Center Shares Videos from "Mass Violence and Its Lasting Impact on Indigenous Peoples" Conference

Beginning November 1, 2022, in observance of Native American Heritage Month in the United States, the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research shared at least one video per day from its recent international conference "Mass Violence and Its Lasting Impact on Indigenous Peoples - The Case of the Americas and Australia/Pacific Region," which was held at the University of Southern California, on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Tongva and Kizh Nation peoples, from October 22 to October 26, 2022.

The five-day conference brought together over 50 knowledge holders and leading and emerging scholars from around the world – many of them Indigenous - to discuss groundbreaking research on the topics of genocide against Indigenous peoples in North America, Latin America, Australia, and the Pacific Region; the long-lasting impacts of mass violence on those communities until today; and the resistance, agency, and initiatives of Indigenous peoples to effect change. 

In the intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue on these subjects across a wide variety of historical, geographic, and cultural contexts, over 30 Indigenous communities were represented, as well as almost 30 different academic disciplines. In addition to the in-person audience of students, faculty, staff, and community members, over 200 people attended the conference on Zoom, participating from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition to academic discussions, the conference featured community and cultural events, including a film screening and concert.

The conference videos are available below, as well as on the Center's YouTube channel and conference website that contains more information about the conference presenters, chairs, and honored guests. 

The organizing committee for the "Mass Violence and Its Lasting Impact on Indigenous Peoples - The Case of the Americas and Australia/Pacific Region" conference includes Lorena Sekwan Fontaine Cree-Anishinabe, Sagkeeng First Nation (University of Winnipeg, Canada), Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj Maya-K’iche’ (Guatemala), Dorota Glowacka (University of King's College, Halifax, Canada), and Wolf Gruner (USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research).

The conference was cosponored by USC Visions & Voices, USC Shoah Foundation, USC Center for International Studies, USC Native American Student Assembly, USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute (EMSI), USC Dornsife Office of the Dean Humanities Division, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW), University of King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona Law, USC Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. 

The conference image is courtesy of "the names of places." Indigenous Australian artist Judy Watson and her collaborators created a multimedia project documenting the massacre sites of Indigenous Australians across Australia.

 

Conference Opening and Conversation and Knowledge Sharing with Indigenous Elders featuring honored guests:
- Daniel Paul Mi'kmaw Saqmawiey (by video)
- Wendy Phillips Bald Eagle Clan, Potawatomi and Ojibwa, Wasauksing First Nation
- Christina Salazar Gabrieliño Elder
- Aunty Zona Wilkinson Gamilaroi Elder from Mount Druitt
- Moderated by Lorena Sekwan Fontaine Cree-Anishinabe, Sagkeeng First Nation (University of Winnipeg, Canada):

:

 

Welcome and Introductions by Members of the Conference Organizing Committee
- Wolf Gruner (USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research)
- Lorena Sekwan Fontaine Cree-Anishinabe, Sagkeeng First Nation (University of Winnipeg, Canada)
- Dorota Glowacka (University of King's College, Halifax, Canada):

: 

 

Mapping Indigenous LA - Mishuana Goeman Tonawanda Band of Seneca (University of Buffalo, US, Indigenous Studies):

:

 

Conference Keynote:
An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 - Benjamin Madley (University of California, Los Angeles, US, History):

 

Comparative Perspectives on Early Violence in Settler Societies: Australia and United States - Raymond Orr Citizen Potawatomi (Dartmouth College, Native American Studies):

 

The Desert Within: Indigenous Genocide as a Structuring Event in Argentina - Walter Delrio (National University of Río Negro, Argentina, History) and Pilar Pérez (National University of Río Negro, Argentina, History):

 

U.S. Indian Removal: Ethnic Cleansing or Genocide? - Jeffrey Ostler (University of Oregon, US, Northwest and Pacific History):

 

Women's Law Uterine Law - Dawn Martin-Hill Mohawk, Wolf Clan (McMaster University, Canada, Cultural Anthropology, Indigenous Studies) on the "Forced Sterilization" panel introduced by chair/discussant Beverly Jacobs Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, Bear Clan (University of Windsor, Canada, President’s Office):

 

Genocide, the Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Peoples of Peru and the Meaning of Justice - Ñusta Carranza Ko (University of Baltimore, US, Political Science) on the "Forced Sterilization" panel:

 

"Forced Sterilization" panel Q&A/discussion featuring presenters Dawn Martin-Hill Mohawk, Wolf Clan (McMaster University, Canada, Cultural Anthropology, Indigenous Studies) and Ñusta Carranza Ko (University of Baltimore, US, Political Science), introduced by chair/discussant Beverly Jacobs Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, Bear Clan (University of Windsor, Canada, President’s Office):

Oyáte Wičhákasotapi ga Wičháyuwašičupi: Tókhed Iápi kiŋ Uŋkíč’ihduzapi  (Genocide and Assimilation: How We Held on to Our Language) - Sisokaduta Joe Bendickson Sisseton-Wahpeton, Dakota (University of Minnesota, US, American Indian Studies):

 

