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Performances and crafts will take over the Pit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill midday on Mondays in November as American Indian Heritage Month is celebrated on campus.

Performances and crafts will take over the Pit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill midday on Mondays in November as American Indian Heritage Month is celebrated on campus.

Activities throughout November, organized by UNC’s American Indian Center, will range from lectures to films to samplings of foods native to the Americas.

Gov. Bev Perdue has proclaimed American Indian Heritage Month in North Carolina.
For a recent UNC event kicking off the month’s observances, Chancellor Holden Thorp issued a statement about the importance of American Indian Heritage Month.

“North Carolina is home to the largest Native American population east of the Mississippi River,” he said. “UNC has recognized the importance of promoting knowledge about Native Americans by establishing an academic major in American Indian Studies and creating the American Indian Center to provide a focal point for discussion of American Indian cultural, social and economic issues on campus. 

“In addition, through the center, we are able to link the state’s American Indian tribes and urban organizations with campus resources for research and technical assistance.”

Events, free to the public unless otherwise noted, will include:

Reading and book signing, 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 4) at the Bull’s Head Bookshop (inside the UNC Student Stores off South Road) by Harvard University assistant professor Lisa Brooks, Ph.D. Her book, “The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the North East,” concerns native literature during the 18th and 19th centuries.

“Health, Harmony and Balance: American Indian Concepts of Health and Wellness,” lecture by UNC American Indian Center Director Clara Sue Kidwell, Ph.D., 4 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 4), Health Sciences Library off South Columbia Street.

“Circling the Pit,” American Indian performances and crafts, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, Nov. 9, 16 and 23 in the Pit, off South Road. Hosts from the student groups Carolina Indian Circle, Alpha Pi Omega Sorority– an American Indian interest sorority – and Phi Sigma Nu Fraternity also will share information about American Indian Heritage Month events on campus.

“The ‘Identified Full Bloods’ in Mississippi: Race and Choctaw Identity, 1898-1918,” lecture by Katherine M.B. Osburn, a professor of Native American and environmental history at Tennessee Technological University, 5 p.m. Monday (Nov. 9), 116 Murphey Hall..

Traditional American Indian Harvest Festival, noon to 1 p.m. Nov. 10, rotunda, Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, School of Law. Samples of foods including cornbread, succotash and wild rice will be provided by the Native American Law Students Association.

 “Looking for Mrs. Locklear,” film and performance, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Nov. 10, film auditorium, Frank Porter Graham Student Union off South Road. Two lifelong best friends set out in search of their long-lost first grade teacher. Their journey leads them into the heart of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

“Land, Natural Resources and Sovereignty: Lessons from the Cherokee Nation and the Palestinian West Bank,” lecture by Marty Matlock, Ph.D., 6 p.m. Nov. 17, Hooker Research Center, South Columbia Street at Pittsboro Street and Manning Drive. Matlock, who is Cherokee, is a professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Author of “Swimming Upstream: Collaborative Approaches to Watershed Management” (MIT Press, 2005), Matlock is environmental protection commissioner of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a negotiator and facilitator for the U.S. Agriculture Department of water disputes among Palestinians, Israelis and Jordanians. His talk also is part of International Education Week at UNC.

“Tribal Sovereignty and the Limits of Legal Pluralism,” lecture by Bruce Duthu, Ph.D., professor of Native American Studies and chair, Native American studies program, Dartmouth College, 4:30 p.m. Nov. 18, the Carolina Club in the George Watts Hill Alumni Building on Stadium Drive. The talk will be UNC’s first Michael D. Green Lecture in American Indian studies. Duthu, a member of the Houma Tribe of Louisiana, will discuss the Supreme Court’s impact on federal Indian law and suggest that Congress re-embrace obligations in Indian affairs.

Thanksgiving Benefit Showcase, 5 p.m. Nov. 23, 104 Howell Hall, $5. Performances by members of Alpha Pi Omega Sorority Inc. – an American Indian interest sorority – and the Alpha Kappa Alpha and Sigma Sigma Sigma sororities, with benefits to help fund a Thanksgiving meal for a needy Orange County family.

Carolina Indian Circle Thanksgiving Dinner, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23, Class of 2000 Lounge, Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Members of the Carolina Indian Circle host their annual Thanksgiving dinner.

For more information, visit http://americanindiancenter.unc.edu/ or call (919) 843-4189.

American Indian Center contact: Brandi Brooks, (919) 843-4189, aic@unc.edu
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589

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