Ways of Knowing: Indigenous Connections to Landscape and Place in Central Appalachia
Saturday, November 9
Myles Center, Davis & Elkins College, Elkins WV from 9:30 to 4:30, followed by a reception closing the 2024 Creating Home exhibit at Appalachian Forest Discovery Center.
The Ways of Knowing symposium is the culmination of our year-long project exploring Indigenous Appalachia. The speakers at this one-day event will discuss various approaches to Indigenous knowledge. Discussions will cover archeological insights, Native culture, traditions, language, and folklore. Comparing traditional Indigenous knowledge to western versions of archaeology, history, ethics of land use, and religion will open insights to modern social concerns of Indigenous communities. Admission is $30 and lunch is included in ticket price. Scholarships for free attendance are available for students, AmeriCorps members, Indigenous people, or needs-based applicants. This event will be livestreamed and recorded, but registration is required for free access.
Schedule of events:
9:30 Larry Jent - Welcome and Introductions
9:45 Joe Stahlman – Keynote Address: Ways of Knowing
10:30 Leon Briggs - cultural presentation of the Haudenosaunee
10:45 Gavin Hale, Monongahela National Forest Tribal Liaison – Best Available Science includes Indigenous Communities
11:45 Joshua Garcia, Wyandotte Nation Communications Associate - Preserving the Future of Our Past
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Kenneth Branham, Chief Emeritus Monacan Nation - My Lifelong Learning Journey: Resurrecting our Culture
2:15 Joe Stahlman & Larry Jent - cultural presentation
2:30 Francis Day, President Future Generations University, Eastern Band of Cherokee - My Grandmother Told Me: Unwritten Histories
3:30 Panel discussion facilitated by Bonnie Brown
4:30 Leon Briggs – Event Close
4:45 to 6:30 Reception and final showing of Creating Home exhibit at Appalachian Forest Discovery Center, with additional cultural presentation by Leon Briggs about 5:30
Presenters:
Joe Stahlman
Joe Stalhman
Keynote Speaker: Ways of Knowing
Explores the multiple sources of understanding of Indigenous people, and how Native knowledge and culture interact with western science and history.
Dr. Joe Stahlman (Tuscarora/Pennsylvania Dutch) is an anthropologist, historian, scholar, and researcher. He has over 30 years of research experience working with First Peoples and allies. His research focuses on culture and history, as well as ongoing socio-economic and health & wellness related endeavors with Native communities. He takes an active role in addressing the spaces Native peoples occupy in North American museums, arts, archaeology, cultural resource management, and scholarship. Regularly, Joe talks on the need to promote equity, equality, and justice among all peoples in North American society through a number of reconciliatory processes which are inclusive for all and empowers people to express agency through creative and intellectual endeavors.
Chief Kenneth Branham
”I became the Assistant Chief in 1987. At this time we were working towards getting State Recognition. I was elected Chief in 1995 and served for 16+ years, during which I was a great supporter for the Tribe to become Federally recognized. During my time as Chief I was hired by Natural Bridge to help build a Monacan Indian village and worked as one of the head interpreters.
A crucial part of my life has been dedicated to serving the Monacan people and as of today I want to continue doing that. I have always done speaking engagements promoting the Monacan history. I have also played an integral part in the saving of Rassawek from being developed working with Senator Tim Kaine on this project. I also worked tirelessly in getting the Indian Health Service established on Monacan land. Some other accomplishments has been serving as President for the R.G. Bryant Monacan Scholarship, and serving as Vice President for the Amherst County Electoral Board for six years”.
Chief Branham will present one of the primary addresses at the event, discussing the rediscovery and renewal of tribal knowledge and traditions for the Monacan Nation. He will also participate in the discussion panel.
Joshua Garcia
Joshua Garcia
“Preserving the Future of our Past”. In this talk, I hope to show the struggles that tribal nations must face in cultural revitalization in order to preserve their cultural practices and how my tribe (Wyandotte Nation) is working to maintain our cultural knowledge.
