From ‘Discovery’ to Dakota Access: A Critical Duet on Indigenous Acts of Activism and Resurgence in the Americas

From ‘Discovery’ to Dakota Access: A Critical Duet on Indigenous Acts of Activism and Resurgence in the Americas

Bringing together two radical voices of Indigenous resilience, this conversation will discuss Indigenous activist and art practices that recover, defend, and speak to Indigenous culture and futurity. What pedagogies and tactics create possibilities of social change, sovereignty, and environmental justice? How might such acts of resurgence remind us that, referencing Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang, “Decolonization is not a metaphor”?

Benvenuto Chavajay

Benvenuto Chavajay Ixtetela is a multidisciplinary artist from San Pedro Lago, Atitlán, Guatemala, whose work investigates the colonial wound, seeking to reclaim and recover Indigenous legacies through gestures and creative practices.

Cheryl Angel

Cheryl Angel is a Sicangu Lakota spiritual activist dedicated to non-violent direct action and environmental justice.

Years of activism led Cheryl to Standing Rock in 2016, where she became a community member of Sacred Stone Camp. She led prayer and ceremonies during the almost year-long occupation to stop the Dakota Access pipeline from infringing on Native rights, and destroying both fragile cultural treasures and clean water.

Now she travels the world to share the message of decolonizing Unci Mahka, or Grandmother Earth and protecting her watersheds.