A new audio documentary from APM Reports highlights how four Indigenous college students are using higher education to strengthen ties to their Native roots and support their people. One of the students the project follows is Reuben Kitto Stately ’22. In his segment, Stately also interviews Associate Professor Eric Buffalohead, chair of American Indian, First Nations, and Indigenous studies.

“I was pretty dead set on American Indian studies by the time I was in 10th grade,” says Stately. “I knew that American Indian studies would help me fill in the gaps for all the times in which I don’t understand colonization here in America—how have Native people from all these different nations all become American, in what ways have we totally assimilated, in what ways have we resisted?

“For my whole education, I have known that whatever I learn here at Augsburg, I’m going to take back to my people. To me, it’s an act of resistance because you’re able to indigenize new space or you strengthen the space that your people are already in.”

Listen to via APM Reports or the Educate podcast.

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“I’ve been teaching “American Indian in the Cinema” for going on 30 years, and people have asked me, what’s the solution to some of these problems?” said Buffalohead. “And it’s contemporary representations. The big theme that you walk away from my course with is that most of our images are stuck in time, meaning that they’re somewhere in the past. People don’t see us as contemporary—they see us as these images in the old West and very much stereotypes of plains or southwest Indians. They don’t see the real diversity of Indigenous people in the Americas.”

The conversation with anchor Aliyah Chavez also touched on expanding representations in television through shows like “Rutherford Falls” and “Reservation Dogs,” translation of major films into the Navajo and Comanche languages, and Professor Marubbio’s work on representations of Native women in film. Find the full interview in the ICT newscast archive (segment begins at 6:15).

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In the article, “Adam Sandler movie flap sparks debate over American Indian roles in media,” Marubbio explained that tribes of the Great Plains often are portrayed living in Monument Valley – the legendary site of many John Wayne-John Ford movies, which is located on the Arizona-Colorado border, largely on the Navajo reservation.

to learn more.

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“The powwow is a chance for Augsburg’s indigenous students to share the traditions and culture of our peoples with the community,” said Jennifer Simon, event organizer and director of Augsburg’s American Indian Student Services.

“It also is an important opportunity for our community to celebrate the educational accomplishments of our native students and to plant the seed in young people that education can be part of their futures. This year’s program includes a special ceremony to honor our largest group to date of graduating native students.”

The powwow, which runs from 1-9 p.m., March 31 at Si Melby gymnasium, is cohosted by Augsburg’s American Indian Student Services and Indigenous Student Association. The event includes food concessions, arts and crafts vendors, and informational tabling about Augsburg’s educational opportunities and services for native students of all ages. One program specially designed for native learners is Naadamaadiwin, an online tribal program for native teachers to earn a Minnesota Special Education teaching license or Master of Arts in Education. The College also offers an undergraduate major in American Indian studies.

Registration for drums and dancers starts at 11 a.m., and there is no pre-registration allowed. Grand entries are at 1 and 6 p.m. At 3 p.m., 15 American Indian graduates from Augsburg will be honored.

To learn more about Naadamaadiwin, attend an information session at Augsburg from 6-7 p.m. on April 18 or May 23 at Oren Gateway Center. Questions can be directed to Sophia J. Jacobson at 612-330-1458.

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Appleton spent five weeks in New Zealand studying ecology, biodiversity, and climate change with a group of Augsburg students led by biology professor Brian Corner and political science professor Joe Underhill. Their group explored the unique flora and fauna of the island as well as the distinctive political culture that has made it a leader in environmental policy.

“I was completely amazed by everything I saw in New Zealand,” Appleton said. “Everyone is aware of the environment, of sustainability, of food production and energy use. From the north island to the south island, everything is consistent.”

Appleton, an environmental studies major who will complete his Augsburg classes this fall semester, wanted to take ideas from New Zealand back to Augsburg and to Minneapolis. He wrote to Mayor Rybak, who has been a strong supporter of Augsburg and values the College’s commitments to service and the city.

The mayor was reportedly excited about the letter—enough to have his assistant contact Appleton to schedule a meeting to discuss the young man’s ideas for making Minneapolis a more sustainable and livable city.

Kjerstin Hagen ’10, an American Indian studies major who traveled last summer to Portland, Ore. and Vancouver studying urban sustainability, joined Appleton on his visit to the mayor’s office. Hagen was one of the students involved in implementing Augsburg’s composting effort and is currently on the planning team for the College’s first Sustainability Awareness Month.

The students shared their travel experiences with Rybak and told him about ongoing sustainability efforts at Augsburg, many of which were initiated by students. “Augsburg is doing exactly what I believe in,” Rybak said.

Appleton and Hagen suggested a sister city relationship with Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. They also discussed Homegrown Minneapolis, an initiative to develop recommendations for the City of Minneapolis to improve sales, distribution and consumption of fresh, locally grown foods.

The three agreed that informing and educating the community is an important factor in promoting urban sustainability. “New Zealand empowers the community to get involved,” Appleton said, “and gives people the resources to do what needs to be done.” Rybak encouraged Appleton and Hagen to sign up for one of the city’s committees so that they could continue their work outside of Augsburg.

After telling Rybak about the Sustainability Awareness Month activities scheduled for September, including a lecture presented by author and activist, Bill McKibben, the mayor promised that he or his wife, who has been actively involved with Minneapolis Homegrown, will be in attendance at one of the events to talk about the city’s sustainability measures and projects.

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