Indigenous Inclusion Events

Date & Time: Friday, August 9, 2024, 5:30pm

Location: Buffalo History Museum, 1 Museum Court, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join the Buffalo History Museum, Nekanehsakt, and Native American Community Services for a social in honor of World Indigenous People’s Day. There will be dinner, craft vendors, and a Haudenosaunee social dance. The event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Buffalo History Museum, Nekanehsakt, and Native American Community Services.

Date & Time: Multiple offerings and dates, see more details below

Location: Virtual

Intended Audience: Open Event

These one-hour sessions are part of the “Strengthening Our Resilience” (SOR) Program of Native American Community Services and are designed for those already trained in trauma-informed care. They will provide brief overviews of Native cultures, health challenges facing many communities, historical traumas, and suggestions for how to engage with Native American peoples more respectfully. There will be 3 sessions at the following days and times, please register at the respective links below: 

• Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 11:00am – 12:00pm   https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkdOygpjopGtzXbSCmMqx2gjcVm9Ks_-td
• Friday, June 7, 2024, 1:00pm – 2:00pm               https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclcu6qrzsrGNQO-pTMVyo9BaXCrxhtBhy-  
• Wednesday, August 14, 2024, 11:00am – 12:00pm             https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvfuGtqjkvGNUg0_EnQmwJjdONXZitogT3

For any questions or concerns please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS).

Date & Time: Multiple offerings and dates, see more details below

Location: Virtual

Intended Audience: Open Event

These one-hour sessions are part of the “Strengthening Our Resilience” (SOR) Program of Native American Community Services and are designed for those who are new to trauma-informed care. They will provide brief overviews of Native cultures, health challenges facing many communities, historical traumas, and suggestions for how to engage with Native American peoples more respectfully. There will be 3 sessions at the following days and times, please register at the respective links below: 

• Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 12:00pm – 1:00pm   https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tf-qpqDspH9ftrOErNcJseUQLqlcu2W37
• Wednesday, May 1, 2024, 9:00am – 10:00am               https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrcO-prTstHteoXghQy74qoVdPdysVJ8Xg   
• Thursday, July 11, 2024, 3:00pm – 4:00pm             https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwodu2vrz4rGNWt9FvyWv9hgBVU6BPcqsWV

For any questions or concerns please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS).

Date & Time: Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Location: 146 Park Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Please join the Department of Indigenous Studies for a public lecture by post-doc Cj Jackson during UB's Pride Month. Their talk is entitled "Queer Indigenous Poetics: Diné 'tradition,' 'relationality,' and inhuman desire." The ongoing 2005 Diné Marriage Act established on and by the Navajo Nation continues to consider same-sex and same-gender marriages “void and prohibited” on the basis of cultural significance, often citing the Diné creation story to argue marriage as between one man and one woman despite the obvious queerness of that first union: rather than one ‘man’, Changing Woman marries Jóhonaaʼéí, the sun. This presentation addresses how gendered notions of ‘tradition’ impact tribal relations on the Navajo Nation through Jake Skeet’s poetry collection Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers (2019). Drawing Melissa K. Nelson’s term eco-eroticism and from what Dana Luciano and Mel Y. Chen refers to as the ‘transmaterial affections’ between nonhuman entities, this talk illustrates how Skeets invokes a reframing of the notion k’e (kinship) which insists that Diné histories are founded on a queer past and a queer longing that stresses the potentiality of another world outside the ‘here and now.’

Cj Jackson is a Diné writer and scholar from the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Their work primarily focuses on queer Indigenous poetics and the cultural and political formulation of relational ethics in the wake of historical dispossession and environmental catastrophe. Jackson is a current postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University at Buffalo.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Sunday, April 28, 2024, 12:30pm - 6:00pm

Location: Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

Please join Native American Community Services for their Racial Healing Circle. The Racial Healing Circles is open to all and focuses on creating brave, compassionate spaces for discussions that help us carry our shared humanity into what we say and our actions. By engaging in the Racial Healing Circle, we hope to contribute to a greater sense of peace, pride, love, and respect for all and to all. Space is limited, so please consider registering early. The Racial Healing Circle will be followed by a Multicultural Dance Celebration featuring five groups sharing traditional dances representing various Native American, African, Asian, European, and other cultures. Light lunch will be provided for those pre-register and attend the Racial Healing Circle.

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration Page or contact Pete Hill (Special Initiatives Director, NACS) at 716-574-8981 or via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the Buffalo Resilience Organization, and Kleinhans Music Hall.

Date & Time: Friday, April 5, 2024, 11:00am - 12:20pm

Location: 108 Capen Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Shannon Seneca is hosting an Indigenous Environmental Justice Guest Speaker Series on select Tuesdays or Thursdays this semester. Please join us for a presentation on sages and sweetgrass with special guest Dinah Lou Porter (Akwesasne Mohawk). Dinah Lou Porter began her journey into Indigenous traditional methods of healing as she was working to improve her own health. Her expertise comes from the Haudenosaunee as well as from other Indigenous peoples in North America. In her presentation she will discuss the sages and sweet grasses that are used by various communities. This context will bring insight into how different Indigenous peoples have unique medicines that are utilized by their people. Through relationships with the natural world and each other, we will learn how to improve the health of ourselves and our communities. Please reach out to indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu for registration due to space constraints.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, April 1, 2024, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Location: 508 Clemens Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join us this Spring semester as the Indigenous@UB Hub hosts a conversation series covering a range of cultural topics and contemporary issues. Our purpose is to provide a forum for conversation and community building through thoughtful, respectful, and interactive discussion on matters that are meaningful to our people and communities. These events are geared towards UB students but UB faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar Link. For questions, please contact Aaron VanEvery at 716-645-7917 or via email at alv8@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 12:30pm - 1:50pm

Location: 110 Capen Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join us this Spring semester as the Indigenous@UB Hub hosts a conversation series covering a range of cultural topics and contemporary issues. Our purpose is to provide a forum for conversation and community building through thoughtful, respectful, and interactive discussion on matters that are meaningful to our people and communities. These events are geared towards UB students but UB faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar Link. For questions, please contact Aaron VanEvery at 716-645-7917 or via email at alv8@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Saturday, March 9, 2024, 1:00pm - 6:00pm

Location: Student Union, Buffalo State University, 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

Please join Native American Community Services for their Racial Healing Circle. Dive into your heart space, take this opportunity to share your stories and listen deeply to those of others to help us all move forward toward discovering and affirming our common humanity. The Racial Healing Circle will be followed by a Multicultural Dance Celebration featuring five groups sharing traditional dances representing various Native American, African American, Hispanic/Latine, Asian, and European cultures. Light lunch will be provided.

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration Page or contact Pete Hill (Special Initiatives Director, NACS) at 716-574-8981 or via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the Buffalo State University Office of Equity & Campus Diversity.

Date & Time: Tuesday, February 20, 2024, 2:00pm - 3:30pm

Location: 113 Baldy Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Jason Corwin is hosting a Land-Based Learning Guest Speaker Series on Tuesday, February 20th. Please join us for a presentation on Seneca stories from the land with special guest Leeora White (Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan). Leeora White was inspired by her late Grandfather Duwayne “Duce” Bowen, a well-known Seneca Storyteller, to continue his legacy of storytelling. She is a Creative Rebuild New York Artist in partnership with the Onöhsagwëde’ Cultural Center. Leeora is the mother of 2 children and resides on Allegany Territory.

For more information please visit the UB Calendar Link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.  

Sponsored by the UB Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, February 19, 2024, 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Location: Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, 695 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

Please join Native American Community Services for their Racial Healing Circle. Dive into your heart space, take this opportunity to share your stories and listen deeply to those of others to help us all move forward toward discovering and affirming our common humanity. Lunch will be provided.

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration Page or contact Pete Hill (Special Initiatives Director, NACS) via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

Date & Time: Monday, February 5, 2024, 4:00pm - 6:30pm

Location: 216 Norton Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Lila Sharif is a creative writer, researcher, and assistant professor at the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. She is currently writing a book about the ways in which fair trade economies, settler colonialism, environmental destruction, and storytelling converge at Palestine's historic olive tree, which has been harvested by Palestinians for over 6,000 years. Sharif is a co-founding member of the Critical Refugee Studies Collective and of the Palestinian Feminist Collective. She is the first Palestinian to earn a Ph.D. in ethnic studies. She holds a dual PhD in Sociology and Ethnic Studies. She will be providing a guest lecture and Q&A session following a film screening of 1948: Creation and Catastrophe. Film screening will begin at 4:10pm and will be followed by a guest lecture at 5:30pm.

