Resources

On March 15, 2011 it was my honor to be interviewed by Julie West of the Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF) which is based in Sacramento, California, as part of their “ON AIR” podcast series. The topic of my interview was “Native Americans and Mountain Lions.” MLF is a national nonprofit conservation and education organization dedicated to increasing understanding of, and protection for mountain lions (cougars) and their habitat. MLF is one of the oldest and most respected grassroots environmental activist groups in the nation. In 1990 they spearheaded a successful effort to pass the California Wildlife Protection Act – Proposition 117 – landmark legislation that permanently banned the sport hunting of cougars in California, restricted the depredation killing of cougars, and set aside $30 million dollars annually in state funding to acquire and protect critical habitat for all wildlife species. The passage of this law was necessitated by decades of state mismanagement of mountain lions, and reflected a true “grassroots” movement on the part of the citizens of California.

The audio and transcript of this interview can be accessed through the MLF main website – www.mountainlion.org. This interview is also permanently archived.

July 7-9, 2011

Dr. Tom Holm will deliver the Vine Deloria, Jr. Address at the Sixth Annual Vine Deloria, Jr. Indigenous Studies Symposium to be held at Northwest Indian College, July 7-9, 2011. Dr. Holm is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, and is also of Muskogee Creek descendent. He has been involved in American Indian education for over thirty-five years, active in Native American veteran’s affairs, and is a member of the Cherokee Nation’s Sequoyah Commission. Holm served with Bravo Company, 1^st Battalion, 3^rd Marines, 3^rd Marine Division in Vietnam from 1967-68. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, and has been a professor of American Indian Studies and Political Science at the University of Arizona since 1980 until his retirement in 2009. Before that, Holm taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Over the years he has won several teaching and mentoring awards and has published more than fifty books, articles, book chapters, reviews, editorials, and review essays. In 1996, his book Strong Hearts, Wounded Souls was a finalist for the Victor Turner prize. His recent academic work, The Great Confusion in Indian Affairs, was released by the University of Texas Press in 2005. Warriors and Code Talkers: Native Americans in World War II, a book for high school-aged youths, was published in 2007. Holm’s first novel, The Osage Rose, appeared in 2008. He and his wife, Ina, have two sons, two daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren and live in Tucson, Arizona.

Tom Holm was a close personal friend and colleague of Vine Deloria, Jr. for many years.

Vine Deloria Jr Indigenous Studies Symposium – 2011 Registration Form

Vine Deloria Jr Indigenous Studies Symposium – 2011 Flyer

Vine Deloria Jr Indigenous Studies Symposium – 2011 Announcement

Internationally known Indigenous and human rights activist and scholar, Oren Lyons, recently visited Northwest Indian College. On Wednesday evening, April 20^th, Chief Lyons talked to approximately 140 people on the topic, “Indigenous Views on Climate Change: Business as Usual is Over.”  The next afternoon, following a luncheon with NWIC students and staff, he talked on the topic of “What is Native Environmental Ethics?” After his talk he was presented with a special NWIC 25^th Anniversary blanket by the students.

Lyons, the official Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois or Six Nations) Confederacy, is perhaps the most beloved and iconic leader in Indian Country today.  He was instrumental in the American Indian civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and participated in the Unity Caravan, the Trail of broken Treaties, and numerous other demonstrations and protest activities.  Over the past 20 years Lyons’ role as an activist has moved to the international arena, working with indigenous people throughout the world.  Among his many achievements he is known for creating the Traditional Council of Elders, participating in the first World Conference on Racism, and serving on the Executive Committee of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival.  Lyons is a Distinguished Service Professor at the State University of New York, and professor emeritus of American Indian Studies at the University of Buffalo.  He is a graduate of Syracuse University – where he was an All American on their undefeated national NCAA champion lacrosse team in 1957 – and also holds an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the same university. In recent years Oren has turned his attention to the most critical issue facing society today, global warming.

- Oren Lyons: “Indigenous Views on Climate Change: Business as Usual Is Over”

- Oren Lyons: “What Is Native Environmental Ethics?”

In addition to the above talks, Oren asked me to make available the following article that he wrote on climate change.

Oren Lyons’ Article

On Sunday, April 24, 2011, Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley left this Earth to enter the Spirit World after losing a long and painful struggle against cancer.  He was 76.

Few people will leave a more positive and inspiring legacy than Oscar.  A Yupiaq born in Mamterilleq – now Bethel – Alaska, he taught in the Cross-Cultural Studies and Education program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, for more than 25 years.  He was raised by his grandmother after his parents died when he was two years old.  He went on to join the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps before earning a master’s and educational specialist degree from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and a doctorate degree in education from the University of British Columbia.  His dissertation examined native ways of knowing, what would eventually be called “Traditional Ecological Knowledge.” His ideas on the topic were later published in the seminal book A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit (1995).  More recently he co-edited, with his close friend and colleague Ray Barnhardt, a collection of readings entitled Alaska Native Education: Views From Within (2010).

Oscar was also known for his fight to improve the quality of education for Alaskan Native children, and especially for his advocacy of tribal languages.  He received many honors during his life, including the National Indian Education Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Educational Research Association Outstanding Scholarship Award, the Governor’s Award for Arts and Humanities, the Alaska Secondary School Principal’s Association Distinguished Service Award, and the Association of Village Council Presidents Award for his many years of service to the people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.  For many people Oscar’s name was synonymous with Alaska Native rural education.

In recent years Oscar turned his attention toward alerting and educating people about the greatest crisis facing civilization today – the effects of global warming.

On a personal note I first met Oscar about five years ago at a climate change meeting held at the Haskell Indian Nations University.  The friendship I formed with Oscar proved to be one of the great honors of my life.  He was one of the kindest, gentlest, and most gracious human beings I have ever met … and one of the most courageous.  He long suffered from cancer and its crippling effects on his leg.  But he never let it slow him down.  I talked to him only days after his leg was removed and he was as upbeat and as cheerful as ever.  He said he was happy the “darn thing” was gone so that he could be fitted with a prosthetic leg and get on with his life, and especially with his teaching and travel.   He felt confident that he would be able to join us at the upcoming American Indian Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group (AIANCCWG) meeting in April, but sadly, that was not to be.  To know Oscar was to love him, and his passing leaves a great void in the hearts of his many friends and students.

The AIANCCWG has announced a student scholarship in Oscar’s honor. Those wishing to donate can contact Dr. Daniel R. Wildcat at dwildcat@sunflower.com

- On April 20, 2009 Oscar visited Northwest Indian College where he gave a talk to my Philosophy of the Natural World class entitled “A Yupiaq WorldView.”