For the second year, Pitt will hold an Indigenous Cultural Festival with a mini pow-wow and other activities in the week leading up to the 44th annual Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center’s Pow Wow on Sept. 23 and 24.
Pow wows are a sacred social gathering held by many North American Indigenous communities to honor their cultures through song and dance. The Mini Pow Wow at Pitt will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Schenley Plaza. It will include a grand entry and opening dance at 10:30 a.m., along with intertribal and social dancing.
In addition to the pow wows, there will be exhibits throughout the week at the Pitt Global Hub in Posvar Hall and at Hillman Library highlighting Indigenous history and knowledge.
The Center for Creativity also will have a Native American Music Workshop at 7 p.m. Sept. 18, which will explore the rich heritage, diverse sounds, and cultural significance of Native American musical traditions. There also will be a Leather Pouch-Making Workshop at the same time, which will explore the historical significance and practical uses of these pouches while mastering the techniques that transform raw materials into beautiful, functional pieces of art. Both events are in the Understory, B50 Cathedral of Learning. Tickets are free but registration in advance is required for both. Click on the links above to register through the University calendar.
The announcement about the workshops made a point of saying that they are “intended to promote cultural appreciation, respect, and understanding. It is not an attempt to appropriate or commercialize Native American culture, but rather a platform to learn and engage with traditional crafting techniques in a respectful manner.”
A separate event at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 in the Understory will focus on dreamcatchers. The dreamcatcher is a widely recognized symbol of Native American spirituality, and each nation has their own variation and origin. The workshop will be facilitated by Kristen Spangler and Chanel Wissner, a descendant of the Lumbee and Tuscarora nations of North Carolina. This workshop is a collaboration between the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Council, Pitt’s Indigenous Community Engagement Initiative and the Center for Creativity. All materials will be provided.
All of these events lead up to the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center’s 44rd annual Pow Wow, which will take place at the center’s Singing Winds Food Pantry, 120 Charles St., Dorseyville, Indiana Township. The event from noon to 5 p.m. both days will have Native American singing, drumming, dancing, arts & crafts, and foods. Pitt will provide free transportation for students from campus to the Pow Wow.
— Susan Jones
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Last year, there was discussion of Pitt creating a University-wide land acknowledgement statement. These statements acknowledge that Native American tribes and peoples were the original residents of a given piece of land, before they were forced off it.
In Pitt’s case, the spaces occupied by all of its campuses were once home to the Seneca peoples, Adena and Hopewell cultures, and the Monongahela peoples, and later the Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo, and Haudenosaunee tribes, who were all forced off their original land and displaced by European colonists.
Instead of an official statement from Pitt, the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion has made available an optional Land Acknowledgement Statement on its website that can be used as guidance by any unit, office, school or department that wishes to use it.
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