Settling the Historical Record: Narratives of Dakota Internment in the Settler Imaginary - George Dalbo (University of Minnesota, US, Curriculum and Instruction and Social Sciences Education) and Joe Eggers (University of Minnesota, US, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies):

 

Roundtable on the Destruction of Indigenous Languages featuring:
- Aluki Kotierk Inuk (President, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI); Co-Chair for the Steering Committee of the United Nations Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages)
- Stanley Rodriguez Kumeyaay – Iipay, Santa Ysabel (Kumeyaay Community College, California State University, San Marcos, US, Educational Leadership, Language, American Indian Studies)
- Lorena Sekwan Fontaine Cree-Anishinabe, Sagkeeng First Nation (University of Winnipeg, Canada, Indigenous Studies)
- Moderated by Dorota Glowacka (University of King's College, Halifax, Canada, History and Humanities):

 

Saving the Child Within the Indian: Representing the Residential School Experience - Krista Collier-Jarvis L'nu/Mi'kmaw (Dalhousie University, Canada, English):

 

Forcible Adoptions as a Strategy of Genocide: Guatemala in the 1980s - Rachel Nolan (Boston University, US, Latin American Studies):

 

Wounds of Indigenous Genocide in Argentina and Possibilities for Healing - Diana Lenton (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Anthropology):

 

Kijibashik: Turn it Around – Colonial Violence and Previously Incarcerated Indigenous Mothers - Tenzin Butsang (University of Toronto, Canada, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Health Sciences):

 

When Justice is Unjust: Stemming the Effects of the Juvenile Justice System on Native Hawaiians - Lorinda Riley (University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa, US, Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health):

 

Roundtable on Repatriation of Indigenous Ancestral Remains and Objects featuring:
- James C. Ramos Serrano/Cahuilla (Assemblymember, California State Assembly)
- Wendy G. Teeter (Cultural Resources Archaeologist for Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Curator of Archaeology at Fowler Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, US)
- Eva Trujillo ‘Iipay-Kumeyaay (University of California, San Diego, US, Repatriation, Resource Management and Planning)
- Rebecca Tsosie Yaqui (University of Arizona, Law)
- Moderated by Kelly Leah Stewart Gabrieliño-Tongva/Luiseño (University of California, San Diego, and California State University, San Marcos, Educational Leadership, American Indian Studies)

 

 

Reclaiming Power and Place: Confronting Genocide Within the Context of Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls - Karine Duhamel Anishinaabe-Métis (Independent scholar, History, Canada):

 

The Honour of One is The Honour of All: Dignity and Safety for Indigenous Women and Girls - Perspectives from Northern Turtle Island/Canada - Catherine Richardson/Kinewesquao Métis (Concordia University, Canada, First Peoples Studies):

 

“FRIDAA” as a Process to Support Those Working With Indigenous Women Who Are Experiencing Violence - Janie Dolan Cake (FRIDAA Project, Québec, Canada, Social Work):

 

Owning Hate, Owning Hurt: The Aesthetics of Violence in American Indian Contemporary Art - Nancy Marie Mithlo Fort Sill Chiricahua Apache (University of California, Los Angeles, Gender Studies and American Indian Studies):

 

What Made Vanessa Scream: MMIWG in Historic Context - Liza Black Citizen of Cherokee Nation (Indiana University - Bloomington, History, Native American and Indigenous Studies):

 

The Arctic Circle: Climate Change, International Law and Indigenous Heritage - Keshia DeFreece Lawrence Ramapough Lenape Tribe (United Nations Mandated University for Peace, International Relations/International Law):

 

Genocide Denial and Distortion in Post-"Peace" Guatemala - Vaclav Masek Sánchez (University of Southern California, Sociology) 

 

Conference Keynote:
Indigenous Elimination, Settler Apocalypse, and Relational Hope - Kim TallBear Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Dakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes (University of Alberta, Canada, Faculty of Native Studies):

 

Speaking Indigenous Rights to Power: Native Hawaiian Empowerment Through Courtroom Participation - Susan Shay (independent researcher, Member of the Heritage Research Group at the University of Cambridge, UK):

 

A Broken Circle: Land Displacement and Cultural Dispossession of Second-Generation Diné Relocatees - Aresta Tsosie Paddock Navajo Nation (University of Arizona, US, American Indian Studies/Linguistics):

 

Shared Authority in Curatorial Collaboration: On Organizing "Survivance & Sovereignty on Turtle Island: Engaging with Contemporary Native American Art" at the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at QCC - Katherine Griefen (City University of New York Queensborough Community College, US, Museum Studies) and Danyelle Means Oglala Lakota (Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US):

 

Jack D. Forbes, D-Q University and Chicano-Indian Unity: Educational Medicine for California Borderland and Border-Town Violence - Joshua Frank Cárdenas Mohawk/Seneca, Onkwehonwe (University of New Mexico, US, Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies)

 

Embodying Traumatic Wounds and Validating Indigenous Mixtec Healing Practices Through Film - Candy Martinez (University of California, Los Angeles, US, Latin American and Latino Studies):

 

Concluding Discussion