Native American Experience
“…in their own ways and their own words…”

   
This class is uniquely designed to allow native peoples to tell their own stories in their own ways and in their own words.  The class revolves around a series of native speakers discussing issues of importance to their history, their heritage, and their future.  This fall, the course will focus on the Seneca, a people whose future has become inextricably tied to the future of the Buffalo area.  It is an opportunity for the Seneca to tell their side of the story, and for Canisius students and the larger community to learn more about the Seneca and their history, culture and interests.

The course is open to the public, beginning on Tuesday, September 5th at 6:00 P.M. in Room 108 of the Health Science Building on the corner of Jefferson and Delevan.

To read the Fall 2006 Canisius Magazine article about this program click here.


Click here to see more photos.

The following is a tentative schedule of speakers, events and topics:

September 5: Thanksgiving Address: Clayton Logan, Seneca
Film: Primal Mind
September 12: 1491: America on the Eve of Columbus
Indigenous Plants and Their Uses:
Ken Parker, Seneca
September 19: Contact: American Holocaust
September 26: Creation Story: Speaker TBA
October 3: Early Seneca History: Speaker TBA
October 17: The Iroquois Confederacy: Lloyd Elm, Onondaga
October 24: Treaties: Barry White, Seneca
October 31: Kinzua Dam Removal: Justin Schapp, Seneca
November 7: Seneca Stories: Perry Ground
November 14: Boarding Schools: Thomas Indian School Panel Discussion
November 28: Taxation and Other Issues: Speaker TBA
December 5: Conclusion

Ancient Sites of the Southwest: May, 2007
This trip will focus on the ancient cliff dwellings and pueblos surrounding the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.  The trip will begin at Chaco Canyon, the site of numerous archaeological remains, continue on to Mesa Verde with its fascinating cliff dwellings, proceed to Canyon de Chelly National Monument to view cliff dwellings and petroglyphs, and end at Acoma Pueblo, the oldest continuously inhabited pueblo in North America.  Prof. Burich will be assissted by Harry Walters, director of the museum at Dine College, the Navajo tribal college.  The trip is open to the public as well as Canisius students. Costs and details will be determined at a later date.

Reservation Experience I:  Rosebud, June, 2007
This will represent the ninth year of travel to the Rosebud Lakota Reservation in South Dakota.  Participants will visit sacred and historical sites in South Dakota and Wyoming, including the Black Hills, the Badlands, Devil’s Tower, and Wounded Knee.  They will also participate in a pow-wow, a sweat lodge and other ceremonies and events, and the will learn to erect tipis where they will camp.  The trip also includes rafting down the scenic Niobrara River in nearby Nebraska.  The trip is open to the public as well as Canisius students.  Costs and details will be determined at a later date. 

Reservation Experience II: Crow Fair, August, 2007
This will be the third visit to Crow Fair on the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana.  Crow Fair is a gathering of Indians from all over the country near the site of the Little Bighorn Battlefield.  Participants will visit the battlefield, as well as sacred and historical sites on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, and participate in sweat lodges.  They will camp in tipis in the Bulltail family compound in the middle of the Crow Fair celebration, where they will have access to all the events connected with Crow Fair such as an all-Indian rodeo.  The trip is open to the public as well as Canisius students.  Costs and details will be determined at a later date.

For more information on itinerary, travel arrangements and cost for either of these trips, contact Dr. Keith R. Burich at burich@canisius.edu, or 716-888-3284.