For more information or to register, please visit the UB Calendar Link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, February 5, 2024, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Location: 508 Clemens Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join us this Spring semester as the Indigenous@UB Hub hosts a conversation series covering a range of cultural topics and contemporary issues. Our purpose is to provide a forum for conversation and community building through thoughtful, respectful, and interactive discussion on matters that are meaningful to our people and communities. These events are geared towards UB students but UB faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar Link. For questions, please contact Aaron VanEvery at 716-645-7917 or via email at alv8@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Tuesday, December 12, 2023, 11:00am - 1:30pm

Location: 510 Clemens Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Please join Elder-in-Residence, Marilyn Schindler, for a monthly lunch series on topics relevant to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Marilyn Schindler earned her PhD in American Studies at the University at Buffalo. Her research and experience include almost fifty years of activism for Indigenous rights, treaty recognition for the Six Nations Haudenosaunee, education enhancement, and retention of our traditions.  While this event is geared toward students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend. To register, please email indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu and include any dietary restrictions.

For more information or for questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Friday, December 8, 2023, 12:30pm - 4:30pm

Location: Partners in Restorative Initiatives (PiRI), 111 Hillside Avenue, Rochester, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

This training is open to health and human service providers supporting Native persons, as well as policy makers, community members, and persons interested in racial equity. It will include a screening and facilitated discussion of the documentary “Unseen Tears: The Impact of Native American Residential Boarding Schools in Western New York.” Space is limited, so please pre-register. 

For more information or to register, please visit the Event Registration Page. For any questions regarding training and content info, please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) at 716-574-8981 or via email at phill@nacswny.org. For questions regarding facilities and site info, please contact Samantha Bonnano at PiRI at 585-473-0979 or via email at Sbonanno@pirirochester.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Promotion (IHAWP) program, and the New York State Dept. of Health / AIDS Institute.

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 11:00am - 12:20pm

Location: 210 Norton Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Shannon Seneca is hosting an Indigenous Environmental Justice Guest Speaker Series on select Tuesdays or Thursdays this semester. Michelle Keyes is currently a Seneca Nation Game Warden, upholding Nation Conservation laws within all territories. She met my first husband and married at 20, moving to San Diego, California then worked for Corporate America in the 80’s-90’s. “To say urban life was easy is an understatement, I was going from a reservation to a big city in California, it was a total culture shock.” During this time, she experienced losing our first-born son to SIDS in 1989 so decided to move back home. Michelle obtained an associate degree from ECC South in 1993. We had an opportunity to open a gas station and operated as The Eagles Nest. After being divorced, she came to work for the Seneca Nation in the Corporate Retail Division, the Seneca One Stop for years. She also worked at Seneca Nation Environmental Protection Department, leading to a new vision, the Seneca Nation Emergency Management department, outside of Fire and EMS. She trained and certified for response, recovery, mitigation, hazard materials, building tribal resources and relationships, as well as lessons learned from communication and collaboration. She graduated with BS/BA, Management from SUNY Fredonia in 2011. She remarried a man who raised her children and had one last daughter together. Their blended family includes children in their 40’s, 30’s and one in college at 18. Together they have 6 grandchildren. “I am a grandma now and was taught to learn, never give up, there is no such word as can’t and to continue to learn something new, thus staying busy. I will always be a proud Seneca member, mother, grandmother, and influencer of history if I can tell the story.” Michele Keyes, who was forcibly removed as a young girl from her families property on the Allegany Territory to make way for the Allegheny Reservoir. Her family owned property just north of Onoville before they were forced to move by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create the Kinzua Dam and the Allegheny Reservoir. No amount of money can replace what the 600 Senecas forced to move had lost. Michelle is a spokesperson for herself, her family and community. “The dam divided us, the forced relocation broke up long standing communities and many died and went elsewhere,” she said. “My family ended up in Cattaraugus and our history is not spoken of.” The historical trauma, concerns of over 2,000 graves, including that of Chief Cornplanter, and subsequent environmental damage cannot be forgotten. Please reach out to indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu for registration due to space constraints.

For more information or for questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, November 27, 2023, 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Location: The Buffalo Room, 10 Capen Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join the Haudenosaunee Archive, Resource, and Knowledge (HARK) team to learn more about the HARK digital project and methods for digital archiving and archival research in Indigenous communities. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP at the link below.

To register, please visit the Event Registration Page. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 21, 2023, 11:00am - 12:20pm

Location: 210 Norton Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Shannon Seneca is hosting an Indigenous Environmental Justice Guest Speaker Series on select Tuesdays or Thursdays this semester. Please join for a presentation on the ecogenocide of the Seneca Nation and recovery from the Kinzua Dam and Hydroelectric Facility Operation with special guests Cheryl Tome and Justin Schapp (Seneca Nation, Deer Clan). Justin Schapp is an Indigenous Studies Professor at St. Bonaventure University. He is from the Seneca Nation Allegany Territory where he resides, working and lively closely with his community. His mother, Cheryl Tome, is a survivor from the Kinzua Dam removal which displaced over 100 Seneca families. This action taken against the Seneca Nation of Indians is a clear example of environmental racism that has caused intergenerational trauma. Please reach out to indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu for registration due to space constraints.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Friday, November 17, 2023, 9:00am - 1:00pm

Location: North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

This event is intended for Indigenous high school students to learn about applying to UB and the Department of Indigenous Studies; to meet Indigenous faculty, staff, and current students; and to take a campus tour. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For more information, please visit the Event Webpage or the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 11:00am - 12:20pm

Location: 112 O’Brian Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Shannon Seneca is hosting an Indigenous Environmental Justice Guest Speaker Series on select Tuesdays or Thursdays this semester. Makaśa Looking Horse has held many protests fighting for clean water for her community and has worked alongside traditional government including by handing Nestle a Cease-and-Desist Letter on behalf of the Confederacy. She has completed the Six Nations Traditional Medicine Practitioners course and is currently a student at McMaster University. She is Youth Leader of Global Water Futures and a Sundance leader for women. She is the host of a live streamed vodcast series called Ohneganos: Let’s Talk Water. She is also a member of the United Nations Global Youth Caucus at the United Nations Climate Summit. Makaśa Looking Horse is known for her activism with Six Nations on water security, including the resistance to Nestle. Water access continues to remain a significant problem, as a lack of infrastructure and centralized water systems seriously hinders the lives and livelihood of many First Nations communities across the country. Nestlé has drawn what activists estimate to be 3.6 million liters of water from the aquifers of Grand River, Ontario, reselling it to Indigenous communities at artificially inflated rates as part of its bottled water operations. Makaśa Looking Horse, a Six Nations environmental activist, has been at the forefront of this issue, highlighting the many social, health, and ecological impacts of corporations’ activity on water resources and Indigenous communities.

For more information, please visit the Event Webpage or the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, November 13, 2023, 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at 209 O’Brian Hall, North Campus)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Robert Caldwell is offering an Afro-Indigeneity Guest Speaker Series on select Mondays throughout the Fall 2023 semester. This session will feature Sebastian Ebarb, an Associate Teaching Professor, College of Arts, Media, and Design at Northeastern University. He is the former Design Director for the City of Boston. He is a member of the mixed Choctaw Apache tribe of Ebarb, and Boston transplant. He is co-owner of the design studio Nahi (meaning “we” in Apache). A subscriber to futuristic ideals, Sebastian works with clientele no matter their budget.

For more information, please visit the Event Registration page or the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Location: Virtual

Intended Audience: Open Event

Get to know about UB’s 50 year history of Native American Studies and how it grew into our new Department of Indigenous Studies. Did you know, the University at Buffalo operates on the traditional territory of the Onödowa'ga:' (Seneca Nation) of the Haudenosaunee? Join the Department of Indigenous Studies and learn about the upcoming classes, new degrees and cultural programming. This event will feature Amanda Casali, a Kanien'kehà:ka enrolled citizen of Akwesasne / St. Regis Mohawk Nation. Amanda grew up in the city of Buffalo. She started at UB in 2009 in the Office of Admissions, and in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 2016. Later she started the College of Arts and Sciences in 2021, to help launch the Department of Indigenous Studies. Amanda enjoys spending time with her husband, son, and dog, traveling around the world, visiting museums, going to the theater and Broadway shows, gardening, and home projects.

