In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, ASUCLA held “Voices of the Land”, an event open to all students, spotlighting Native American traditions and organizations. The event took place on campus this Tuesday, Nov. 18 in the Bruin Reception Room in Ackerman Union.
From 2p.m.—4 p.m., students attending “Voices of the Land” could learn more about Native American organizations on campus, including the American Indian Student Association, or AISA, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, or AISES, as well as partake in traditional Native American crafts, such as beading and corn husk doll making. Native American-inspired snacks were also complementary, which consisted of pinto beans, mini fried bread bites, cornbread muffin bites, corn chips, guacamole and snickerdoodle cookies.
To close out the event, Lucy Garza, a first-year graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in American Indian studies, performed a jingle dress dance originating from the Ojibwe people of White Earth and Mille Lacs. “I’m Ojibwe from that same area of Minnesota,” said Garza, “And basically, in our Ojibwe culture, sound is healing, and these jingle dances are healing dances.”
Garza went on to explain the significance of her jingle dress attire and dance: “It is something that is not just important to Ojibwe people but also Native American people across the United States. It is a symbol of how we’re still here today.”
“It just gets really hard to be shown that we’re such a relic of the past when we’re still here — still thriving — and we’re at institutions like UCLA, which I think is really important to highlight,” added Amiee Scott, a fourth-year student majoring in psychology and minoring in applied developmental psychology, who was tabling for AISA at this event. Scott, the president of AISA, is from the Pala Band of Mission Indians in San Diego County and explained how AISA has hosted similar events ever since Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Oct. 13. “A big thing that AISA wants to do is serve as a community, like a hub, for Native students, for Native grad students, for staff members and for Native people and allies that want to create a sense of community away from home.”
Preparation for “Voices of the Land” began during the first week of October according to Manuel Alvarado, a first-year student majoring in business economics. Alvarado and Jorge Ramirez, a third-year student majoring in sociology, both from the events programming commission in ASUCLA, took the lead in organizing this event, which involved everything from choosing the appropriate catering to reaching out to Native American organizations for inspiration.
“The more that people show up, the more that we can do these kinds of events. I hope [students] take away that UCLA is built on Native American land and that we acknowledge that and are able to learn about different tribes,” Alvarado said.
Being from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Jaeden Wesley, a fourth-year economics student and president of AISES said, “People don’t know that there are over 500 tribes in the U.S., so Native American Heritage Month gives us the opportunity to explore the different cultures and people and to celebrate the really cool Native people who advanced our representation in the world.”
To learn more about the Native American community at UCLA, follow or reach out to @nativebruins and @ucla_aises to stay updated on their events during and beyond Native American Heritage Month.
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Featured Image Photographed by Siena Hunt/BruinLife
