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Indigenizing Initiatives

Projects initiated and developed by teams of Macalester staff, faculty, and students that help expand the reach in our MNI programming endeavors.

2023-2024

  • Three Sisters Garden at Macalester created by alum Cait Bergeon (Menominee) in collaboration with Megan Butler (Macalester’s Sustainability Director). Supported by an incredible team of students: Meira Smit ‘25, Jenna Hawkes ‘25, Oliver Matus-Bond ‘26, and Abby White ‘26.
  • Honor the Earth at 30 celebration, where Macalester College and Honor the Earth panelists talked about the future of Indigenous Environmental Justice. Panelists also shared strategies and outcomes to help educate and illuminate the path moving forward.
    • Panelists included Sii-am Hamilton (Stó:lō & Nuučaan̓uł intergenerational land defender and non-violent direct action trainer/ organizer); Ta’Kaiya Blaney (Tli’amin First Nation, language advocate and direct action organizer); Denzel Sutherland-Wilson (Gitxsan land defender and traditional craftsman); Anpo Jensen (Oglala Lakota environmental engineer and treaty rights advocate); and the keynote speaker was Krystal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota & Northern Cheyenne organizer and Executive Director of Honor the Earth)
  • Performance of American Ledger No. 1 by Raven Chacon (Diné), to be conducted by Dameun Strange ’95 on Saturday, March 2, 2024. The performanceis a public program of Deathpower, a group exhibition curated by Erin Gleeson (February 9 – March 20, 2024). The event is generously supported by the Macalester Native and Indigenous (MNI) Initiative and FD13 residency for the arts. 
  • “Acts of Resistance: Zapotec Scholarship,” Professor Christina Esposito, Linguistics: Poetry reading with Felipe H. Lopez (October 2023), Xochitl Flores-Marcial of the Ticha Project.
  • “Learning from Place,” Professor Dan Trudeau, Geography
    Faculty, staff, and students attended the Bdote: Learning from Place workshop (October 2023).
  • “New Approaches to Research on Racism with Youth,” a community visit with Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang (March 2024), Professor Brian Lozenski (Educational Studies) and Cait Bergeon (Faculty Engagement Associate).
  • “Native Ecologies: EnviroThursday Speaker Series” Professors Kiri Sailiata (American Studies) and Chris Wells (Environmental Studies). Native and Indigenous Speakers Series: Diane Wilson, Deondre Smiles (Leech Lake).

2022-2023

  • Hosted Voices From Pejuhutazizi book reading and Q&A
    • Book reading and Q&A with author Walter (Super) LaBatte Jr. [Mac class of 1970] and co-author Teresa Peterson
    • Video recording
    • Mac Weekly article
  • Hosted a community read of Voices From Pejuhutazizi, which included a visit from Jim Bear Jacobs