For more information, please visit the Event Registration page or the UB Calendar link. For questions, contact UB Alumni Lifelong Learning at 716-645-3312 or via email at alumnilifelonglearning@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies and Alumni Lifelong Learning.

Date & Time: Monday, November 6, 2023, 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at 209 O’Brian Hall, North Campus)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Robert Caldwell is offering an Afro-Indigeneity Guest Speaker Series on select Mondays throughout the Fall 2023 semester. This session will feature Andrew Jolivette, an accomplished internationally recognized researcher, educator, writer/poet, speaker, socio-cultural critic, and an aspiring chef. Jolivette currently serves as the Board President of the American Indian Community Center in San Francisco, California where he was also Interim Executive Director from 2016-October 2018. He is the author or editor of eight books in print or forthcoming including “Louisiana Creole Peoplehood: Tracing Post-Contact Afro-Indigeneity and Community” (University of Washington Press Contracted, October, 2018) and “A Report on the Health and Wellness of Multiracial Youth in the San Francisco Bay Area” (2008). He is a founding editor of the Journal of Louisiana Creole Studies. Active in both scholarship and community organizing he has served as the board president for the Institute for Democratic Education and Culture (Speak Out), iPride for Multiracial Youth and Families, and the GLBT Historical Society and Museum. He is the founder of the group, Black Men’s Space and currently serves on the board of the Black Community Collaborative. He has been a member of the National Association for Ethnic Studies (NAES) serving twice as conference co-chair, the Pacific Sociological Association, the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association, the National LGBTQ Scholars of Color Network (2029 Conference Co-chair) and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association among other academic associations. Born and raised in San Francisco, Jolivette is a Creole of Opelousa, Atakapa-Ishak, French, African, Irish, Italian, and Spanish descent. Professor Jolivette is the former tribal historian for the Atakapa-Ishak Nation located between southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas. Jolivette received his Ph.D in Sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz with specializations in the sociology of race and ethnicity, the sociology of education, the sociology of Latin America, and the sociology of family. He also holds an MA in Sociology from UC Santa Cruz, an MA in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State, and a BA in Sociology from the University of San Francisco.

For more information, please visit the Event Registration page or the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Friday, November 3, 2023, 12:00pm

Location: Niagara Square in front of Buffalo City Hall, 65 Niagara Square, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join in for a Haudenosaunee flag raising in downtown Buffalo in honor of Native American History Month.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Thursday, November 2, 2023, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at 210 Norton Hall, North Campus)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Shannon Seneca is hosting an Indigenous Environmental Justice Guest Speaker Series on select Tuesdays or Thursdays this semester. Please join for a presentation on Contamination of Tuscarora and Failed Remediation Efforts with special guest Corinne Abrams. Corinne Abrams received her Master of Public Health from the University at Buffalo in 2019 and currently works as a Clinical Research Associate at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Department of Indigenous Cancer Health. She has two bachelor’s degrees – a BA in Spanish Literature, Culture and Language and a BS in Public Health. She is proficient in Spanish and Tuscarora languages with a demonstrated history of working in a research-based setting, skilled in nonprofit organizational leadership, policy analysis, and data analysis. In May 1991, NYSDOT requested sampling of Chew Road for Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) constituents, in connection with the characterization for disposal purposes of the old fill materials used for the road subgrade. This subgrade material was derived from slag residue from hearth steel manufacturing operations, and was originally laid down in the 1950’s. The concentrations of chromium ranged from 0.528 mg/l to 2.210 mg/l, all below the regulatory limit of 5.0 mg/l. The material was supposed to be removed and was deemed allowable to dispose off Tuscarora territory in a designated landfill. Though this action was completed, there are concerns that the removal of materials was done in a way that propagated spread of materials and did not result in full clean-up. Please reach out to indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu for registration due to space constraints.

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Humanities Institute and the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, October 20, 2023, 9:00am - 5:00pm

Location: Native American and Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) Office, 1005 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

This in-depth session will be a more advanced exploration of cultural strengths, historical traumas, and racial healing. Anticipated highlights of the session will include a Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address; a “Witness to Injustice (aka, Blanket) Exercise;” the “All Our Relations Racial Healing Circle;” being a good ally for Indigenous communities; and self-care, reflection, and sharing to be able to help all communities. Space is limited, so please consider registering early.

For any questions or to register, please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS), and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

Date & Time: Friday, October 13, 2023, 10:15am - 5:30pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at 310 Silverman Library, North Campus)

Intended Audience: Open Event

These presentations will focus on the intertwining of technology and social movement creation in order to facilitate language reclamation movements. Using examples from Alaska and Hawaii, the presenters will offer thoughts on language movement creation and maintenance, and will address the realities and hardships of decolonial language reclamation movements that rely on cyclical and ongoing analyses of patterns and change at the micro (individuals & families), meso (local and regional), and macro (state, national, and international) levels. The following talks will be given:

• Erin Debenport, “Language Circulation and Control: Strategic Uses for Digital Technologies in Pueblo Reclamation Projects”
• Eladio Mateo Toledo, “TZ'IB'MA: Phonemic digital keyboard in cell phones for Mayan languages”
• Jesse Stewart, “Media Lengua in the Digital Age: A Journey of Preservation and Reclamation”
• X’'unei Lance Twitchell, “Replanting the Forests in Language Ecosystems”

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration page.

Sponsored by the UB Digital Scholarship Studio and Network, the Humanities Institute, the Departments of Indigenous Studies, Linguistics, Romance Languages, Literatures, Anthropology, and the Graduate School of Education.

Date & Time: Thursday, October 5, 2023, 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo, NY 14202)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join the Department of Indigenous Studies and RENEW Institute, in person or on Zoom, for a screening of Saging the World. This short documentary was produced by Rose Ramirez, Deborah Small, and the California Native Plant Society to foster awareness and inspire action for white sage. There will be a reception at 6:00pm and the film screening will begin at 7:00pm. A Q&A session will immediately follow the film.

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration page or the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies and RENEW Institute.

Date & Time: Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at 210 Norton Hall, North Campus)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Shannon Seneca is hosting an Indigenous Environmental Justice Guest Speaker Series on select Tuesdays or Thursdays this semester. Please join for a presentation on Water Walking for a Nuclear Free Future with special guest Maria Maybee (Seneca Nation). Maria Maybee initiated an annual water walk from the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), across the Seneca Nation territory and Irving to the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek. “Each step taken today is a prayer for healing for all our relations. This event is a reminder that we must work together to protect the environment, for it provides everything we need in life. It’s important that this message is never forgotten, for we only have one environment.” The annual water walk draws attention to the importance of water and a nuclear free future. The WVDP is an appropriate starting point due to its proximity to the Seneca Nation Cattaraugus Territory and all the ongoing cleanup efforts taking place to reduce environmental risks. Maybee will talk about how water walkers from the Seneca Nation, local community and visitors gather to participate in a sunrise ceremony to kick‐off the event. Please reach out to indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu for registration due to space constraints. The Zoom link is below: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/98728975889pwd=MG5zTk1DTWRPNzhSdGtRcTVXdCtxUT09

For more information, please visit the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Humanities Institute and the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Monday, October 2, 2023, 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Location: Hybrid (In-person at 209 O’Brian Hall, North Campus)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Dr. Robert Caldwell is offering an Afro-Indigeneity Guest Speaker Series on select Mondays throughout the Fall 2023 semester. On October 2nd from 6:00-7:00pm, Scierra LeGarde will be speaking on Bayou Lacombe Choctaw Community and Indigenous Resurgence in Louisiana. Scierra LeGarde is a member of the Bayou Lacombe Band of Choctaw located in St.Tammany Parish, Louisiana and is a resident of Bvlbancha, commonly known as New Orleans. In her spare time, she volunteers at schools, museums and other venues across the state of Louisiana. Her passion as an educator is to challenge the way many non-Indigenous people learn about Native history and culture by including contemporary issues from Indigenous perspectives. Scierra is a jingle dress dancer and is in her fifth year learning Bayou Lacombe Choctaw style of basket weaving from Mr. Tom Colvin. She is a member of Okla Hina Ikhish Holo (People of the Sacred Medicine Trail) which is a network of femme/non-binary Indigenous gardeners, working urgently to develop the continuation of sacred, long-standing cultural practices connected to food, medicine, and land. She is also a team member of Hachotakni Haco -- a stickball group composed of intertribal community members throughout Bvlbancha -- and other local projects aimed towards Land Back, strengthening Indigenous sovereignty and reestablishing our connection with the sacredness of Mother Earth.

