Indigenous peoples to their homelands through these ancient yet enduring ball games.
Dr. Howe’s talk kicked off the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative’s week celebrating Indigenous sports and was made possible through the generous co-sponsorship of the Hightower Fund, the Department of English, the Program in Creative Writing, and the Department of History.
View more of Dr. LeAnne Howe’s work:
Emory Report: “Muscogee Nation members to conduct teach-in and Indigenous Language Path listening sessions”
On October 13th, the Emory New Center released an article announcing the Muscogee Nation teach-in and Indigenous Language Path listening sessions. Click here to read more.
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2022/10/er_muscogee_nation_13-10-2022/story.html
Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative Featured in Emory Wheel
On October 13th, the Emory Wheel published an article featuring the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, and student advocacy at the Emory University for presence, resources, and representation. To read the full article, click here.
Rose and Woodruff Libraries Acquire New Indigenous Digital Collections
On Oct 4, the Rose and Woodruff Libraries acquired more than 100,000 pages of North Native American primary sources. The North American Indian Thought and Culture project consolidated sources on People, Places, Historical Events, and much more. This is one of many new collections now offered by the Rose and Woodruff Libraries. Learn more about the new digital collection here.
Emory Wheel Discusses the “Caddo Ceramics: Traditions and Trajectories” Lecture
On September 24th, the Emory Wheel released an article covering the September 15th lecture “Caddo Ceramics: Traditions and Trajectories,” led by Chase Kahwinhut Earles at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Art. To read the entire review click here.
Segment of the article:
Earles’ work as an ambassador of his cultural identity is valuable and necessary, especially as Caddo pottery was almost lost to time when a matriarch of the tribe and the last Caddo potter stopped making Caddo pottery in 1908. Knowledge of this rich artistic history began to disappear as the Caddo tribe was undermined and impeded by colonial powers and conquistador diseases. Earles has used some of his pottery to make a critical commentary on the restriction of said cultural Indigenous knowledge.
Slide during Earles’ lecture featuring his “Restricted Emergence” ceramic artwork.
In order to understand and celebrate Caddo Indigenous knowledge, Earles’ lecture focused on the history of this pottery, the Caddo people as a whole and his own evolution as an artist.
Understanding the role and processes of pottery in the Caddo tribe is and was a large part of Earles’ own constructing process, as he had to learn these ways before he could faithfully produce pottery himself. While he was trained in drawing and painting at Savannah College of Art and Design, he worked with archeologists and Caddo tribe members to rediscover the detailed art of Caddo pottery. Earles digs and dries out his own clay, hand builds the pots without a wheel and then fires them in open wood fires. As somebody who tried to hand mold clay pottery in my technical art history course, I can attest that this process is insanely difficult.
video of US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Muscogee) at Emory University
YouTube Video of Emory University’s powerful event with US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Muscogee), and Emory professors Dr. Craig Womack (Muscogee) and Dr. Mandy Suhr-Sytsma.