The DEI committee of John Glenn College will host a discussion on Native American resistance Wednesday at Page Hall. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs is set to host a discussion on the history of Native American resistance in the form of protests and cultural dance practices Wednesday, in celebration of Native American Heritage Month.
Titled “No Dakota Pipeline, Idle No More, and The Ghost Dance of 1890: Acts of Native Resistance,” the discussion, which dives into how Native American culture resurgence and revitalization can be seen in the form of contemporary protests, will feature University of Akron dance professor Robin Raven Prichard, a scholar and artist who is “working between the worlds of contemporary Western dance and Indigenous dance,” according to the John Glenn College website.
The discussion will dig into how the “1890s Ghost Dance,” a ceremonial religious movement among Native Americans through dance and spiritual rituals, continues through Native resistance in the form of contemporary protests such as the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation and the present-day No Dakota Pipeline protests, according to the website.
“Each protest is not an endpoint but rather an event in a circular chain of time that signals the endurance and survivance of Native Americans,” the website said.
Prichard, a Native American who grew up in Colorado — a state with a visible Native community — said she experienced slight culture shock when arriving in Ohio, and found that many of those surrounding her did not realize her Native community is a contemporary and continuing culture.
In order to educate students about the importance of understanding Native cultures, Prichard worked to bring Native dancing into the mainstream as an alternative to Western-based dance styles through courses she taught at the University of Akron.
Prichard said the forced removal of Native American tribes from Columbus, Ohio, through the Indian Removal Act of 1832 as well as other subsequent removals and massacres of Native peoples placed them in dire circumstances, which provided the basis for the beginning of the Ghost Dance.
“There’s three more [massacres] that continue to happen until we get to the Dakota Pipeline. So we have this Native American Nation that goes through at least six different removals, at six different points. So it’s a continuing story of loss, but it’s also a continuing story of resistance,” Prichard said.
Prichard said her presentation will challenge how one-time events like the Ghost Dance continue through religion and new practices throughout the century for present-day movements.
“That makes us reevaluate the Ghost Dance instead of looking at as an endpoint, it shows us that it’s just one manifestation of a protest, or resistance that keeps continuing on,” Prichard said.
Prichard said she will present her experiences studying the native cultures of New Zealand and Australia, and how she uses the knowledge she has gained to fight for contemporary Native American issues in the discussion.
Dr. Kate Hallihan, head coordinator of the event and assistant dean of students and instruction at John Glenn College of Public Affairs, said students can attend in-person or over Zoom and that community members are welcome.
“I want to be as inclusive as possible, so I’d say if community members wanted to attend, they absolutely could, we made the event hybrid so that a maximum number of people could attend,” Hallihan said.
The discussion will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 in Page Hall room 130 and admission is free. Those interested in attending must RSVP here.
“I hope that continuing to write and doing these kinds of talks and so forth can help academics and teachers and students realize that there’s much more to look at,” Prichard said.