For more information, please visit the Event Registration page or the UB Calendar link. For questions, please contact Jennifer Loft at 716-645-7923 or via email at jcloft@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Multiple offerings and dates, see more details below

Location: Native American and Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) Office, 1005 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

The Racial Healing Circle is a new effort to promote greater awareness, mutual respect, understanding, compassion, and healing for the Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Western New York Region. These circles will help combat structural racism through interpersonal dialogues, sharing, and listening from diverse members of the community. Dinner is provided at 5:30pm and the circles begin at 6:00pm. Seating is limited with only 20 spots, so please consider registering early. The topics for the circles are below:

• Thursday, August 31, 2023, 5:30pm - 8:00pm: Race & Ethnicity
• Thursday, September 7, 2023, 5:30pm - 8:00pm: Gender, Sexuality & Expression
• Thursday, September 14, 2023, 5:30pm - 8:00pm: Cultural Appreciation vs Appropriation
• Thursday, September 21, 2023, 5:30pm - 8:00pm: Tokenism & Stereotypes

For more information and to register, please contact Simone Alston (Stages of Life Empowerment Director, NACS) at 716-983-2564 or via email at salston@nacswny.org or contact Pete Hill (Special Initiatives Director, NACS) at 716-574-8981 or via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

Date & Time: Thursday, September 21, 2023, 10:00am - 4:00pm

Location: Native American and Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) Office, 1005 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

This in-depth session will include a screening and facilitated discussion of the documentary “Unseen Tears: The Impact of Native American Residential Boarding Schools in Western New York.” Space is limited, so please consider registering early. There will be a 1-hour lunch break on your own from 12:30pm - 1:30pm.

For any questions or to register, please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Value Network of WNY, and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS).

Date & Time: Multiple offerings and dates, see more details below

Location: Native American and Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) Office, 1005 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

These in-depth sessions will include a screening and facilitated discussion of the documentary “Unseen Tears: The Impact of Native American Residential Boarding Schools in Western New York.” Both introduction sessions are very similar in content and space is limited, so please consider registering early.

• Thursday, July 27, 2023, 10:30am - 4:30pm (with a 1-hour lunch break on your own, 1:00pm - 2:00pm)
• Thursday, August 24, 2023, 10:30am - 4:30pm (with a 1-hour lunch break on your own, 1:00pm - 2:00pm)

For any questions or to register, please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) via email at phill@nacswny.org with the specific training date preferred.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Value Network of WNY, and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS).

Date & Time: Multiple offerings and dates, see more details below

Location: Virtual

Intended Audience: Open Event

These one-hour sessions provide brief overviews of Native cultures, health challenges facing many communities, historical traumas, and suggestions for how to engage with Native American peoples more respectfully. All introduction sessions are very similar in content and space is limited to 35 people per session, so please consider registering early. 

• Friday, June 9, 2023, 12:00pm – 1:00pm   https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tdOGsqDovG9Zy98I5mskZ1ZMdImcidTzb
• Wednesday, July 12, 2023, 9:30am – 10:30am               https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMof-Grqz8sHtGif9vj2MphWIPyPe3qDk8c   
• Thursday, August 17, 2023, 3:30pm – 4:30pm             https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvdO-qqTspGNDI8U2h8gV0v5TWNw6tsk8C

For any questions or concerns please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Value Network of WNY, and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS)

Date & Time: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 - Thursday, August 10, 2023, 8:30pm - 3:00pm

Location: Kunz Stadium, UB North Campus

Intended Audience: 7th - 12th Grade Indigenous Children

The UB Department of Indigenous Studies will be holding a 3-day lacrosse skills clinic for Indigenous children between 7th and 12th grade. The clinic will consist of 3 hours of skills instruction, free lunch, and an informational speaker who will cover topics of college athletics, sports nutrition, and athletic training. There will be prizes for most accurate shot, fastest shot, and passing accuracy competition along with other giveaways. Students are required to bring their own equipment (Boys: Helmet, gloves, stick, cleats; Girls: Stick, Goggles, cleats).

For more information, please visit the Event Registration Page or UB Calendar Link. For questions, please contact Aaron VanEvery at 716-645-7917 or via email at alv8@buffalo.edu.

Sponsored by UB Department of Indigenous Studies.

Date & Time: Friday, July 28, 2023, 5:00pm - 9:15pm

Location: Indigenous Attractions, 1626 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

The All Our Relations Racial Healing Project presents RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World, a revelatory documentary that brings to light the profound and overlooked influence of Indigenous people on popular American music.  Focusing on music icons like Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Taboo (The Black Eyed Peas), Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson, and Randy Castillo, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World shows how these pioneering Native American musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration page, contact Simone Alston (Stages of Life Empowerment Director, NACS) at 716-783-2564 or via email at salston@nacswny.org, or contact Pete Hill (Special Initiatives Director, NACS) at 716-574-8981 or via email at phill@nacswny.org. For more information on RUMBLE, visit their website. 

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

Date & Time: Friday, July 14, 2023, 2:30pm - 6:00pm

Location: Indigenous Attractions, 1626 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY

Intended Audience: Open Event

The Racial Healing Circle is a new effort to promote greater awareness, mutual respect, understanding, compassion, and healing for the Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Western New York Region. These circles will help combat structural racism through interpersonal dialogues, sharing, and listening from diverse members of the community. Seating is limited with only 15 spots, so please consider registering early.

For more information and to register, please visit the Event Registration page, contact Simone Alston (Stages of Life Empowerment Director, NACS) at 716-783-2564 or via email at salston@nacswny.org, or contact Pete Hill (Special Initiatives Director, NACS) at 716-574-8981 or via email at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

Date & Time: Wednesday, April 19, 1:00pm-2:00pm

Location: Student Union - Theater Room 201

Intended Audience: Open Event

Kit is an LGBTQ and Mental Health advocate. Kit will be speaking about the meaning of 2Spirit and its significance to Indigenous communities. This two-spriit/Indigiqueer is wolf clan from the St.Regis Mohawk territory of Akwesasne. Using They/Them pronouns, Kit is an LGBTQ and Mental Health Advocate. They have been honing their painting skills for the last decade and now has a recognizable splatter paint style infused with Native American symbolism.

For more information please visit the UB Calendar Link and for questions please contact Aaron VanEvery at 716-645-7917 or via email at alv8@buffalo.edu.   

Sponsored by the UB Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Saturday, April 15

Location: Clemens Hall, North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

2022 marked the 50th Anniversary of Native American Studies at the University at Buffalo and the launch of the new Indigenous Studies Department. This conference aims to engage with the foundational legacy of Native Studies at UB and welcomes participants to share contributions highlighting priorities and aspirations for the future of the field of Haudenosaunee studies specifically and its intersections with Indigenous studies globally.

As Indigenous Studies Departments grow nationally and internationally, and the numbers of Indigenous scholars working in universities proliferate, this gathering will foreground discussions of the responsibilities of this rising critical mass to the wellbeing of Indigenous nations, communities and peoples, and future generations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. How do we remain a voice and direction of how Indigenous studies is developed, taught and implemented?

For questions and more information please contact Aaron VanEvery (Six Nations, Cayuga, Wolf Clan), Community Outreach and Cultural Programming Coordinator (Department of Indigenous Studies) at alv8@buffalo.edu.  

Sponsored by the UB Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Thursday, March 16, 6:00pm-8:30pm

Location: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (341 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Please feel free to join the screening of Without a Whisper – Konnon:Kwe, a documentary film by Katsitsionni Fox. Reception will have complimentary food by Casa Azul and alcohol-free beverages will be provided. The screening of Without a Whisper – Konnon:Kwe (dir. Katsitsionni Fox, 27 mins., 2020) will follow. There will also be a post-screening involving Q+A with Katsitsionni Fox (Bear Clan, Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne, via Zoom) and Wakerahkahtste Louise Herne (Bear Clan Mother, Mohawk Nation Council, in-person). 

