Shawna Cain
The University of Central Arkansas celebrates Native American Heritage Month with two lectures on Thursday, Nov. 12 featuring distinguished Cherokee artists, scholars and Cherokee Nation members Roger and Shawna Cain. They will speak on the use of traditional knowledge in Cherokee Art and the Cherokee River Cane Initiative.
The Department of Sociology-anthropology program and the Office of Institutional Diversity are hosting the two lectures: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Cherokee Art at 1:40 p.m. in Irby Hall, Room 315 and Cherokee River Cane Initiative: Determination, Negotiation and Perseverance at 6:30 p.m. in the College of Business Auditorium.
Roger Cain
Both talks are free and open to the public.
Roger and Shawna Cain are graduate students at the University of Arkansas. Roger has been designated by the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Historical Society with the recognition of “Cherokee National Treasure” for his work as Master Artisan and teacher of traditional mask making and carving. Shawna is a Ford Fellow completing a doctorate degree with an emphasis on Cherokee ethnoecology and the inclusion of the Native perspective as one that requires equivalent input and analyses from Native and Western scholarship. She is also recognized as a “Cherokee National Treasure” for her work as a Master Artisan and teacher of traditional river cane basketry.
Recently, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma initiated a conservation program, entitled the Cherokee River Cane Initiative. The initiative identifies, documents, and maps the distribution of existing river cane ecosystems on Cherokee Nation land, gathers and organizes temporal indicators of environmental determiners, and re-evaluates social perceptions and allocations of traditional Cherokee natural resource management as applied to river cane. This initiative interweaves Western scholarship and Cherokee traditionalists and plant specialists via Traditional Ecological Knowledge Systems to develop a plan for river cane ecosystem sustainability and conservation efforts.
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Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Cherokee Art
Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015
1:40 p.m.-2:30 p.m., Irby Hall Room 315
Specializing in both traditional and contemporary Cherokee art, Roger and Shawna continue to study the woodland environment that inspires and sustains their artistic expression. Together, they utilize the old tradition of using natural dyes and materials in their artwork. They will discuss traditional processes of resource collection, extraction, management, and artistic production related Cherokee art and how these processes are integrally linked into Cherokee culture and heritage preservation.
Cherokee River Cane Initiative: Determination, Negotiation and Perseverance
Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015
6:30 p.m.-8 p.m., College of Business Auditorium
River Cane (ihi or dihiya) has been a significant plant for Southeastern Woodland Indians from prehistoric times to the present. The plant has a vast array of uses, such as housing, baskets, weaponry, traps, mats and furniture. Today, river cane is in danger of becoming extinct with remaining river cane ecosystems in less than 2 percent of the area it initially covered in the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States.
