Sierra College Indigenous Peoples Days

March 17-21, 2015
Sierra College Indigenous Peoples Days
Please join us at Sierra College this Spring
for our second annual Indigenous Peoples
Days event. Our Yomen Weda—meaning
Spring Feast in the Maidu language—will
involve four days of notable lectures,
enlightening
workshops,
inspiring
performances,
cutting-edge
media
productions and many other compelling
events hosted primarily by visiting Native
American artists, activists and scholars. The
event will conclude on Saturday, March
21st with a Big Time and Indian Art
Market—Traditional California gathering.
We will share in traditional dancing, singing,
storytelling, games and ceremony—as well
as a closing reception at the Maidu
Museum.
You certainly wont want to miss this wonderful opportunity to witness, participate
and celebrate the richness and depth of Indian cultures, to meaningfully connect
with the powerful current of indigenous cultural revitalization.
For more information and to follow the events of the week…
FB Sierra College Native
American Club
http://bit.ly/1wvRY5G
&
#YomenWeda
Program Contents
Activities in the Quad
……………………………………………………………………………………………... 3
List of Sessions
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Presentation Descriptions
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Presenter Biographies
……………………………………………………………………………………………… 12
Tuesday 12:30pm – 1:45pm
Performers
 Doug Shirley will perform and share information about the slack-key style of guitar and
Hawaiian music.
 The Ohana Dance Group is a traditional hula halau, or hula school, located in South Land
Park, Sacramento. Its goal is to pass on the traditions and stories of the Hawaiian people
through its native dance, the hula. Today, they will present two traditional hulas that have
been passed down through many generations. For more information see page 5.
Wednesday 10am – 2pm
Performers
 Thundering Moccasins would like to present Native American dancing and singing with an
educational aspect. We will be explaining the difference between contemporary powwow
dancing to the Traditional ways of singing and dancing, mainly focusing on California
Natives. For more information see page 6.
Tables
 The Sierra College Native American Students Club will be sharing traditional arts
 Local Native American Organizations
 Maidu Museum
Thursday 10am – 2pm
Activity
 Alicia Adams will be sharing fir rings string making and other cultural arts
Friday 9am – 11am
Activity
 We will have an opportunity to make a small sketch book during the morning with the guide
of Art Professor Sandy Escobar. These sketch books will be a memento for participants to
take home or use for notes at the event. Please bring stamps or stickers you would like to
share with the group for decorating!
Indigenous Peoples Days
List of Sessions
Tuesday, March 17th
9:30am-11:00 am, Fireside Room
Samoan Tattoos
Florence Malaga Charlie
11:00am-12:30pm, E-3
Artistic License or Artistic Injustice?
Brenna Chapman
12:30pm-1:45pm, Quad
Slack-key Guitar & the Ohana Dance Group
Ohana Dance Group
3:30pm-5:00pm, Fireside Room
The Need and Development of a California Tribal College
Marilyn Delgado
5:30pm-8:00pm, W-110
Rebel Music - Hip Hop, Culture, and Activism
Melissa Violet Leal
Wednesday, March 18th
9:00am-11:00am, Fireside Room
Cultural Competency Training
Dean Hoaglin & Paul Tupaz
11:00am-2:00pm, Quad
Pow-Wow Dance Demonstration and Discussion
Thundering Moccasins
2:00pm-3:30pm, Fireside Room
Rush for Gold: Nisenan Perspectives
Shelly Covert
4:00pm-6:30pm, Amphitheater
Audiopharmacy Concert
7:00-9:00pm, V-229
Native American Herbology: Past, Present and Future
Sage LaPena
Thursday, March 19th
9:30am-11:00am, V-229
New Native Media
Lindsie Bear
11:00am-12:30pm, V-229
Missions Counterstory
Vincent Medina
1:30pm-3:00pm, Fireside Room
Language Revitalization Workshop
Carlos Geisdorff
2:00pm-4:00pm, D-12
Two Spirit (2S) and Queer Indigenous Film
Jacob Edward Dunlap
4:00pm-6:00pm, V-229
Community Forum: Sierra College Native American Student Center
Matthew Archer
Friday, March 20th
9:30am-10:30am, Fireside Room
Gender, Native American peoples and Women’s Coming of Age
Ceremonies
Cutcha Risling-Baldy
10:30am-11:30am, Fireside Room
Xoq’it Ch’iswa:l, On Her They Keep Time
Kayla Carpenter
11:30am-12:30pm, Fireside Room
Decolonizing Birthing
Sage LaPena
Saturday, March 21st
10:00am-5:00pm, Quad
Yomen Weda, Big Time
11:00am-12:00pm, Standing
Guard Memorial
Sierra College from an Indigenous Perspective: A Walk
6:30pm-8:30pm, Maidu Museum
Reception
4
Sage LaPena
Sierra College
Tuesday, March 17
Samoan Tattoos
9:30am-11:00 am
Fireside Room
Although Florence has been physically away from her native island, she remained connected to her Samoan culture
and traditions through church and community activities. Her love and deep appreciation of her strong heritage led
her to receive the traditional Samoan tatau called the Malu. Florence will be presenting on the history and meaning
of the Samoan traditional tattoo.