For more information please visit the UB Humanities Events Link.   

Sponsored by the UB Humanities Institute and UB Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program

Date & Time: Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11

Location: North Campus and South Campus (see details below)

Intended Audience: Open Event (registration required)

The University at Buffalo’s AISES Chapter is excited to host the AISES Region 6 Conference in March. Registration is now open and available at this (Registration Link) until: Thursday March 9th. For more info and a tentative schedule, please visit the AISES chapter at SUNY University at Buffalo Link. Please submit proposals at the Call for Proposal Link. 

Additional events as part of the conference include the following: 

Pre-College STEM Day

• Students will participate in hands-on workshops in various STEM fields, meet with Indigenous students and professionals in STEM and will learn about robotics, health sciences, land-based learning, language, revitalization, engineering and more. The event is open to Middle & High School Students with lunch will be provided for students. Scheduled for Friday, March 10 at 9:00am-1:00pm in the Student Union (145), North Campus.

Haudenosaunee Social Dance and Dinner

• Free and open to all community members. Scheduled for Saturday, March 11 at 5:00pm-8:00pm, in Harriman Hall (Ballroom) South Campus. 

Please contact Amanda Casali (akáonha/she/her/hers) Kanien'kehà:ka (Akwesasne/St. Regis Mohawk) at alcasali@buffalo.edu for any questions or concerns. 

Sponsored by the UB AISES, the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, the UB Department of Indigenous Studies, the United States Intelligence Community, NASA, M&T Bank, and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

Date & Time: Thursday, March 2, 12:30pm-2:00pm

Location: Cooke Hall (114), North Campus or online (more details below)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Invited speakers are going to be discussing the newly edited book “Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies.” They will talk about feminist collaborations and what that means as BIPOC as well as how Keywords has impacted their work the event will be followed by a Q&A session. Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies has been recognized by the American Libraries Association as one of its 2022 Outstanding Academic Titles! 

Please contact the UB Department of Indigenous Studies at indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu with any questions or concerns. 

Registration requested via the following Zoom Registration Link. 

Sponsored by the UB Department of Indigenous Studies, UB Gender Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 1, 1:00pm-2:30pm

Location: Clemens Hall (830), North Campus or online (more details below)

Intended Audience: Open Event

This research talk examines histories of CHamoru women’s embodied land work and “placental politics'' an Indigenous feminist theory and anti-colonial practice informed by CHamoru ideas of care, reciprocity, and inafa'maolek (of making good). The talk will be given by Christina DeLisle Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota. To attend virtually please join the talk and this Zoom Link Event. 

Please contact the UB Department of Indigenous Studies at indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu with any questions or concerns.   

Sponsored by UB Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, February 15, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Location: Capen Hall (240), North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event 

The framing and institutionalization of education for Black and Indigenous peoples has been tied to the assertions that contact with the white race, enslavement, and the settlement of Native lands are in and of themselves educational activities. This talk examines the intimacy between schools and agricultural experiment stations, demonstration farms, and other forms of scientific farming. It will demonstrate how, not only people, but land, was taught as part of agricultural education and functioned as a technology of settlement. For more information please visit the UB Calendar Event Link and for any questions or concerns please email the UB Department of Indigenous Studies indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu. 

Sponsored by UB Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Tuesday, February 14, 12:00pm-1:00pm

Location: Wende Hall (103), South Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

The UB School of Nursing’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee would like to invite you to join a conversation with Dr. Rodney Haring PhD, MSW. Refreshments will be provided and registration is requested for attendance. Registered guests will receive a link to the recording following the event. For more information about this event please follow the Event Calendar Link.  

• To attend in person please follow the In-Person Registration Link
• To attend virtually please follow the Zoom Registration Link

For questions and concerns please contact Amy Hequembourg (Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and Associate Professor, School of Nursing) at ahequemb@buffalo.edu or Jana Blaha (JEDI Committee Co-chair) at jblaha@buffalo.edu.  

Sponsored by the UB School of Nursing’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) and the UB Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Multiple offerings and dates, Spring 2023 (see more details below)

Location: Virtual (see more details below)

Intended Audience: Open Event

We would like to announce that our community partner, Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), is hosting the Strengthening Our Resilience program giving us the opportunity to attend more professional development, and free virtual training sessions on Native American Cultural Competency through March 2023. Please register for your preferred session(s), using the links provided below. Space is limited to 35 people per session, so please consider registering early. 

“Introduction to Native American Cultural Competency”

These one-hour sessions provide brief overviews of Native cultures, health challenges facing many communities, historical traumas, and suggestions for how to engage with Native American peoples more respectfully. All “Introduction” sessions are very similar in content.

• Wednesday, January 25, 2023, 12 pm – 1 pm, https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqce-srD4iE9ATckkxVc3W16ij0CVUBU-y
• Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm, https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvd-CsrjstGdIc-4qay0D0wR473AyA7-zd
• Thursday, February 23, 2023, 9:30 am – 10:30 am, https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvcO-uqzwjE93VZOd85a8a6OdGySNYnfm6
• Monday, March 6, 2023, 12 pm – 1 pm, https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0vc-yhqzktHtUWGLxqfQn3RWBErpmCVvVj

“Overview of Native American Cultural Competency”

These four-hour sessions include deeper content of traditional Native cultures, Trauma-Informed Care, Historical Traumas, the documentary “Unseen Tears: The Impact of Residential Boarding Schools,” and strategies to move ahead. Both “Overview” sessions are very similar in content.

• Friday, January 27, 2023, 9:30 am – 2 pm (w/30-minute lunch break) https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0oc--orDoiHda48SxwtrDBkZwKlud04FLZ
• Friday, February 17, 2023. 12:30 – 4:45 pm (w/ 15-minute break) https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwufuqtrjMsGNb1bt7mbSuVes3dCD3C2QOr

For any questions or concerns please contact Pete Hill, Special Initiatives Director (NACS) at phill@nacswny.org.  

Sponsored by the Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the Value Network of WNY, and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS)

Date & Time: Tuesday, December 6, 4:00pm-5:00pm (event details below)

Location: Knox Hall (104), North Campus (Also Online via Panopto)

Intended Audience: Open Event 

A two part panel presentation with clinical staff members from The Seneca Nation Health System Behavioral Health Unit. They will be sharing their experiences on best practices, adapting evidence based techniques, unique challenges, and resiliency factors, this is a hybrid event.

The panel will be sharing their experiences on best practices, adapting evidence-based techniques, unique challenges, and resiliency factors for working withIndigenous clients.

• Panopto link: https://ub.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=46656ff7-682e-4757-906c-af5b014501b5. This is an in-person event with Panopto live streaming. A link for later viewing will also be made available.
• The first part, held on Wednesday, November 9th, may be viewed at: https://ub.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1652eaeb-d1d2-4633-a169-af2e01578986.

Please email Courtney Copeland (Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan) at cscopela@buffalo.edu with any questions or concerns.

Sponsored by the Counseling, School & Educational Psychology Department and the UB's department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Thursday, December 1, 5:00pm-7:00pm

Location: Student Union (Flag Room, 215), North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event 

The Department of Indigenous Studies will be having a dinner and social event to celebrate the end of the semester, connect and join a common space in the Student Union. 

For any questions, please email: indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu.  

Sponsored by the UB's department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 30, 5:00pm-7:00pm

Location: Harriman Hall, South Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Join the Department of Indigenous Studies in this celebration where they will host a Social Dancing class to learn about all the different Haudenosaunee social dances. 

For any questions, please email: indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu. 

Sponsored by the UB's department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 - Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Location: North Campus (locations below)

Intended Audience: Open Event 

For November, the undergraduate student groups are hosting a month long event to promote indigenous identify on campus. Please join First Nations Student Associate (FNSA) and UB’s Chapter of American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) in Indigenizing UB’s campus this Native American Heritage Month.

