Food sustains all living beings (humans and non-humans) as it punctuates our daily lives and helps us survive and grow. It also embraces different realities of lived experiences across time and space, connecting the past with our present through the passing of ancestral traditions. And yet, it also reveals the fragility and the impermanence of bodies and organisms; it reinforces or challenges our privilege(s) (or lack thereof) to access food sources; it becomes instrumentalized and weaponized in warfare; it questions our complex relationship to nature, land, and sovereignty; it mirrors systemic inequalities entrenched in contemporary societies. Food highlights a living paradox: it represents the key ingredient that binds us together, and yet divides us when power dynamics and privilege are at play. By shedding light on these intricate realities, “Food for Thought’ seeks to problematize and critically assess the complex social, cultural, environmental, political relationships that we have with food.
The Oak Institute for Human Rights was a proud co-sponsor of lectures and film programming during the Center for the Arts and Humanities’s 2022/23 theme: Food for Thought. Visit the Center for the Arts and Humanities website to learn more.
Film Screening: 500 YEARS
Post-film discussion with director, Pamela Yates, and Oak Fellow, Ana Lucía Ixchíu Hernández
7:00pm, Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
Focusing on universal themes of justice, racism, power and corruption, 500 YEARS tells the story from the perspective of the majority indigenous Mayan population, and their struggles in the country’s growing democracy. 500 YEARS tells the epic story that led Guatemala to a tipping point in its history, from the genocide trial to the citizen uprising that toppled President Otto Perez Molina. As witness to this heroic moment in Guatemalan history, 500 YEARS documents the beginning of the end of an unaccountable rule of law, and a society ready for change.
In Spanish, Kaqchikel, and Ixil with English subtitles.
As Long As Grass Grows
Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Lecturer of American Indian Studies, CA State University San Marcos
7:00pm, Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. At CSUSM she teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization. She also works within the field of critical sports studies, examining the intersections of indigeneity and the sport of surfing.
Film Screening: AWAKE: A Dream from Standing Rock
Post-film Discussion with Fellow, Michelle Cook, and Film Producer, Teena Pugliese
7:00pm, Railroad Square Cinema, 17 Railroad Square, Waterville, ME
The Water Protectors at Standing Rock captures world attention through their peaceful resistance. While many may know the details, AWAKE, A Dream from Standing Rock captures the story of Native-led defiance that forever changed the fight for clean water, our environment and the future of our planet. The film is a collaboration between Indigenous filmmakers, Director Myron Dewey, Executive Producer Doug Good Feather and environmental Oscar Nominated filmmakers Josh Fox and James Spione. It is a labor of love to support the peaceful movements of the water protectors.
Conversation on Tribal Sovereignty in Maine
with Ryan Lolar 18′ and Oak Fellow, Michelle Cook
7:00pm, Diamond 122
Ryan Lolar attended Colby College where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 2018, then headed out to attend the University of Colorado Law School where he graduated with his Juris Doctor and a Certificate in American Indian Law in May 2021. Ryan has had a lifelong interest in being an advocate for Indigenous people, especially in the Wabanki communities. He is currently an attorney that specializes in Tribal Law and Federal Indian Law.
Annual Basket Making Workshop
with Penobscot Basketmaker, Paula Love
1:00pm, The Pugh Center Commons
Join Penobscot Basketmaker, Paula Love, in this annual event. Learn about basketmaking and try out basketmaking for yourself at this drop-in event for students and the Colby community.
Settler Colonialism 101
Hosted by The Critical Indigenous Studies Initiative
4:00pm, Miller 14
What is settler colonialism? Why does it matter? In this workshop, we will lay out a brief history of settler colonialism in the Americas, and we’ll consider examples of how settler colonialism continues today. After an interactive presentation by members of The Critical Indigenous Studies Initiative, there will be time for discussion and a Q & A. Please come and learn, whether you know a lot or nothing at all! Students, staff, and faculty are welcome. There will be books available for participants to take home to continue the conversation and learning.
Reading with Penobscot Morgan Talty
Morgan Talty, author and professor, University of Maine
7:00pm, Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
Join us as we celebrate Penobscot author Morgan Talty’s recent book of short stories, Night of the Living Rez.
Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. He received his BA in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and his MFA in fiction from Stonecoast’s low-residency program. Named one of Narrative’s “30 Below 30,” his collection of short stories, Night of the Living Rez, was recently published by Tin House Books (2022). His work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, and elsewhere. Talty has been a Lit Event Fellow for Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance as well as a recent recipient of a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation. Currently, Talty is an assistant professor of English in Creative Writing and Native American and contemporary Literature at the University of Maine.
Film Screening: 500 YEARS
Post-film Discussion with Fellow, Ana Lucía Ixchíu Hernández
7:00pm, Railroad Square Cinema, 17 Railroad Square, Waterville, ME
Focusing on universal themes of justice, racism, power and corruption, 500 YEARS tells the story from the perspective of the majority indigenous Mayan population, and their struggles in the country’s growing democracy. 500 YEARS tells the epic story that led Guatemala to a tipping point in its history, from the genocide trial to the citizen uprising that toppled President Otto Perez Molina. As witness to this heroic moment in Guatemalan history, 500 YEARS documents the beginning of the end of an unaccountable rule of law, and a society ready for change.
In Spanish, Kaqchikel, and Ixil with English subtitles.
Naked Indians: “Not as Revolting as One Might Think”
Joseph M. Pierce, Stony Brook University
7:00pm, Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
The Indian is naked in colonial eyes. And the nakedness of the Indian is itself a project of discovery in which the body is subjected to aesthetic and epistemological scrutiny. This scrutiny is not value neutral, and participates in the gendered dynamic by which Europeans imagined Indigenous peoples as naive and deviant, but also potentially beautiful. Amerigo Vespucci would write about the Indigenous women he observed, “they are not as revolting as one might think.” This and other depictions of Indigenous bodies focus on the matter of the flesh but also how the unclothed Indian represents both an object of desire and revulsion. Drawing on early colonial depictions, nineteenth century ethnographic portraits, and contemporary photographic projects, this presentation will discuss what the naked Indian means, and how Indigenous people have repurposed the significance of nakedness over time.
What are Indigenous Rights?
2022 Oak Fellows: Ana Lucía Ixchíu Hernández and Michelle Cook
7:00pm, Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
The 2022 Oak Human Rights Fellows are Michelle Cook and Ana Lucía Ixchíu Hernández. Both will join the Colby community for the Fall 2022 semester to raise awareness on issues of Indigenous rights, and share the ways colonialism and the formation of modern nation-state borders have created mass human rights violations for Indigenous peoples. This event will be a conversation between the Oak fellows led by the Oak Associate Director, Tiffany Miller.
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