Presenter: Florence Malaga Charlie (Bio on page 12)
Artistic License or Artistic Injustice?
Why the Appropriation of Indigenous Cultures in Art Matters
11:00am-12:30pm
E-3
This talk will address the ethics of appropriating imagery from indigenous cultures. We will discuss historic examples
of artistic appropriation within the Modern art movement, as well as how appropriation is born of a problematic
history of colonialism, prejudice, and continued injustice against indigenous peoples.
Presenter: Brenna Chapman (Bio on page 12)
Slack-key Guitar & The Ohana Dance Group
12:30pm-1:45pm
Quad
Doug Shirley will perform and share information about the slack
-key style of guitar and Hawaiian music.
The Ohana Dance Group is a traditional hula halau, or hula
school, located in South Land Park, Sacramento. Its goal is to
pass on the traditions and stories of the Hawaiian people
through its native dance, the hula. Today, they will present two
traditional hulas that have been passed down through many
generations.
These traditional dances are chanted to the beat of a gourd
drum and feature two prominent women who are revered by
the Hawaiian people. Aia La O Pele I Hawai`i honors the
Goddess of the volcano, and E Lili`u E, which pays tribute to
Lili`uokalani, the last queen of Hawai`i, who was dearly loved by
her people.
Presenter: Ohana Dance Group & Doug Shirley
5
Indigenous Peoples Days
The Need and Development of a California Tribal College
3:30pm-5:00pm
Fireside Room
The California Tribal College is an initiative developed by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation because
 California with the largest population of Native Americans did not have an operational Tribal College;
 the Native American retention rates in college were drastically declining.
The California Tribal College will be developed and run collaboratively by the Tribes in California. The Tribes will
select the Board of Regents, hold quarterly Leadership Council meetings and determine the courses taught and the
curriculum developed.
Presenter: Marilyn Delgado (Bio on page 13)
Rebel Music - Hip Hop, Culture, and Activism
5:30pm-8:00pm
W-110
During this session there will be a screening of the film “Rebel Music:
Native America,” and a talk and discussion on Indigenous Hip Hop
artists and activism.
Presenter: Melissa Violet Leal (Bio on page 14)
Wednesday, March 18
Cultural Competency Training
9:00am-11:00am
Fireside Room
While there are public policy, grant requirements, best practice models and efforts to promote cultural competency
in the provision of services, there remains a significant gap between policy and actual accomplishment of cultural
competency throughout various systems of care, programs and services for tribal people. ITCC has developed a
cultural competency education model providing participants with insight to the various events and activities that
have impacted tribal people. The cultural competency education model incorporates information and activities that
enable the participants to gain a deeper understanding of the historical events that resulted in certain conditions
that exist in tribal communities among our tribal people today. (FLEX Credit available for Sierra College faculty.)
Presenter: Dean Hoaglin (Bio on page 13) & Paul Tupaz (Bio on page 14)
Pow-wow Dance and Discussion
11:00am-2:00pm
Quad
The goal of Thundering Moccasins is to bring awareness and positive attention to all
Native Americans through song and dance. Thundering Moccasins would like to present
Native American dancing and singing with an educational aspect. We will be explaining
the difference between contemporary powwow dancing to the Traditional ways of singing
and dancing, mainly focusing on California Natives. Our goal is to bring awareness and
positive attention to all Native American Tribes.
