Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month is a time to honor and celebrate the various cultures, traditional practices, and history of Indigenous Peoples. This month is also commonly known as Native American Heritage Month or National American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month. The word “Indigenous” often refers to the original caretakers of the land before colonization. In North America, the Indigenous Peoples are often referred to Native Americans or Alaska Natives. We want to take this month of November as an opportunity to not only celebrate, but to better understand the historical trauma, sufferings, and contributions of the Indigenous Peoples.
One of the important ways we honor the original people of this region is by acknowledging that we are gathered on the land of the Kalapuya, who today are represented by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, whose relationship with this land continues to this day.
We also bring education, celebration, and community-building to our campuses through a variety of programs. See below for a selection and join us in celebrating this month.
November 4th | IPHM Kick-Off with OIEI & NISSU
Salem Campus | Renjen Center (E&E) | 4:30-6:30pm
Come join the Office of Intercultural Engagement & Inclusion and Native Indigenous Solidarity Student Union as we kick-off Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month (IPHM)! During this drop-in mixer, we will have a beading workshop, door prizes, and refreshments. You’ll also learn about NISSU’s upcoming Powwow and how you can get involved! We invite our students, staff, and faculty of the WU community to this event and hope to see you there!
November 12th | Bird Walk with Dave
Salem Campus | Meet Outside of the Bistro | 9-10:30am
Hattie Mercier and David Craig will co-lead an Indigenous People's Heritage Month event at Willamette University, focusing on watching birds in and around the campus. We will arrange our bird walk using signs from the Museum at (Our Place): This IS Kalapuyan Land from the Five Oaks This is Kalapuyan Land exhibit by Stephanie Littlebird and David Gene Lewis.
nsayka aɬqi tiki ɬatwa khapa liphyi khapa chxi-san kʰapa walamat tayi-skul ɬush-iliʔi
"We will watch birds and take a walk at the Willamette University campus."
November 19th | Goudy Takeover Lunch
Salem Campus | Goudy Commons | 11am-2pm
Goudy presents a lunch menu celebrating Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month utilizing a variety of cooking styles using local and sustainable ingredients.
We hope you enjoy this menu selection all from recipes by our IPHM Planning Committee and Bon Appetit Chef, Kory. To learn more about the dishes, visit the Office of Intercultural Engagement & Inclusion’s instagram profile on November 8th.
November 19th | Jordan Douglas-Tavani Keynote Speaker | “Honoring the Past While Making Way for the Future: The Challenge of Indigenous Language Revitalization”
One of the most important goals for many indigenous peoples is language revitalization. This is the act of breathing new life and energy into a language in order to either promote its continued use or to bring it back to a point where it is being spoken, if the language has gone dormant. A critical challenge that indigenous language communities face in this process is how to honor the past of their language and culture while making way for the future in our post-colonial world. In this talk, Dr. Jordan Douglas-Tavani breaks down this challenge and how different communities have taken it on.
Dr. Jordan AG Douglas-Tavani recently finished his Ph.D in Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Jordan is an enrolled member of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indians of Alaska. His work is centered on indigenous language description and revitalization. For the last 5 years, Jordan has worked with the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians on revitalizing one of their tribal languages: miluk tɬiis. He is interested in complex morphosyntax, linguistic typology, and language contact within the Pacific Northwest.
November 20th | IPHM Bistro Music Happy Hour
Come to the Bistro during their happy hour to listen to some new Indigenous musical artists and taste one or more of the IPHM drink specials. Customers are welcome to participate in a drawing for a vinyl of the album "One More Saturday Night" by Halluci Nation.
November 22nd | A POV as a POC
Salem Campus | Renjen Center (E&E) | 4:30-6:30pm | WU Students Only
Please join the student leaders of the Office of Intercultural Engagement & Inclusion for the last A POV as a POC (APAP) of the SEMESTER! This program cultivates a safe space for all Students of Color to unapologetically express and speak on their experiences.
You do not have to commit to the whole time so please stop by whenever you can. If you plan on attending, please RSVP so we can have a pulse on catering and space capacity.
*this Today@WU announcement will be updated to include more offerings at PNCA at a later time. Please check the full program listing to get the most up to date programming.
We are committed to making our spaces and events accessible to all members of our communities. As a part of this commitment, we will do our best to provide any requested accommodations. Please contact Office of Student Affairs