Indigenous Heritage Month
In observance of Indigenous Heritage Month, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi recognizes the people, culture, traditions, crafts, and music that existed in the United States before it became what we know today. IHM is a time to learn and acknowledge the legacy of indigenous people and to celebrate their many contributions throughout the month of November.
Indigenous Heritage Month Schedule of Events
Oct. 24 - Humanities Speaker: 2:00pm – 3:15pm in Bay Hall 104
Dr. Juliana Barr (Duke University) will give a talk about gender and colonial encounters, entitled, “When the Virgin Mary Came, the Goddess Zacado Stayed Put: Using Gender to Trace Indigenous Views of European Encounters." This event is for students and faculty in the humanities, WGST, and honors. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Dr. Peter Moore at peter.moore@tamucc.edu.
Oct. 24 - Humanities Speaker Series: 6:00pm in UC Anchor A/B
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will host the Humanities Speaker Series featuring Dr. Juliana Barr on Monday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. in the University Center, Anchor Ballroom. The event includes a Q&A at 7 p.m. as well as a book signing. The event is open to the campus community and the general public and is free of charge. Barr is national award-winning speaker who specializes in the colonial and Indigenous history of Texas and the southwest borderlands, and her talk is entitled, "Mapping Indigenous Sovereignty on the Land: What the European Cartography of Texas Tells Us." This is the fourth Humanities Speaker Series lecture, but the first since 2019. Sponsors include the TAMU-CC Division of Research and Innovation, College of Liberal Arts, Department of Humanities, Department of English, and Islander Cultural Alliance. For more information, contact Dr. Peter Moore at peter.moore@tamucc.edu
Nov. 1 – Nov. 14 - Lil Red Dress Project: All day in the I-CREATE Lab
K̓i’stła̱ns t̓ła̱liwe’a̱nu’tł (We will not forget them). Inspired by the Lil Red Dress Project, the I-Create Lab will have beads available so you can make your own beaded "red dress" pin to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls during Indigenous Heritage Month. Beads will be available from November 1-14, Monday-Friday 7:30 am - 7:00 pm in the I-Create Lab on the 2nd floor of the Mary and Jeff Bell Library. For more information, contact David Jones at david.jones@tamucc.edu or Patricia Hernandez at patricia.hernandez@tamucc.edu.
Nov. 1 – Nov. 14 - Red Dress Project: All day in the Mary and Jeff Bell Library
In honor of Indigenous Heritage Month, drop by the Mary and Jeff Bell Library to learn about the violent erasure of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-non-conforming individuals. The first floor houses an exhibit modeled on Jamie Black's 2010 REDress Project—an art installation which uses red clothing to symbolize racialized violence. As a companion to the exhibit, head to the I-Create Lab, where you'll be able to make your own beaded dress pins using patterns by Native activists. For more information, contact Dr. Wendy Walker at wendy.walker@tamucc.edu or Dr. Corinne Zeman at corinne.zeman@tamucc.edu
Nov. 7 - Home From School: The Children of Carlisle: 7:00pm in the Performing Arts Center
"Kill the Indian in him and save the man” was the guiding principle of the U.S. government-run Indian Boarding School program starting in the late 19th Century. The program removed tens of thousands of Native American children from their tribal homelands, and through brutal assimilation tactics, stripped them of their languages, traditions, and culture. The students were forced through a military-style, remedial education. Most children returned emotionally scarred, culturally unrooted with trauma that has echoed down the generations. Many students never returned home, having died at the schools. Home From School: The Children of Carlisle dives into history of the flagship federal boarding school, Carlisle Indian Industrial School, and follows the modern-day journey of the Northern Arapaho Tribe as they seek to bring home the remains of three children who died at Carlisle over 100 years ago. To move forward they need to heal from the past, and in doing so they forge the way for other tribes to follow. For more information, please contact corinne.zeman@tamucc.edu or deib@tamucc.edu
Nov. 8 - Revitalizing the Karankawan Language with Alexander Joseph Perez: 2:00pm via Zoom
Alexander Joseph Perez, author of Karankawa Kadla-Mixed Tongue: Medicine for the Land & Our Peoples (2021), a compelling memoir which chronicles Perez’s journey as he discovers and resurrects his ancestors’ languages, unspoken since the 1880s. For additional information, contact Dr. Corinne Zeman at corinne.zeman@tamucc.edu
Meeting ID: 885 0108 0985; Passcode: 435184
Meeting ID: 885 0108 0985; Passcode: 435184
Nov. 10 - Join the Conversation with Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend: 3:30pm – 4:45pm in UC Oso 221
Learn about environmental activism, eco-justice, Indigenous rights, and the ongoing efforts to protect our local communities from environmental pollution. For more information, contact Dr. Dale Pattison at dale.pattison@tamucc.edu
Nov. 15 - “Honoring Our Ancestors: A Reading and Interactive Writing Workshop with Author and Publisher Odilia Galván Rodríguez”: 12:30pm – 1:45pm & 2:00pm – 3:15pm via Zoom
To understand the history of the forming of this nation, recognition must first be given to the generational trauma suffered by the original peoples of the “Americas,” the widely ignored trauma suffered by all immigrants to this land, who by the "melting pot" mentality have been encouraged to forget their roots, culture, and spiritual traditions, and conform to the cultural homogeneity of our society. The free-write generative writing exercise will focus on writing about our personal stories. For more information, contact Dr. Robin Carstensen at robin.carstensen@tamucc.edu
Meeting ID: 990 2218 5833; Passcode: itEnW2
Nov. 16 - Coffee Talk: Indigenous Communities in the Coastal Bend: 10:30am – Noon in UC Jetty 123
Islander Green Team and Islander Feminists will be hosting a 'coffee talk' event to have an open discussion about the land we occupy, the contributions of the Indigenous people (especially regarding the environmental movement), the range of Indigenous identities that exist, how we can respect their existence, and how we can support the work they're doing. They will have two special guests- Larry Running Turtle and Love Sanchez from the Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend (IPCB) to help educate and facilitate conversation. Free cold brew and creamer to those who attend on a first come first serve basis! For more information, contact islanderfeminists@gmail.com or melissa.zamora@tamucc.edu.
Nov. 16 - Navigating Indigenous Identities through Art with Cosmica Siren: 3:00pm – 5:00pm in UC Bayview 320
Join ICA for an exploration of what it means to be native and how not to let imposter syndrome stop us from claiming and celebrating Indigenous culture through dialogue and art. Leticia (Cosmica Siren) is a local Indigiqueer (she/they) artist and educator. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting from the University of North Texas and a master's in consciousness and transformative studies from JFK University. As a full-time artist they participate as a vendor in many markets, powwows and events to honor their creative roots and ancestral heritage. For more information, contact DEIB@tamucc.edu
Nov. 17 - Decolonial Game Night: 2:00pm – 3:30pm in UC Bayview 320
Join ICA and Dr. Corinne Zeman with her ENGL 3341 class to experience and discuss Cards for Decolonization, an educational parody of Cards Against Humanity. This humor-based card game was created by Native educators and activists in order to dispel anti-Indigenous stereotypes in American culture, and to advocate for the revitalization and reclamation of Indigenous heritage. For more information, contact Dr. Corinne Zeman at corinne.zeman@tamucc.edu or DEIB@tamucc.edu.
Happening All Month
Indigenous Research Guide
Students in ENGL 3341 will be creating an Indigenous research guide which will then be implemented and made available via the Bell Library.
Students in ENGL 3341 will be creating an Indigenous research guide which will then be implemented and made available via the Bell Library.