Presenter: Thundering Moccasins (Bio on page 14)
6
Sierra College
Rush for Gold: Nisenan Perspectives
2:00pm-3:30pm
Fireside Room
Revealed are some of the lesser-known stories of the Gold Rush, as told by people living in and around the Deer
Creek Watershed in Nevada City, California. The film combines interviews & local footage with archival film & photos
to highlight the stories of the native people, the Chinese Immigrant workers, and the environment itself.
Presenter: Shelly Covert (Bio on page 13)
Audiopharmacy Concert
4:00pm-6:30pm
Amphitheater
Spawned from its roots in Hip Hop, Audiopharmacy extends its
repertoire beyond the genre. By intricately fusing live instrumentation,
global musical styles, and indigenous roots, the band’s audio healing redefines the meaning and the sound of “World Hip Hop”. By pulling
together inspiration from all corners of the earth, Audiopharmacy makes
music that is unique & avant-garde, yet always speaks the language of
the people.
Presenter: Audiopharmacy (Bio on page 12)
Native American Herbology: Past, Present and Future
7:00pm-9:00pm
V-229
Native American herbalist, ethno-botanist and teacher Sage LaPena will discuss the important role of native plants in
local indigenous cultures. She will address the synergy of natural and cultural systems, identify contemporary
challenges and discuss the crucial role of Native American endogenous medical knowledge, within the revitalization
of Native American cultures and communities.
Presenter: Sage LaPena (Bio on page 14)
Thursday, March 19
New Native Media
9:30am-11:00am
V-229
Lindsie Bear is the editor of News From Native California, a publication with the crucial goal of amplifying the voices
of Native California. In that role she not only witnesses but participates in numerous innovative Native American
applications of new media technologies to challenge dominant narratives and promote indigenous cultural
revitalization. Come participate in this demonstration and discussion of some of these powerful and important art
forms.
Presenter: Lindsie Bear (Bio on page 12)
7
Indigenous Peoples Days
Missions Counterstory
11:00am-12:30pm
V-229
Vincent Medina works as a curator at Mission Dolores in San Francisco
and offers tour groups a counterstory of the mission history. When
school groups file through, Medina said, he often thinks back to when he
was a fourth-grader, touring the San Jose mission while a guide told his
class how happy the friendly, faithful, peaceful Indians were that the
Spanish had brought them civilization. Even then, Medina said, he knew
"that isn't really true. ... That's what drove me to work at the mission, to
be able to talk about mission history from a more just and fair perspective, really focusing on native identity and the cultural perseverance."
Presenter: Vincent Medina (Bio on page 14)
Language Revitalization Workshop
1:30pm-3:00pm
Fireside Room
Carlos Geisdorff is a singer and language activist, developing and implementing Miwok language revitalization programs for members of his community and beyond. In this workshop he'll help us better understand the importance
and also some of the specific strategies of indigenous language revitalization. Who knows, you might leave knowing
how to say a few words of Miwok.
Presenter: Carlos Geisdorff (Bio on page 13)
Two Spirit (2S) and Queer Indigenous Film
2:00pm-4:00pm
D-12
Jacob is delivering a presentation exploring the history of 2S and Native queer
filmmakers and storylines. This presentation was authored and birthed from a research
literature project by Dr. Gabriel Estrada entitled, “Two Spirit Visual AIDS: queering
indigenous visual erotic and theological sovereignty.”
Presenter: Jacob Edward Dunlap (Bio on page 13)
Community Forum: Sierra College Native American Student Center
4:00pm-6:00pm
V-229
Want to see more of your Native youth getting into college and succeeding? So do we! Please help us figure out how
to do that by coming to this community forum and letting us know how best to help your families and communities.
We're ready to make the effort. Please help point us in the right direction by sharing your ideas or concerns either
publicly or anonymously. For more information please contact Professor Matt Archer (916) 6608033 or [email protected].
Presenter: Matthew Archer (Bio on page 12)
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Sierra College
Friday, March 20
dining’xine:wh-mil-na:sa’a:n (Hupa people - with them- it stays; there is a Hupa tradition) Gender, Native American peoples and Women’s Coming of Age Ceremonies
9:30am-10:30am
Fireside Room
At one time, the Hupa women’s coming of age ceremony was a public celebration of a girl’s first menstruation which
not only demonstrated that young women were powerful members of Hupa society but that gender equality was
central to Hupa epistemologies. California's post-invasion history was genocide aimed at the total annihilation of
Native peoples and included systematic attacks on Native women and their coming of age ceremonies. As a result,
the Hupa no longer practiced their women’s ceremony. Twelve years ago, a group of Hupa women came together to
bring back the ceremony as a way to strengthen their community and address issues of health, trauma and disease.