• Week 1 – Nov 1-5 – Rep your Nation/Tribe Week
  • Wear clothing that represents your nation or tribe on campus
  • Group Photo in the Indigenous Student Center (510 Clemens) on Thursday Nov 3 at 12pm
• Week 2 – Nov 6-12 – Ribbon Shirts and Ribbon Skirts Week
  • Wear Ribbon Skirts and Ribbon Shirts to campus
  • Group Photo in the Indigenous Student Center (510 Clemens) on Wednesday Nov 9 at 1pm
• Week 3 – Nov 13-19 – National Rock Your Mocs Week
  • Wear your moccasins to campus. Consider using hashtag #ROCKYOURMOCS and #ubindigenous in your social media posts
  • Group Photo in the Indigenous Student Center (510 Clemens) on Tuesday Nov 15 at 1pm
• Week 4 – Nov 20-26 – MMIWG2S Awareness Week
  • Wear Red to campus to promote awareness, advocacy and remember our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S)
  • Group Photo in the Indigenous Student Center (510 Clemens) on Monday Nov 21 at 11am
• Week 5 – Nov 27-30 – FNSA/AISES Week
  • Wear FNSA and AISES Shirts to campus
  • Group Photo in the Indigenous Student Center (510 Clemens) on Wednesday Nov 30 at 3pm

Please email the department of Indigenous Studies at indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu with any questions or concerns.

Sponsored by First Nation Student Association, UB AISES, and the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 9 and Monday, November 21, 4:00pm-5:00pm (event details below)

Location: Cooke Hall (121), North Campus (on 11/9/22) and Cooke Hall (121), North Campus (on 11/21/22)

Intended Audience: Open Event 

A two part panel presentation with clinical staff members from The Seneca Nation Health System Behavioral Health Unit. They will be sharing their experiences on best practices, adapting evidence based techniques, unique challenges, and resiliency factors, this is a hybrid event.

• 11/9/22 Online Panopto link: https://ub.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1652eaeb-d1d2-4633-a169-af2e01578986
• 11/21/22 Online Panopto link: https://ub.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=266bb354-b9d5-4200-b1cd-af4d013bb12e  

Please email Courtney Copeland (Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan) at cscopela@buffalo.edu with any questions or concerns.

Date & Time: Friday, November 11, 5:00pm-8:00pm 

Location: UB Law Library (2nd Floor), North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event 

We are sharing an event where there will be a showing of the documentary: Warrior Lawyers | Defenders of Sacred Justice, with a special introduction from Honorable Mark Montour. Mark Montour is St. Regis Mohawk/Kanien‘kehá:ka and a UB Alumnus, ’83, for being the first Onkwehón:we (Native person) appointed to serve as a New York State Appellate Judge.

For questions, please contact: Native Indigenous Law Student Association at law-nilsa@buffalo.edu. 

Sponsored by the UB’s Native Indigenous Law Student Association, UB Law Library and UB School of Law, with support from UB’s department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 9, 4:30pm

Location: Silverman Library (305), North Campus 

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Denying Access: NoDAPL to NoNAPL is the story of the Senecas who went to Standing Rock in 2016 to oppose the Dakota Access and Northern Access Pipelines. This Indigenous-led movement brought together people from around the world in an unprecedented call for the recognition of Indigenous rights and an end to a destructive fossil fuel industry. Filmmaker Jason Corwin (Seneca Nation, Deer Clan) is clinical assistant professor in the Dept. of Indigenous Studies at UB. He is a lifelong photographer, videographer, and independent media producer, working especially on Indigenous rights and environmental issues.

For more information, please visit the following UB Libraries page. 

Sponsored by the University at Buffalo Libraries

Date & Time: Friday, November 4, 9:00am-1:00pm

Location: Landmark Room - Student Union (210), North Campus 

Intended Audience: Open Event (designed for Native American high school students) 

UB’s Department of Indigenous Studies invites Native American high school students to join them on campus for Native American Student Outreach Day. If transportation is an issue please let them know so they can coordinate with the schedule. 

Please email Aaron VanEvery (Six Nations, Cayuga, Wolf Clan) at indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu or call (716) 645-7917 with any questions or concerns.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Friday, October 21, 7:00pm

Location: Center for the Arts (103), North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event 

The UB Indigenous Studies Department invites you for a performance of THE MUSH HOLE presented by Santee Smith and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre. The heart-breaking performance moves through North America’s residential school history with hope and empathy. Tickets are required and available at this ticket link. 

Please email indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu with any questions. 

Sponsored by the UB Indigenous Studies Department and the Office of Inclusive Excellence 

Date & Time: Thursday, October 20, 4:00pm-5:00pm

Location: Center for the Arts (B83), North Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event (No registration required)

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre’s (KDT) high-energy Powwow/dance training class is a fun boot camp style workout for people interested in maximizing their physical fitness led by Artistic Director Santee Smith and select KDT instructors. KDT’s Powwow Boot Camp allows participants to learn or practice skills in Indigenous dance forms of Powwow and Onkwehon:we (Haudenosaunee) social dances. These dances are performed in combination with exciting and challenging cardiovascular/physical conditioning exercises and contemporary dance.

Please email indigenous-studies@buffalo.edu with any questions. 

Sponsored by the UB Indigenous Studies Department 

Date & Time: July 14 – October 2, 2022

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Locations: Anderson Gallery and Center For the Arts Gallery

O’nigöëi:yo:h Thinking in Indian is an exhibition of Hodinöhsö:ni’ artists celebrating 2022 as the 50th year of Indigenous Studies at the University at Buffalo. It looks back and forward to the seeding of intellectual traditions, seizing of territorial imaginings through meaningful actions, and the threading of grounded relationality as we come together with a good mind. Works by almost 50 artists from the Hodinöhsö:ni’ Confederacy – Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora–will be featured across both UB Art Galleries spaces (Center for the Arts and UB Anderson Gallery). Click here for more information about the exhibition.

Sponsored by: Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, UB Department of Indigenous Studies, UB College of Arts and Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the UB Anderson Gallery Fund, and the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Art Fund

Date & Time: Wednesday, September 29, 11:00am-1:30pm

Location: 403 Hayes Hall, South Campus

Intended Audience: Open Event

Come learn about the new Department of Indigenous Studies, and how you can better support Indigenous Students at UB by learning about some of the unique barriers they may encounter during their time here. Traditional Hodinöhsö:ni’ lunch will be provided after the presentation. Click here to register.

Sponsored by the UB Professional Staff Senate, PSS Inclusion and Diversity Committee, and UB Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Thursday, August 11, 5:30-8:00pm (Student Union, 215 “Flag Room”) 

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join the Department of Indigenous Studies, the Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties (NACS) and the Roswell’s Center for Indigenous Cancer Research in celebrating with a fun social event in the Student Union (SU) here at UB! There will be opportunities to listen and dance to Haudenosaunee songs and there will be food served in the Flag Room (SU 215), the closest parking area is in the Furnas Lot.

Sponsored by Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS), the UB Department of Indigenous Studies, and Roswell Park's Center for Indigenous Cancer Research

Native American Community Services (NACS) is happy to announce some upcoming training opportunities for Native American Cultural Competency.  There are two virtual sessions for the “Introduction” sessions, and they will also have two in-person sessions for the four-hour, “Overview” trainings.  Please see the to register and additional details.

1. Introduction to Native American Cultural Competency

Date & Time: August 29, 2022, 12:00-1:00pm and September 13, 2022, 12:00-1:00pm (Virtual, see below for more details)

Intended Audience: Open Event

These one-hour sessions provide brief overviews of Native cultures, health challenges facing many communities, historical traumas, how to engage with Native American peoples more respectfully, and efforts to restore community wellbeing.

Monday, August 29, 2022, 12:00-1:00pm, Virtual on Zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrd-6uqzwoG9f75cuWRdAUnHGkzCsyZINZ

Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 12:00-1:00pm, Virtual on Zoom

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpdOyqpzosEt17GuQD--NjRx4PpkYQ2p40

2. Overview of Native American Cultural Competency

Date & Time: August 25, 11:00am-4:00pm and September 16, 2022, 10:00am–3:00pm (In-Person, see below for more details) 

Intended Audience: Open Event

These four-hour sessions include deeper discussions of traditional Native cultures, Trauma-Informed Care, Historical Traumas, a screening and discussion of “Unseen Tears: The Impact of Residential Boarding Schools,” strategies to move ahead, and more. Both “Overview” sessions are very similar in content. The “Overview” sessions will include a one-hour lunch break and will be held IN PERSON at the location identified below:

Thursday, August 25,  11:00am-4:00pm, IN PERSON: At Indigenous Attractions, 1626 Military Rd, Niagara Falls, NY 14304

Friday, September 16, 2022, 10:00am–3:00pm, IN PERSON: At NACS, 1005 Grant St., Buffalo NY 14207

To register for either of these IN-PERSON “Overview” trainings, please email Pete Hill at phill@nacswny.org for registration info.

