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OCTOBER 3-9, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 9 FYI Q&A: Native Voices Also speaking at MONAH's Native American Cultural Celebration are: production of the Cultural Celebration with Daniel Wildcat, a professor of environmental studies at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. Buchanan- Yale credits Wildcat with coining the word "indigenuity," which she defines as "a movement" to bring the best of the Indigenous people's ancient wisdom to bear on modern problems. For Wildcat, that crisis is climate change, although he says he's "not sure it's ours to 'solve.'" But, he believes, "indigenous voices will be the most important voices in the 21st century if humankind is going to successfully address global climate change." "We still have in our traditions such deep insights and knowledge about humankind's relationship to land, plants, water — in a very practical sense," Wildcat says. "We need to reinstill deeper awareness of the world around us. If we pay attention, we might learn something from the forest, from the rivers, from the earth and the sky." Wildcat says it's about something "more fundamental" than being a "tree-hugger." When the culture of the Indigenous people emerged in North America, everything they needed — clothing, food, shelter, medicines — had to come from the landscape around them. That, he says, means they had to pay very close attention to those surroundings or suffer the consequences. "Our ancestors had a deep and experiential knowledge of the world that too many of us living in the modern world have forgotten," he says, "and that's what we need to regain today." Wildcat grew up in Coffeyville, Kan., linked to what he calls a "federally misrecognized tribe," the Yuchi. Part of the Creek confederacy at the time of the removal to Indian Territory, the Yuchi were "lumped in" with the Creeks. "My dad, Nathaniel Wildcat, grew up in Supulpa, Okla., just across the Arkansas River from Tulsa, and that's the northern part of Creek country," Wildcat says. "Lots of Yuchis live in that area." What Wildcat credits for the trajectory of his life, however, was attending the University of Kansas in Lawrence after he served in the Army. "Still to this day, I remember the first day walking across that campus and thinking, 'Wow! Wouldn't it be nice if you had a job where you got to read books, and talk about books?' I had wonderful teachers who kind of shaped who I am — my mom was a teacher — so I think it was a cumulative effect that led me to think I might really like teaching in a university setting." Haskell Indian Nations University suits Wildcat perfectly, he says, but his message is the same, no matter the ancestry of his audience: • You can't think outside the box if you spend all your time in centrally heated and cooled boxes — and smaller heated and cooled boxes to travel between them. "Once you start talking to people about how little experience they have with the world beyond their walls, they start to get it," Wildcat says. "People don't think about where water comes from; they just turn on the tap. But if you knew, you might be more concerned about water quality and sub-soil aquifers and not pouring a bunch of chemicals into the ground." Mary Smith Cherokee CEO Caroline & Ora Smith Foundation The Foundation supports and trains Native American girls in STEM. Q. What did your Native Amer- ican heritage mean to you growing up? A. I grew up in Chicago and was not really connected to my Cherokee heritage, although I do remember my grandmother, Ora Mae Pallone, talking about her Chero- kee heritage and growing up in Westville, Okla., one of the endpoints of the Trail of Tears. It was not until my father died before my grandmother that I made a concerted effort to become more knowledgeable and connected not only to my heritage but also to learn more about Indigenous peoples generally and to help them in their lives. Later, I was incredibly honored to work in the White House, where I was responsible for Native American policy and had the privilege to lead efforts to improve educa- tion, technology access, economic develop- ment and health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Q. What directed your passion toward bring- ing more Native Americans into the world of technology? A. I served as CEO of the Indian Health Service, a $6 billion organization that provides health care to more than 2 million Native Americans around the country. In that role, I saw how few Native Americans are in health-related fields, particularly health-care technology. I saw firsthand how important it is for patients to have providers in their communities whom they can trust. I also saw how important access to technology is in these communities, from telehealth to educational opportuni- ties. After I left the Indian Health Service, I wanted to continue to give back to Native American communities and decided to use my background in STEM (science, tech- nology, engineering and mathematics) to further this passion. Q. What do you hope comes out of your appearance at this conference? A. I am really excited about the STEM panel that the Caroline and Ora Smith Foundation is co-sponsoring. We have an incredible panel with Robin Maxkii, an award-winning creative and indigenous rights activist, and Sarah Echohawk, chief executive officer, Ameri- can Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). I hope that Native American girls and young women are inspired by the panelists and realize that a career in STEM is possible. And that STEM and coding can be used not only in the scientific context but in the artis- tic context and to tell their stories. Weyodi Oldbear Comanche Novelist She is one of the principal writ- ers for the Indigenous futuristic game "Coyote & Crow." Q. What did your Native Ameri- can heritage mean to you grow- ing up? A. I spent most of my childhood in my grandmother's house. She was a tribal court judge, did work in language preservation, wrote the curricu- lum and along with her fellow judge, Eunice Tosie, ran a summer cultural program for Kiowa, Comanche and Apache children. She also did educational presentations for the newly arrived officers' wives at Fort Sill and in the public schools. Through it all, I was her sidekick. So for me, it wasn't my "heri- tage" so much as it was my living culture. Q. What directed your passion toward writ- ing, particularly toward fiction that helps shape a vision of the future for Indigenous people? A. I think a lot of it came from seeing how badly Indigenous people in general were represented by non-Native writers, in both fiction and academic writing alike. One of the most frustrating things was how successful they were in presenting false portrayals of Indigenous people and how at the root of that false portrayal was this idea that we are somehow more "primitive" than settlers. Q. What does the tabletop RPG "Coyote & Crow" bring to Indigenous young people — well, people, maybe not so young? Why is it important? A. I think the answer is that not all tabletop role playing games need to be based on "Lord of the Rings" — and I love "Lord of The Rings." But not everything has to be Eurocen- tric, and everything Native doesn't have to be set in 1858. It's a reoccurring problem that Natives are viewed as primitive people from a specific time period rather than as modern vibrant people, not only surviving but inno- vating. Smith Oldbear See MONAH Page 37 Wildcat