This presentation explores the cultural revitalization of the Hupa women’s ceremony to demonstrate how this
revitalization articulates and supports an Indigenous decolonizing praxis by enacting Indigenous research
methodologies that center on ceremony to counteract the impact of settler colonial ideologies of gender, history,
literature and spirituality. To learn more about this project please visit: www.cutcharislingbaldy.com.
Presenter: Cutcha Risling-Baldy (Bio on page 14)
Xoq’it Ch’iswa:l, On Her They Keep Time
Thoughts on decolonization and Flowerdance from a former Hupa
Kinahłdung celebrant
10:30am-11:30pm
Fireside Room
In this inspiring talk we'll get a glimpse of a woman's body, of her coming of
age, from the perspective of one of our local Native American scholars,
teachers and activists. She'll help us understand the importance of local
indigenous coming-of-age rituals and their crucial role for revitalizing and
advancing gender equity in Native American communities.
Presenter: Kayla Carpenter (Bio on page 12)
Decolonizing Birthing
11:30pm-12:30pm
Fireside Room
In this lecture Sage LaPena will help us see birthing in a new and Native American inspired way. She'll not only
discuss the importance of indigenous birthing customs and techniques, but also help us to critically examine
mainstream American approaches to birthing. Sage will help us to better understand the importance which handing
Presenter: Sage LaPena (Bio on page 14)
9
Indigenous Peoples Days
Saturday, March 21
Yomen Weda and Big Time Event
10:00am—5:00pm
Sierra College Quad, 5000 Rocklin Road, Rocklin
The last day of our event is truly special. Sierra College and the Native American Club are honored to
host “Yomen Weda”, meaning spring feast; a traditional California Big Time and gathering. Events of
the day will include traditional California dance, a cultural arts market, demonstrations, food, games,
a nature walk, and tours of the science museum. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event.
There will be Northern Ca. Native American Art and Crafts, Event Merchandise and Fry bread Tacos
available for purchase.
Please be aware of the strict etiquette around photos at this event. Photos are not allowed without
the permission of the dancers and artist. Thank you for respecting this request.
Sierra College from an Indigenous Perspective: A Walk with Sage LaPena
11:00pm-12:00pm
Meet at the Standing Guard Memorial
On this plant walk, Sage will share with the group a different view of the Sierra Foothills and the many plants that
live in the area. She will discuss the importance of cultivation and the relationships Native Peoples have with the
plants on our campus. Her knowledge of the area and the plant uses will help expand our understanding of the
relationships we all share with the environment.
Presenter: Sage LaPena (Bio on page 14)
There will be a variety of performers, vendors, and organizations represented at this event …
Performers
Tumaklay Nisenan Dance Group
Point Arena Pomo Dancers
Elem Xemfo Group
Alicia Siu Bernal Nahuat-Pipil
Richard Flitty Drums
Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya Painting and Jewelry
Tiffany Adams Jewelry
Native Ink Clothing and Apparel N8V Style Clothing
Artists and Organizations
Mountain Thistle Botanicals
Alice Lincoln-Cook Bear Grass
Shiwaya Peck Basket Weaver
Stan Padilla Jewelry/Paintings
Maidu Museum
Vivian Kirk Bead Work
Heyday
Marcia Hoaglan Traditional and Contemporary Jewelry
Alicia Adams
Marcia Cristoff Traditional and Contemporary Jewelry
10
Sierra College
Reception at the Maidu Museum and Historical Site
Saturday March 21st, 6:30pm—8:30pm
1970 Johnson Ranch Drive, Roseville, CA 95661
Night Out at the Museum:
Please join us for a Night Out at the Museum on Saturday, March 21,
from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Reception for “The Lettered Life of a Mountain Maidu
Woman: An Archival Portrait of Marie Mason Potts”, presented by guest
curator Terri Castaneda and the “Indigenous Peoples Days” closing reception
featuring Tiffany Adams. Castaneda, Professor of Cultural Anthropology at CSU
Sacramento, has written several articles about Potts and is currently writing a
book about Potts’s life. This new exhibit documents the uncommon life story
of Marie Mason Potts, from her birth to the final decades of her life, when she
gained state and national prominence as a writer, newspaper editor, and
spokesperson on behalf of Maidu, Native Californian, and American Indian
cultural traditions and rights.