Sponsored by Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara Counties, Inc. (NACS) and the New York State Office of Addiction Services & Supports (OASAS)

Date & Time: Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 1:00pm-4:00pm (In-person and Online)

Location: Baldy Center, 509 O’Brian Hall, North Campus and Zoom

Intended Audience: Open Event

This symposium will bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars with an interest in social and technical systems for managing access to digital materials documenting Indigenous cultural and linguistic practices. A key concern to be addressed will be how to ensure that Indigenous communities are able to maintain sovereignty over materials documenting their heritage in light of conflicts between Western notions of intellectual property and diverse Indigenous traditions.

This symposium is expected to be of interest to scholars with an interest in Indigenous Studies, Law, Information Science, Anthropology, and Linguistics, as well as others involved with exploring the long-ranging historical impacts of colonialism, as is typical of much research in the humanities. It will also be of value for people engaged in the maintenance of the intellectual traditions of Indigenous communities, including members of the university community, such as librarians and archivists, who may be called upon to develop protocols and platforms that facilitate the safekeeping of Indigenous data in ways which allow Indigenous communities to maintain sovereignty over materials documenting their cultural, intellectual, and linguistic heritage. To register and for more information, click here.

Presented by the The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy and the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 4:10pm-5:30pm (Online)

Location: Zoom

Intended Audience: Open Event

For several years the Seneca Nation has maintained that their gaming compact extension makes no provisions for revenue sharing with New York State. Senecas have argued that economic racism and greed are the motivating factors for unfavorable court rulings and Governor Hochul’s recent action freezing all Seneca Nation bank accounts to force payment of the disputed funds. A grassroots mobilization, known as the Mothers of the Seneca Nation, has challenged the legality of this payment and spoken out forcefully on the issue. Join founding members Leslie Logan and Odie Brant Porter for a discussion about the past, present, and future of Seneca casino gaming, its economic impacts on Western New York, and the long-standing challenges dealing with the state government. Click here to register for the online event.

Presented by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online)

Location: Zoom

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join Rick Hill for a short walk down memory lane, exploring what made Native American Studies at UB exciting in the 1970’s-1980’s. He will then relate the ideas in Lakota scholar Elizabeth Cook-Lynn’s essay of the same name to look at the future of the discipline.
Click here to register for the online event.

Presented by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online)

Location: Zoom

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join Dr. Jolene Rickard for a lecture about the project of injecting Indigenous philosophy in the academy and translating these ideas into a methodology that is happening in multiple locations. As often the case, Indigenous artists are leading the way with their work. This talk will consider how reading the visual legacies of Haudenosaunee material culture is essential in disrupting the aestheticized violence of our dispossession and ongoing relationships to our homelands. Click here to register for the online event.

Presented by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, April 13th, 4:10pm - 5:40pm (Click here to register for this online event) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Join Haudenosaunee Historian, Susan M. Hill (Mohawk Nation, Wolf Clan) for a lecture identifying the people, methods, and interventions that helped to make Indigenous Studies at UB a reality. From her time as a graduate student at the University at Buffalo to serving as the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto, Dr. Hill offers varied and in-depth perspectives on the history, people, and community-building methods the ensured the longevity of Critical Indigenous Studies within Haudenosaunee homelands. Click here to register for this online event, and you can also click here to visit the New Indigenous Studies Website.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 30, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

In this presentation, Kevin White will talk about his years as a graduate student in the American Studies Program at the University of Buffalo. He will reflect on his time learning about what it meant to be an Indigenous community-centered scholar- activist and his engagement with the White Corn project. He will share his insights on the UB American Studies program as a space of research, food, and a venue of learning unlike anywhere else.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Tuesday, March 29, 1:00pm (640 Clemens Hall, North Campus or Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Please join us for a research talk by Joshua Manitowabi (Potawatomi), Ph.D. Candidate in Humanities at Brock University, who will envision how decolonial mapping can portray treaty relations with the land, water and sky through the Dish With One Spoon Wampum treaty. He will also demonstrate through storytelling how Anishinaabe occupancy of Odawa Mnis is ongoing. Interactive mapping will be examined for its potential to address the limitations of static mapping in presenting an accurate Anishinaabe perspective. He will examine mapping strategies that incorporate traditional ways of imparting knowledge, such as storytelling and oral history. From the user’s perspective, this type of modern technology for constructing digital maps can offer alternative perspectives of Indigenous cultural representations while simultaneously providing new insights within contested areas of space between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 16, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Join preeminent lifecycle advocate Katsi Tekatsi:tsia'kwa Cook (Mohawk Nation, Wolf Clan) as she reflects on fellow Haudenosaunee thinker, John Mohawk as situated through her lens. 

Link to register: https://buffalo.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0uceqrpjgsGtdjYu40_aSH3YnOYsdkRUTa

Sponsored by the School of Social Work 

Date & Time: Monday, March 14, 12:30pm-1:30pm (684 Baldy, North Campus or Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Join us for a presentation by Dawn C. Hill, MSW, RSW, UBSSW alumna, and a clinical social worker with the Six Nations Family Health Team. Dawn will discuss how descendants of residential school survivors can use writing and land-based practices as tools for healing from trauma. She will share excerpts from her 2021 memoir Memory Keeper. Click here to register. 

Sponsored by the School of Social Work 

Date & Time: Monday, March 7, 12:30pm-1:30pm (684 Baldy, North Campus or Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Join us to hear Amanda Royce Josanaraae Cheromiah, Ph.D., Director of Native SOAR in the College of Education at the University of Arizona, present: Digital Caretakers: Transformation Storytelling from an Indigenous Lens. Before the record of time, Indigenous communities have shared stories on the land we occupy now. Rooted in Indigenous storytelling methodologies, this event will help you learn strategies to center storytelling in your work as a powerful medium to connect with students and communities. The event is a feature of the Global to Local Speaker Series and the Symposium on Voices for Healing and Justice. 

Sponsored by the School of Social Work 

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 2, 2022, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online)

Intended Audience: Open Event

Join Taíno activist, author, scholar and organizer José Barreiro Hatueyael for an engaging lecture on the history and everlasting impacts of Indigenous activism and scholarship at UB, with a focus on John Mohawk.

Link to register:  https://buffalo.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ghxce7_MS-KrOZZ5mrBegQ

Presented by the Department of Indigenous Studies

Date & Time: Friday, February 18, 12:00pm-3:00pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Presenting Dr. Desi Small-Rodriguez: "Indigenous Data Sovereignty: An Overview From Pre-Invasion To Today" and Dr. Stephanie Russo Carroll: "Sovereignty and Governance for Indigenous Data Futures." These presentations will explore the intersections between copyright law, intellectual property, data sovereignty, digital governance, and Indigenous knowledge. Click here to register. 

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies 

Date & Time: Wednesday, February 16, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

Dr. Oren Lyons is a Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan and a member of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. He is also a founding member of the Native American Studies program at the University at Buffalo. Join us for this special event, with introductory remarks by UB President Satish K. Tripathi, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Native American Studies at UB, as Dr. Lyons shares his work in building this monumental program, as well as the various local, national, and international projects he was a part of during this time. Click here to register. 

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies and the Office of Inclusive Excellence

Date & Time: Wednesday, February 9, 4:10pm-5:40pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students  

As part of the Department of Indigenous Studies 50 years of Indigenous Studies at UB Speaker Series, Agnes Williams will speak on February 9. Join Founding Mother of the Indigenous Women’s Network, Agnes Williams (Seneca Nation, Wolf Clan) for an engaging lecture on the history and contributions of Native American Studies at UB. From protests to the classroom, learn about action-based scholarship as a foundational element in the establishment of Indigenous Studies and the role it plays in local, regional, state, federal and international arenas. Click here to register. 

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies 

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 17, 4:00pm  

Location: Online 

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Join Dr. Jason Corwin (Seneca Nation, Deer Clan) for a multimedia look at Onödowa’ga:’ (Seneca) initiatives to protect land and water while promoting sustainability grounded in Indigenous philosophies. Dr. Jason Corwin, Clinical Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at UB, is a citizen of the Seneca Nation (Deer Clan), and a lifelong media maker. He was the founding director of the Seneca Media & Communications Center and has produced several short and feature length documentaries. Jason has extensive experience as a community-based environmental educator utilizing digital media to engage with Indigenous ways of knowing, sustainability, and social/environmental justice topics. Click here for news and events .

