On Native Ground
The On Native Ground initiative aims to make visible Indigenous histories across the Americas, as well as work with local tribes to establish a strong network for Native communities and scholarship at VCU. The initiative includes the newly-inaugurated Land Acknowledgement working group, a guest lecture series spotlighting Indigenous scholars, and the Karenne Wood Writer/Artist residency program.
The HRC also proudly supports the annual Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival.
Upcoming Events
No upcoming events at this time.
November 10. 2022
Water and Land: Indigenous Performance as Invitation to Action
6:00 p.m. (virtual event)
The speaker for this virtual event is Bethany Hughes, assistant professor in the Department of American Culture and a core faculty member in the Native American Studies Program at the University of Michigan.
November 17, 2022
The Recovery of Cherokee Author John Milton Oskison (1874-1947)
12:30 p.m. (Commons Theater)
The speaker for this event is Lionel Larré, president of Bordeaux Montaigne University, where he teaches American history with a focus on Native American history and on representations of Native Americans.
November 17. 2022
The Seed Keeper Reading & Discussion
6:00 p.m. (hybrid event)
Cabell Library, Room 303
The speaker for this event is Diane Wilson, writer, speaker, educator, and author of "The Seed Keeper" (Milkweed, 2021).
October 19. 2022
Fractures of Memory: Indigenous Futurisms and Experiential Symbolism
4:00 p.m. (hybrid event)
at the Commons Theater (University Student Commons)
The speakers for this event are Ethan Brown, Pamunkey artist and filmmaker and Karenne Wood Native Artist-in-Residence at the HRC, and Federico Cuatlacuatl, artist and filmmaker.
November 3. 2022
WAMPUM Framework: Indigenous Climate Change Adaptation Strategies
6:00 p.m. (virtual event)
The speaker for this virtual event is Kelsey Leonard, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Waters, Climate, and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo.
Opportunities
Karenne Wood Native Writer/Artist Residency Program
In November of 2021, The Humanities Research Center launched the Karenne Wood Native Writer/Artist Residency program. The program will allow an Indigenous writer or artist to spend time at VCU, connect with local tribes, give public talks and readings, and enrich VCU students’ learning experience.
Land Acknowledgement
This is a faculty-led group coordinating efforts between local Indigenous communities and VCU faculty, staff and students to produce a consultative land acknowledgment. The group understands land acknowledgment as a multidimensional process of respecting the past, present and future of Indigenous presence on this land. The goal of this group is to deepen our understanding of settler colonial history through learning about the region’s Indigenous past as well as its ongoing Indigenous presence. At present, universities across the United States—as key sites of cultural, social, and intellectual development—have started to accept the responsibility to acknowledge the ways in which a commitment to diversity and inclusion must include a reckoning with our historical and ongoing complicity in the violence and dispossessions of settler colonialism. The group will meet monthly to discuss proposed readings, meet Indigenous leaders in the community and draft recommendations for a land acknowledgment statement. Faculty, staff members and graduate students from all schools and colleges at VCU are welcome.
Contact: Jesse Goldstein, jgoldstein2@vcu.edu
Past Events
Fractures of Memory: Indigenous Futurisms and Experiential Symbolism [no video]
The speakers for this event were Ethan Brown, Pamunkey artist and filmmaker; and Federico Cuatlacuatl, artist, filmmaker and assistant professor of studio art at UVA. The artists presented two of their films, "Tsenacommacah" and "First Landings."
WAMPUM Framework: Indigenous Climate Change Adaptation Strategies
[video]
The speaker for this virtual event was Kelsey Leonard, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Waters, Climate, and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo.
Water and Land: Indigenous Performance as Invitation to Action
[video]
The speaker for this virtual event was Bethany Hughes, assistant professor in the Department of American Culture and a core faculty member in the Native American Studies Program at the University of Michigan.
The Recovery of Cherokee Author John Milton Oskison (1874-1947) [video]
The speaker for this event was Lionel Larré, president of Bordeaux Montaigne University, where he teaches American history with a focus on Native American history and on representations of Native Americans.
The Seed Keeper Reading & Discussion*
The speaker for this event was Diane Wilson, writer, speaker, educator, and author of "The Seed Keeper" (Milkweed, 2021).
*To view the protected event video, please reach out to hrc@vcu.edu.
Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion [video]
The speaker for this virtual event was Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Ph.D., American historian, writer and activist, and a professor emerita of Ethnic Studies at California State University, East Bay. This event is part of the HRC Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice (On Native Ground) Speaker Series.
Savage Conversations [video]
The speaker for this event was LeAnne Howe, Eidson Distinguished Professor in American Literature at the University of Georgia. This event is part of the HRC Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice Speaker Series.
Envisioning Afro-Indigenous Futures: Land Back, Reparations, and the Aftermath of Colonialism and White Supremacy [video]
The speaker for this virtual event was Kyle T. Mays, Ph.D., assistant professor of history at UCLA. This event is part of the HRC Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice Speaker Series.