Tiffany Adams will speak about the week’s events at Indigenous Peoples Days,
sponsored by the Sierra College Native American Club, a 4 day event at Sierra
College Rocklin campus featuring lectures and films by Native Americans.
Museum doors open at 6:30pm. Program starts at 7pm. Light refreshments will
be available. FREE Event.
Continuing Exhibits:
“Let’s Fix Our World”
Exhibit Show Dates: February 21, 2015 – May 11, 2015
Charley Burns is a Yurok artist from the Humboldt
County, Klamath River area. He is an active participant
in the cultural ceremonies of his people. “Let’s Fix Our
World” features his recent colorful pen and ink
drawings that explore the relationship of humans to
their brothers and sisters the plants and animals and
asks people to re-examine who we are.
“Indians, Irony, and Identity”
Exhibit Show Dates: January 17 – April 13, 2015
“Indians, Irony, and Identity” curated by artist Judith
Lowry (Mountain Maidu, Hammawi Band Pit River, and
Washo), is an exhibit exploring stereotypes of Native
Americans in general
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Indigenous Peoples Days
Presenter Biographies
Matthew Archer Professor, Sierra College
Dr. Matt Archer is a professor and chair of the Sierra College
Anthropology Department. He's been advising the Native American
Students Club for the past few years and in that time has awoken to
the critical need to address some of the specific challenges which
Native American students face both getting into and succeeding in
college. Dr. Archer has taken the lead in starting a Native American
Center at Sierra College and is passionate about delivering
programs which address the needs and interests of our local tribes
and communities. (916) 660-8033 or [email protected].
Brenna Chapman
Brenna Chapman has a Master’s degree in Art History from UC
Davis and has been teaching at Sierra College since 2003.
Specializing in Chinese Literati painting during her studies, Brenna
has since expanded her expertise through a variety of opportunities
abroad including teaching in Florence for the Sierra College Study
Abroad program in 2007, working on Butterfield and Butterfield’s
Hoi An Hoard auction in Singapore, and travelling widely in Europe,
Asia, and South America. Brenna loves teaching about all types of
art, but has particular interest in the themes of visual literacy,
gender studies, postcolonialism, and the role of artistic biography in
the history of art.
Session: Artistic License or Artistic Injustice?
Session: Community Forum: Sierra College Native American
Student Center
Kayla Carpenter
Audiopharmacy
Making music that moves the soul and stirs insight, Audiopharmacy
is a multicultural mix of
members consisting of founder Hapa (Chinese) American Teao
(producer, guitar & turntables),
Pomo Indian/African lyricist Ras K’dee (MC & keys), Pasha
Brown (MC & sampler), Italian Keepyahjoy (bass & buckets), Virgin
Islander Ras Kwome Gustave (drums & vocals) and the Native
Hummingbird, Desirae Harp (vocals). www.audiopharmacy.com
Session: Audiopharmacy Concert
Lindsie Bear
Session: Xoq’it Ch’iswa:l, On Her They Keep Time
Director, The Berkeley Roundhouse
Lindsie Bear is the Editor of News from Native California magazine,
as well as Acquisitions Editor for California
Indian books at Heyday, and Outreach
Director for Native events, classes, and
exhibitions. Ms. Bear is part Oklahoma
Cherokee, raised near the Bishop Paiute
reservation in California. She received her
B.A. in Philosophy and the History of
Mathematics from St. John’s College in Santa Fe before spending
seven years in as Senior Editor and Marketing Manager at the
University of California Press while concurrently co-directing The
40th St. Warehouse, a successful underground arts and music venue
in Oakland, CA. She is currently a trustee on the board of the
California Historical Society.
Session: New Native Media
12
Kayla Carpenter is a Hoopa Valley Tribal member of Hupa, Yurok
and Karuk descent. Carpenter holds a bachelors
degree in Linguistics from Stanford University and
a masters degree in Linguistics from U.C.
Berkeley. She is currently a graduate student in
the Linguistics Ph.D. program at U.C. Berkeley
and a board member of the Advocates for
Indigenous
California
Language
survival.