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies 

Date & Time: Tuesday, November 9, 4:00-5:30pm  

Location: 112 O'Brian Hall

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Please join us for a presentation and discussion with filmmaker Terry Jones. He is a member of the Seneca Nation of Indians and currently resides in Newtown on the Cattaraugus territory. Terry has a passion for sharing his Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) history and culture through his film works. He strives to find a balance between entertaining and educating his audiences. Click here to learn more. 

Sponsored by the Department of Indigenous Studies 

Date & Time: Monday, November 8, 5:00-7:00pm

Location: 190 Pharmacy Building (South Campus) or via livestream using this link

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Join us in-person or virtually for the screening of Doctrine of Discovery. This powerful documentary describes the principle of domination that has been used to oppress Indigenous peoples in the Americas, how the residual impacts of historical traumas can last for centuries into the present day, and how the traditional teachings of original nations and peoples form an alternative to this dehumanizing system. In addition to the screening, UB alumnus Pete Hill will facilitate a conversation about historical trauma and the longstanding effects of violence against Indigenous peoples, and will also debrief the film. Click here to register.

Food and refreshments will be provided beginning at 4:45pm in the cafe just down the hall from the screening room.

Date & Time: Saturday, November 6, 9:00am

Location: Meet at UB for carpool 

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Join students from First Nations SA and AISES for hiking and a picnic at Letchworth State Park .

Hosted by First Nations SA and AISES

Date & Time: For a detailed schedule, visit the Intercultural and Diversity Center events webpage. 

Intended Audience: UB Students    

UB's Intercultural and Diversity Center (IDC) serves dual purposes. It provides a welcoming space for students, and coordinates educational programs and cultural events aimed to broaden student perspectives and promote inclusion, equity, and social justice. Visit the Intercultural and Diversity Center events webpage for details on the upcoming Native American events as well as other indivdual events. 

Sponsored by the Intercultural and Diversity Center (IDC)

Date & Time: Monday, October 11, 12:00-1:00pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: Open Event 

This two-session series begins on October 11 (Indigenous Peoples Day) by offering an overview of major Native and Haudenosaunee cultural concepts, discussing challenges to Native health and well-being, and sharing recent and emerging efforts to support community wellness. 

Presented by the Office of Inclusive Excellence in partnership with Native American Community Services

Date & Time: Tuesday, April 20, 9:00-10:30am (Online) 

Intended Audience: Open Event 

Based on Rosy’s creative practice, this workshop is intended to create space for refuge and rest – for the body, the heart, the mind, and spirit. We will move, breathe, hear, see, and practice deep listening to ourselves and our environment. Click here to register. 

Cosponsored by the Humanities Institute Performance Research Workshop, the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Humanities Institute Haudenosaunee-Native American Studies Workshop

Date & Time: Tuesday, April 13, 12:00–1:00pm (click here to register)

Intended Audience: Open Event

This conversation between Mishuana Goeman and Theresa McCarthy will delve the racialization of Indigenous peoples in North America and its effect on individuals and communities. These ways of “seeing race” and implementing them in settler policies have had profound effects on understanding American Indians as political entities. By unpacking some of the history and they ways that race has shifted and changed over time, Prof. Goeman and McCarthy hope to posit new ways forward for solidarity practices. In order to “ground” this conversation, we will discuss Indigenous art pieces that posit new ways to interpret the history of racializing Indigenous peoples.

Presented by the Office of Inclusive Excellence

Date & Time: Tuesday, March 2, 4:00pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students 

Featuring: Agnes Williams (Seneca, Wolf Clan), Lori Quigley (Seneca, Wolf Clan), Marilyn Schindler (Seneca, Snipe Clan), Christine Abrams (Seneca, Beaver Clan)

Within Hodinöhsö:ni’ worldview, women are responsible for all matters regarding the land. Honoring this, our second installment of our Hodinöhsö:ni’ Geographies Series is designed as a listening session led by a panel of Seneca women of this territory. This listening session will provide a space where we can listen and receive direction on how best to develop our land acknowledgement protocols and other forms of Hodinöhsö:ni’ land-based commemoration on our campus. Click here for more information and to register. 

Sponsored by the Center for Diversity Innovation, the Humanities Institute, and the College of Arts and Sciences

Date & Time: Thursday, February 25, 4:00-5:30pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students 

Featuring Dr Jolivétte, this panel will explore the significance of Indigenous peoples’ solidarity and collaboration with the Black Lives Matter movement. It will include a comparative discussion of the impact of state violence on Black and Indigenous histories and current realities, the convergences between Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty, and the importance of our collective work on dismantling systems of white supremacy. Click here for more information and to register. 

Sponsored by the forthcoming Department of Indigenous Studies and the Center for Diversity Innovation Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program

Date & Time: Monday, February 22, 1:00-2:30pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students 

Co-Director of two digital projects working in collaboration with Indigenous communities, Mishuana Goeman will address best practices and the primary tools involved in the projects. Mapping Indigenous LA  aims to uncover the multiple layers of Indigenous Los Angeles through storymapping with Tribal Nations, Indigenous youth, community leaders, and elders from Indigenous communities throughout the city of Los Angeles to tell the multi-layered stories of placemaking. Click here for more information and to register.

Sponsored by DSSN and Co-sponsored by Geography, Linguistics, GGS, A/AS, ISD, CDI

Date & Time: Thursday December 3, 4:00pm (Online) 

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff, and Students 

Niagara Falls has become an important monument marking the boundary of the United States northern border and Canada’s Southern border. For Seneca people however, the falls are the place where the Thunder Beings reside and thus it is a place instrumental to Seneca experience of place. Built up as a tourist site in the early 1900s and later marketed as a honeymoon site, Niagara Falls becomes an important geographical area to extend the work of Mishuana Goeman, a 2020-2021 UB Center for Diversity Innovation Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Associate Professor of Gender Studies, American Indian Studies, and affiliated faculty of Critical Race Studies in the Law School, UCLA. Goeman's work in examining state produced space (such as making of monuments and jurisdictions) and Indigenous place-making (such as the reflection of experiences through intergenerational stories regarding specific sites, that in turn produce a value system).

Sponsored by The Center for Diversity Innovation and the Gender Institute

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 18, 4:00pm (Online)

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff and Students

Dr Brianna Theobald discussed Native women’s reproductive histories and their activism from her new, multi award-winning book Reproduction on the Reservation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Colonialism in the Long Twentieth Century. Dr Theobald is an assistant professor of history at the University of Rochester. She is the recipient of the John C. Ewers Award from the Western History Association and the Armitage-Jameson Prize from the Coalition for Western Women’s History. Dr. Theobald has also recently published several important public-facing pieces on such topics as the history of eugenics in the United States, detained migrants and reproductive abuse, and the history making work of Native American nurses.

Sponsored by the UB Humanities Institute – Haudenosaunee Native American Research Group, the UB Gender Institute, and the forthcoming UB Indigenous Studies Department

Date & Time: Friday, November 13, 3:00pm (Online)

Intended Audience: UB Faculty, Staff and Students

Drawing on two decades of work in archives and special collections, as a student and researcher, faculty instructor, and program director, Dr. Alyssa Mt. Pleasant discussed opportunities and challenges for a range of approaches to capacity building in support of Indigenous sovereignty that engage rare book and manuscript collections held by a range of institutions.

Presented by UB Humanities Institute Sovereignty Research Laboratory

Date & Time: Thursday, October 1, 4:00-5:15pm 

Intended Audience: Open Event   

This first of three conversations revolved around a place-based discussion on meaningful acknowledgements in Hodinöhsö:ni′ traditional territories. How might we use land introductions to follow through with a responsibility and commitment to nurturing healthy communities? How is the research and teaching in land grant institutions often in tension with Hodinöhsö:ni′ concepts of land and sovereignty? What process and protocols should be undertaken to engage respectfully, responsibly and with care? Most of all, how might an understanding of Hodinöhsö:ni′ geographies and anti-colonial practices create possibilities for future generations and relationships?

Presented by The UB Center for Diversity and Innovation, UB Humanities Institute, the College of Arts and Sciences at UB, and the Office of Inclusive Excellence