Present-Day Native American and Indigenous Peoples

17 September 2020 via Zoom, 6:00 pm

Ohio Union Activities Board

The event I attended this week was something that has been of interest to me for most of my life. Presented by Monica Lewinsky, the zoom event focused on present-day Native American and Indigenous Peoples, primarily in the United States.  The program started with a video of modern Native Americans discussing and debunking common misconceptions about their cultures, government assistance, and tribes. Mrs. Lewinsky then proceeded to talk about the history of Native American removal, displacement, abuse, and assimilation. She even discussed how Ohio State was built on Native land. By discussing the history first, she was able to provide enough context to explain modern day Native American cultural values, government programs, and tribal sovereignty. 

I have always been interested in the modernization of their societies, since it is something that many schools fail to teach. I  had learned previous historical events in high school including things like the Treaty of Greenville and Manifest Destiny, but I never learned how these events tied to how reservations work today. It was also interesting to learn how many reservations today have their own governments, but still communicate heavily with the United States government.

Professionally, this event was extremely important for me to learn about. I plan to major with a focus in Latin America, where there are many Indigenous peoples. Although this event only briefly touched on areas outside of the United States, the concepts I learned about the cultural values all Indigenous Peoples hold will be vital for me to know in my work life.

This event relates to IA in many ways. Indigenous Peoples live all over the world and have endured so much throughout the history of the earth. Many lands, concepts, wars, and modern-day societal features would not exist without them. There are also many conflicts in society today that have to due with Native American lands being put in harms way again. I noticed that this event related to the coursework in my class on Costa Rican Agriculture. We studied how the Indigenous Peoples of Costa Rica used sustainable practices to the best of their abilities, and helped contribute to the start of successful agriculture there.