Carpenter is working towards conversational
fluency in the languages of her family heritage, and is also a
traditional basket weaver and singer.
Florence Malaga Charlie Counselor, Sierra College
Florence is currently the General and Former Foster Youth student
counselor at Sierra College. Florence was born in American Samoa,
an island in the South Pacific. At the age of 12, Florence traveled to
Sacramento, California with her family so that her father could
further seek cancer treatment. She received a Bachelor’s degree in
Ethnic Studies and a Master’s in Social Work from California State
University of Sacramento.
Session: Samoan Tattoos
Sierra College
Shelly Covert
Tribal Council Secretary, Cultural Outreach
Liaison & Spokesperson, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe
Executive Director, of California Heritage: Indigenous Research
Project
Shelly is an advocate for the Nisenan people and is a direct, lineal
descendant of the Nisenan families that were
here before the Gold Rush. The stories of Nisenan
survival are some of her favorite to share as they
pinpoint the adaptability and tenacious spirit of a
people who survived here for thousands of years
prior to outside She is also of Miwok descent on
her grandmother’s side.
Carlos Geisdorff
Carlos Geisdorff is a singer and a Miwok language revitalization
activist. He is a member of the Tuolumne
Band of Me-Wuk and has worked
extensively with his community building
language training programs. More recently
he has been working with the Shingle
Springs Band of Miwok to help with their
language revitalization programs.
Session: Language Revitalization Workshop
Session: Rush for Gold: Nisenan Perspectives
Jacob Edward Dunlap Health Education Coordinator
Jacob Edward Dunlap is Annishinaabe (Original People), a two-spirit
tribal member of the Fond du Lac band of
Minnesota Ojibwe. The Sacramento Native
American Health Center honored him as a
“Champion for Change” for his mentoring of
health and wellness. He is a pre-nursing
student, a writer, founding member of the
Sacramento Valley Two-Spirit Society and big
brother to Native people in his community.
Session: Two Spirit (2S) and Queer Indigenous Film
Marilyn Delgado Director of Cultural Resources for Yocha
Dehe Wintun Nation, Executive Director for the California Tribal
College, & Tribal Chair of the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation
Dean Hoaglin
Ms. Delgado has spent many years advocating on behalf of
California Tribes and their families. She has
worked for the State of California for 26 years
and left State Service to assist the Shingle
Springs Band of Miwok Indians in their long
plight to self-reliance. Her career includes
being appointed by Governor Gray Davis as the
Tribal Liaison to the Department of Social
Services where she was instrumental in the start-up of Tribal
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), advocating for the
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to be complied with by all 58
counties and their courts. She also implemented the Governor’s
Office of Indian Affairs, under Governor Davis where she was
involved in gaming compact negotiations, State recognized Tribes,
sacred sites legislation, cultural resources, and education to
legislators, local governments and policy makers on the recognition
and inclusion of Tribes in policy and law development.
Currently working for the Inter-Tribal Council of California, Inc.
(ITCC) as the Cultural Competency Program Coordinator, has over
21 years of experience working in Native
American communities providing AOD
prevention education, youth leadership
development,
program
and
policy
development that are tribal health based. Mr.
Hoaglin has worked with tribal organizations
such as the California Rural Indian Health
Board, Friendship House Association of
American Indians, Native Wellness Institute, University of
Oklahoma Health Promotions and the Sonoma County Indian
Health Project. He is a traditional dancer and singer of his Coast
Miwok and Pomo heritage and believes that culture is prevention
for tribal people. He is committed to health promotion in Native
organizations and communities and is hopeful that healing and
recovery will become more accessible to those in need.
Session: The Need and Development of a California Tribal College
Session: Cultural Competency Training
Lead Researcher, Rebel Music Native America
Part-Time Faculty, Sierra College
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Indigenous Peoples Days
Sage LaPena Clinical and Traditional Native American
Cutcha Risling-Baldy Executive Director, Native Women’s
Herbalist, Mountain Thistle Botanicals and Consultation
Collective
Sage LaPena is a Clinical Herbalist, Ethnobotanist, lecturer, teacher,
and gardener specializing in both Native
American and Western herbal traditions.
