Lise's Lens: April 14, 2022

This week, Lise recaps some of the highlights from the guest speaker talks at the 2022 Michael H. Feldman '67 Social Justice Day — with an extra note on her recent discovery of Grammy winner Jon Batiste.

WHAT I’M READING
 
  • Do you know what a zine is? Cecilia Marek, a PhD candidate in gender studies at Arizona State University, mentioned this zine created by Jenna Rose Sands yesterday at Social Justice Day so I looked it up. Wow! I know I felt inspired by this practice and can see our students getting very into zines as well. I am excited to see what unfolds. 

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO/WATCHING

  • I did not know who Jon Batiste was but when I heard he won the Best Music Video of the year at the Grammys this year, I thought I'd check him out. Some of you may recognize him as the bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but I must admit that I did not know that. Here is his song, “Freedom.” And now I understand why most people couldn't stay in their seats when he performed this song live! I suspect this will also happen to me this spring when our students put on the ABBA-inspired musical Mama Mia! — I can't wait!
 
WHAT I’M THINKING/TALKING ABOUT
 
  • One of the topics that came up yesterday in Danielle Lucero’s presentation was the 1987 requirement that tribal members take a Blood Quantum Test in order to receive a Certificate of Indian Blood (CIB). This means, for example, that a biracial or multiracial person growing up on a reservation whose test puts them at the limit of the fraction for belonging must face a big dilemma in choosing a partner for their future, and whether or not they choose to have a child with that person. Much of Danielle’s research explores this highly complex topic and how Native Americans of various ages are impacted by it. It is but one example of how different groups and communities define “belonging” or “citizenship” which, as we learned yesterday, can in many cases be more political than even cultural or racial. It is something I am still thinking about.

WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE

Speaker Danielle Lucero also shared with us how, in the late 1700s, a tribe "signed" a treaty with the Dutch, assuming they were both equal partners as respected nations. The Dutch used pen and paper to sign the treaty and the Wampum Belt was used by the tribe. Here is an image of such a treaty below. 
 
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