Members of the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Cohort at the Great Mohican powwow, a social and cultural event that similarly offers an opportunity for Indigenous people to dance, perform music, honor their culture and socialize. Credit: Lakaya Deegan
In celebration of culture and community, the first Native Ohio State Spring Social will be held Friday on the South Oval from 5-8 p.m., featuring giveaways from Native-owned businesses and performances from Native dance groups and drum ensembles.
The event, hosted by the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Cohort and Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government, aims to increase Native visibility on campus and offer a space for non-Native students to educate themselves on Indigenous culture. Lakaya Deegan, a third-year in sociology and president of the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Cohort, said.
“It’s a space where you can learn so much in such a little time while also supporting Indigenous people on campus,” Cohort said.
The event is being held on the South Oval in hopes to engage as many people as possible, Deegan said.
“Come by anyways, whether it’s to learn, to listen or just to see new things for the first time and meet new people,” Deegan said.
Briana Walkup, a second-year in psychology and vice president of the cohort, said the last Indigenous event of this kind was over 10 years ago, in 2012. Walkup said she sees this event as rebuilding a connection between Indigenous, campus and university communities.
“I feel it’s definitely a great step in the right direction,” Walkup said.
Attendees can enter into drawings to win merchandise including sweatshirts, hats, pins and stickers from Native-owned businesses, Walkup said.
Five Native dancers will also perform. Walkup said the five styles of dance will include a women’s traditional dancer, a women’s jingle dress dancer, a women’s fancy shawl dancer, a men’s grass dancer and a men’s hoop dancer.
“Those five members from the greater Native community coming in to showcase who they are, what they like to do, representing themselves through dance to Native and non-Native students on campus to go with the music,” Walkup said.
The music will be performed by two Native drum groups consisting of three to 10 members. Walkup said two styles of performance, Northern and Southern, will be performed, with one group representing each style.
“It’s a really unique experience getting to be in that space,” Walkup said.
Performing traditional dances is a display of art and culture, but also an act of resistance and a decolonizing practice, as Walkup said the dances were illegal for people under 50 to perform in the U.S. until 1978 in an effort to erase Indigenous culture.
“I think it brings people together in a way that not many other things can, especially for Native people, because it’s something that we were not legally allowed to do for so long,” Deegan said.