Kweh. My English name is Joshua Garcia. I am the oldest of three boys to Kim and Arturo Garcia. I am a proud citizen of the Wyandotte Nation. I graduated with my Bachelors of Science from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS in May of 2020. While there, I had the opportunity to run collegiately, represent the University as the 2019-2020 Haskell Brave, and have had the opportunity to travel to other communities with my friends from college and have been able to see the similarities and differences between our communities. After college, I moved back home and became the Media/Communications Specialist for the Wyandotte Nation Cultural Center & Museum."
Leon Briggs
Leon Sam Briggs, is enrolled Tonawanda Seneca whose native name is H oya’degay hus, “he helps always” hawk clan. In 2004, he was ordained as a spiritual leader of the American Metis Aboriginal Association. He works in traditional Arts of beading, quill and leather work. He speaks on his traditional teachings in herbology, (focused native uses of plants), and works as a cultural consultant.
He has participated as guest speaker on Native American culture, storyteller, environmental impact on indigenous plants at various events including Native American Awareness Week at the University of Dayton, and Sunwatch Village (since 2007), Making Relations another gathering of communities for the exchange of cultures (Little Eagle and Eagle Butte, South Dakota, since 2009), and Native Peoples Celebrate the Peacemakers, University of Dayton. He is a consultant/ speaker with the Red Bird Center whose mission is to support the Healing and Unity of Native Families in Ohio.
Leon will give a program on songs and stories of the Haudenosaunee, and will include some history of the Seneca in West Virginia and throughout Appalachia. He will have a display showing artifacts and reproductions of the 18th century.
Francis Day
Francis L. Day is President of Future Generations University and a Tribal Member of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She has a B.S.E. from University of California, Los Angeles, and M.A. from University of Tennessee.
She has over four decades of experience as a nonprofit manager at the senior leadership level, focusing on moving organizations to higher level functioning by building and re-building management systems, ensuring mission-driven programmatic initiatives.
Fran was instrumental in helping create Future Generations University, and has recently returned in the position of President. Her early career positions include CEO of the Haskell Foundation at Haskell Indian Nations University, Dean of Development at College of the Atlantic, and Vice President at Unity College. She was Chief Officer of Institutional Advancement at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, one of the oldest craft schools in the United States.
Fran Day will present one of the primary addresses at the event. Much of the knowledge that we carry is oral, embodied in the land, the people, and our souls—this presentation will offer some of these stories.
Gavin Hale
Gavin Hale is Tribal Liaison and Heritage Program Manager for the Monongahela National Forest, U.S.D.A Forest Service. He is an anthropologist with twenty years of professional experience in archaeology and tribal relations. Prior work experience included serving as archaeologist for the Forest Service and private sector, and previous service as Historic Preservation Specialist for Seminole Tribe of Florida, Tribal Historic Preservation Office.
Gavin is responsible for cultural resource management, heritage, and archaeological projects for the National Forest. As Tribal Liaison his responsibilities include serving as primary contact and coordination of government-to-government consultation with sovereign Tribal Nations.
“The scientific community has affirmed, through best practice guidance and policy, that indigenous knowledge is a critical and equitable component of making science-based decisions. Indigenous Knowledge cannot be separated from the people and communities inextricably connected to that knowledge. I will discuss the importance of a relationship-based approach to learning and understanding of landscape, archaeology, and historic preservation. Shared experience contributes to informed recommendations and decisions.”
Bonnie Brown
Bonnie M. Brown is the Coordinator of the WVU Native American Studies Program. She holds a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree from Iowa State University and an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Bonnie Brown has coordinated the WVU Native American Studies Program and served on its faculty since 2005. She has developed and taught numerous courses and organized dozens of public lectures, service learning projects, and symposia. She has also directed a West Virginia Teacher Institute, a Carlisle Indian Boarding School archives workshop, and the October 2023 major public forum, "This Land Was Already Loved: Native Leaders Discuss their Nations' Connection to Place," featuring leaders from six Native Nations connected to the land now known as West Virginia. Bonnie has been a non-voting member of the National Congress of American Indians since 2005. Before coming to WVU she was an assistant professor at the University of South Dakota. She strives to be an effective advocate for the sovereign rights and fair representation of Indigenous peoples.
Ms. Brown will lead and facilitate the discussion panel involving all of the presenters that will wrap up the event.
This program is supported with funding from the National Park Foundation. This project is being presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the official state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
