Program Description
Event Description
Centuries ago, before colonization, the indigenous peoples of the Americas traveled, traded, and intermarried all across the North and South American continents. After colonization, these movements have been constrained by the governmental borders that have been put in place. This does not change their joined histories or shared identities as Indigenous. Join us to learn about how Chicano communities both North and South of the border intersect with the greater fabric of being Indigenous in America with panelists; Dr. Gabriela Rios, Dr. Mirelsie Velazquez, and Prof. Kelli Alvarez.
Dr. Rios brings together rhetoric and composition and Indigenous studies in order to offer an account of how indigenous communities create knowledge, resist colonialism, and continue/reshape culture and "tradition." Additionally, she interrogates how indigeneity or indigenous technologies and theories travel across social movements and public discourses.
Dr. Velazquez is a historian of education interested in issues of race/ethnicity, historical research in education, and gender and sexuality. She teaches courses on History of American Education, Puerto Rican Studies, Critical Race Theory, Latina Feminism, Latina/o Education, Oral History, and Historiography of Education.
Prof. Alvarez is a full-time lecturer for First Year Composition at OU. She holds an M.A. in Native American Studies and a M.A. in English, both from the University of Oklahoma. Her academic interests include Mexican, Chicanx, and Indigenous literatures and film. She also interrogates the complexities and real-world issues of race and ethnicity in literature, film, and television.