Wells College is pleased to once again host the Peachtown Native American Festival and Education Week, taking place September 21 to 25 on the Wells campus. Events during the week offer a chance for the Wells community to learn about and discuss the history and continued relevance of the region, including the land on which the College was built. The festival on Friday brings participants together for traditional music and dancing, food and a peach tree planting. All events are free, and the public is welcome.
The week’s schedule includes:
Monday, September 21:
12:20 – 1:20 p.m., Stratton Lecture Hall (209): “Restoration and Reciprocity: Finding Common Ground between Scientific and Traditional Ecological Knowledge” Robin Wall Kimmerer, director, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry The Center for Native Peoples and the Environment has as its mission to create programs that draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge in support of our shared goals of environmental sustainability. This Sustainability Perspectives talk is presented in conjunction with the Peachtown Native American Festival.
4:00 – 5:30 p.m., Stratton Lecture Hall and Lobby: At 4:00, Lydia Bailey ’16, presents her Summer Internship Poster: “Game Pieces at Myers Farm: A 15th Century Cayuga Site” discussing the diversity of bone and ceramic artifact game pieces found at a local archaeological site dating to the mid 1400’s, and why this is further evidence in support of an early foundation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. At 4:30, Professor Emerita Linda Schwab and The Aurora Historical Society host the launch of Jack Rossen’s new book, “Corey Village and the Cayuga World: Implications from Archaeology and Beyond,” including a presentation and book signing.
Tuesday, September 22:
12:30 – 1:30 p.m., Stratton Lecture Hall: “Countering the Idealized Indian Image in Sports Mascots: The Rising Public Image of Native Americans in Sports” with Dr. Michael Taylor of Ithaca College. With the recent successes of Native peoples in sports such as Lacrosse, and the Indoor and Outdoor games’ World Championships held in North America, the visibility of Native games and competitors offers real and viable counters to racialized “Indian” sports team mascots and ethnic notions of Native people in sports. This discussion will include ideas on sovereignty through frames such as personal mobility, lacrosse being now a global sport, and Native competitors as world-class athletes.
Wednesday, September 23:
12: 30 – 1:30 p.m., Stratton Lecture Hall: “The Paradox of Productivity: Lessons from an Indigenous Agriculture” by Jane Mt. Pleasant, associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University. Her multi-disciplinary perspective on indigenous agriculture includes history, archeology, paleobotany, and cultural/social anthropology. Much of her work has focused on Haudenosaunee agriculture in the 16th through 18th centuries– more recently she has expanded her research to include pre-Columbian agriculture in eastern and central North America. Mt. Pleasant is of Tuscarora ancestry.
12:00 – 2:00 p.m., Stratton Lobby: “Cayuga Nation: Now & Then,” a book by Jenna Rodriguez, Victor Hammer Fellow, Wells Book Arts Center. Jenna designed, offset printed, and published this book during her summer residency with the Journal of Artist Books (JAB) at Columbia College Chicago in the Center for Book and Paper Arts. Three weeks after she moved to the shores of Cayuga Lake, the local gas station was barricaded with trucks, police and members of the local Cayuga Tribe. This event inspired her to explore the long history of the Cayuga Nation and the events that lead to the recent conflict within the tribe itself. She published a two-sided artist book showcasing her own observations, experiences, and research on the Cayuga Nation.
Thursday, September 24:
12:30 – 1:30 p.m., Stratton Lecture Hall: Meghan McCune ’03, Jamestown Community College, will present “Voices from the Western Door: Anti-Indianism, Land Dispossession, and Seneca Resilience” Meghan is an alumna of Wells College, graduating in 2003 with an Anthropology/Sociology major. During her time at Wells, she served on the board of Strengthening Haudenosaunee Relations through Education (SHARE). Meghan also holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Michigan State University. Her research centers on Indigenous sovereignty, specifically Haudenosaunee land rights and economic development. She is currently Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology and Director of Social Sciences at Jamestown Community College.
Friday, September 25:
3:00 – 6:00pm Sommer Center (lawn and indoors) Social Dance with Cayuga Singers.
The Peachtown Native American Festival and Education Week ends with a celebratory gathering. Everyone is welcome to participate in the annual peach tree planting, social dancing led by Cayuga singers, and food for all. Come on out, enjoy a beautiful early fall day, and learn more about Cayuga culture.
These events are held in collaboration with the Aurora Historical Society, Wells’ Book Arts Center, the Cayuga Nation, Wells’ Center for Sustainability and the Environment, and the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program.
Wells is committed to providing access to all events; anyone who needs assistance should contact David Foote at 315-364-3460 or email dfoote@wells.edu.