From the age of 7, Sage has worked with
local medicine people from various tribes
of Northern California. Sage has birthed
five children, four born at home. She
started addressing the public with
Indigenous and women's issues while in
fourth grade and 'studying' California Indians. She has spoken on an
array of topics from scientific botany, politics, women, herbalism
and spirit as an Indigenous woman of California.
Cutcha Risling Baldy is a scholar, instructor, and PhD Candidate
whose work applies Native American Studies
to feminist theory, literary theory and the
development of Indigenous methodologies.
Ms. Risling Baldy is an enrolled member of the
Hoopa Valley Tribe with ties to the Yurok and
Karuk peoples. She is a PhD Graduate Student
in Native American Studies at the University of
California – Davis. She also has her M.F.A. in Fiction and Literature
from San Diego State University and her B.A. in Psychology from
Stanford University. She is the author of a popular blog that
features articles on California Indians, pop culture, representations
of Native people in mass media and self-representations of Native
peoples via social media. www.cutcharislingbaldy.com/blog
Session: Native American Herbology: Past, Present and Future
Decolonizing Birthing
Sierra College from an Indigenous Perspective: A Walk
Melissa Violet Leal
Lead Researcher, Rebel Music Native
America, Part-Time Faculty, Sierra College
Dr. Melissa Leal is Esselen and Ohlone and grew up in Sacramento,
CA. She earned her Ph.D. in Native American
Studies from the University of California, Davis
in 2012. Her research includes the reciprocal
relationship between Hip Hop Culture and
Indigenous Communities with an emphasis on
performance, media, and film. In addition to
her work as the Lead Researcher for the Rebel
Music: Native America documentary; she teaches culture, language,
and dance for various tribal communities in Northern California.
She has taught Native American Film and Cinema at California State
University, Sonoma and currently teaches Introduction to Ethnic
Studies at Sierra College. Melissa has more than 14 years of
experience working with American Indian youth at Indian Education
programs throughout the Sacramento region.
Session: Rebel Music - Hip Hop, Culture, and Activism
Vincent Medina Outreach Coordinator, The Berkeley
Roundhouse
Vincent Medina is a Contributing Editor to News from Native
California magazine, a board member for the
Advocates for Indigenous California Language
Survival and on the board of the Yoche Dehe
Living Language Circle. Mr Medina writes the
popular
blog
Being
Ohlone
in
the
21st Century, is an Assistant Curator and educator
at Mission Dolores, and spends his free time
learning and teaching his Chochenyo Ohlone
language.
Session: Missions Counterstory
14
Session: Gender, Native American peoples and Women’s Coming
of Age Ceremonies
Thundering Moccasins
We are a dance group called “Thundering Moccasins”. We Dance
and Sing to help maintain our
culture, and give strength to
those who need it. We would
like to give you a glimpse of
our beautiful singing and
colorful dancing, in hopes of
bringing attention to all
Native Americans. The group
currently involves members of the Potawatomi, Wintu, Pit River,
Dakota, Dine’, Cree, Choctaw and the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Session: Pow-Wow Dance Demonstration and Discussion
Paul Tupaz
He has over 20 years’ experience working within the Native
American communities. After graduating from
UC Davis with a B.A., in Native American
Studies, Paul was the Director of Student
Services and later the Director of Recruitment
and School Relations at D.Q. University. He
worked for a non-profit agency administering
Early Head Start, Head Start, and Migrant
Head Start services for 11 years and earned a Master of Business
Administration. He presented cultural competency training with
Inter-Tribal Council of California, Inc. since 2010 throughout
California. He currently is the Victim Services Manager for ITCC
offering education, prevention and intervention services for Tribal
victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and
stalking. Paul is a board member of Native Dads Network,
Sacramento Chapter. Paul is a devoted husband and father.
Session: Cultural Competency Training
There is a $3 parking fee on campus. Permits can be purchased at the dispensers located on the parking lots.
Thank You to our Partners & Sponsors
Associated Students of Sierra College, Heyday, Maidu Museum & Historical Site, Native American
Club, New Legacy Committee, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok, Sierra College Anthropology
Department, Sierra College Press, United Auburn Indian Community, UpRock Audio, Yellowhammer
Designs (Tiffany Adams), Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
Sierra College Native American Club
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For more information contact Professor Archer at: [email protected] (916) 660-8033, or
Tiffany Adams at: 916-660-6145 [email protected]