Indigenous Identity in Diaspora is a 2008 Spring Quarter speaker and performance series sponsored by Artist in Residence Cherríe Moraga and The Insitute for Diversity in the Arts. The series accompanies Cherríe Moraga's course on Indigenous Identity in Diaspora - People of Color Art Practice in North América, which will be offered through IDA, DRAMA, CSRE, and is a Feminist Studies cognate course.

The Stanford community is invited to consider the topic of indigeneity/aboriginality and how it impacts performance, especially work produced by Chicana, Latina, and other Native- and African-origined artists. These events will offer a 21st century examination of people of color aesthetics. The exploration of gender and sexuality, as they pertain to the formation of cultural identity, is integral to the course of study, as is the critical examination of the modernist view of mestizaje and neo-liberal view of multiculturalism.

Guest artists include: Luisha Teish (storyteller, Ifa/Orisha Tradition), Alleluia Panis (American Pilipina choreographer), Sharon Bridgforth (African American performance writer), Joy Harjo (Mvskoke-Creek poet and musician), Lorna Dee Cervantes (Chicana poet), Celia Herrera Rodriguez (Tepehuan/Xicana painter & performer), and Linda Hogan (Chickasaw author).

Major Funding and support provided by: Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts (SICA), Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA), Program in Feminist Studies, Native American Studies, & Department of English. Co-sponsored by MEChA & The Guiding Concilio del Centro Chicano, The Program in Creative Writing, The LGBT Community Resource Center, Department of Drama, Center for Studies in Race & Ethnicity, Native American Studies, Native American Cultural Center, Women's Community Center, Blackstage, American Indian Student Organization, Cherokee Student Group, Stanford Native American Graduate Students, Kayumaggi, Pilipino American Student Union, Asian American Grad Student Association, The Chicano/Latino Graduate Student Association, the Black Graduate Student Association, and the Graduate Student Council

Wed Apr 16, 4pm: Luisah Teish
Roble Gym Room 33

Please join us in welcoming Luisah Teish, writer, performer and ritual priestess as she invites the Stanford community to participate in a ritual presentation. Teish is an initiated elder (Iyanifa) in the Ifa/Orisha tradition of the West African Diaspora, and holds a chieftancy title (Yeye’woro) from the Fatunmise Compound in Ile Ife, Nigeria. She is also a devotee of Damballah Hwedo, the Haitian Rainbow Serpent, under the guidance of Moma Lola. Presently she is the Chair of the World Orisha Congress Committee on Women’s Issues. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Spiritual Therapeutics from Open International University’s School of Complementary Medicine in Colombo Sri Lanka in 1993. Teish is the author of several books on African and African American Spiritual Culture, including "Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals"- a women’s spirituality classic, "Carnival of the Spirit: Seasonal Celebrations and Rites of Passage," "Jump Up: Good Times Throughout the Seasons with Celebrations from Around the World," and “What Don’t Kill Is Fattening Revisited: Twenty Years of Poetry, Prose, and Myth." Her film and television performance credits include the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Other Side, ”Not A Love Story” and the Goddess Remembered film series. More info at www.luisahteish.com.

Wed Apr 30 4pm: Pilipina Choreographer Alleluia Panis- Indigenous Aesthetics & Form in American Pilipino Dance
Clubhouse Ballroom @ Asian American Community Center, Old Union, Stanford University (NEW LOCATION!)

American Pilipino choreographer Alleluia Panis presents some of her work in Indigenous aesthetics and form in American Pilipino Dance. Panis is co-founder and Executive/Artistic Director of Kulintang Arts. She is in the forefront of the creation of contemporary American dance informed by issues and concerns of American Pilipinos, as well as the dance forms of traditional and tribal communities of the Philippines. Reception to follow.

Wed May 7 @ 5pm: Sharon Bridgforth
Roble Gym, Room 33, Stanford University

Don't miss this public reading by Sharon Bridgforth, the Lambda Award winning author of the bull-jean stories (RedBone Press), and love conjure/blues,  a performance/novel published by RedBone Press. She is the Anchor Artist for The Austin Project which is sponsored by The Center For African And African American Studies, UT Austin. Her work delta dandi was the recipient of the National Performance Network Creation Fund Award.  Bridgforth has broken ground in the creation and presentation of the performance/novel and in doing so has advanced the articulation of the Jazz aesthetic as it lives in theatre.  Her work has fostered the study of Black lesbian performance literature in academic settings.  Bridgforth developed method of facilitating creative writing called Finding Voice, encourages writers to use the page as a canvas; to use identity-culture-memory-family histories-dreams to articulate and examine the socio-political realities of their lives in a form that is part poetry, part oral history, part performance art; to work in community as they use art as a vehicle for social justice. Reception to follow. Learn more at: www.sharonbridgforth.com. Reception to follow.

Wed, May 14, 7-8:30 pm: Mvskoke-Creek Poet & Musician Joy Harjo
Bldg 110, Room 111-O on the Main Quad, Stanford University

Join Indigenous Identity in Diaspora for an evening of poetry and music with Joy Harjo, Native American poet, writer, academic, musician, and activist.Harjo uses Native American symbolism, imagery, history, and ideas set within a universal context. Her poetry deals with social and personal issues, notably feminism, and with music, particularly jazz.  She has received the Eagle Spirit Achievement Award for overall contributions in the arts, from the American Indian Film Festival. She performs internationally solo and with her band Joy Harjo and the Arrow Dynamics Band (for which she sings and plays saxophone), and premiered a preview of her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light at the Public Theater in NYC in December 07. She writes a column “Comings and Goings” for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. She lives in Honolulu, HI and Albuquerque, NM. Brief Q&A and booksigning to follow. Author's suggested reading, How We Became Human, New and Selected Poems: 1975-2001, available at Campus Bookstore. They will also have texts for sale on site. Please join us at the Native American Cultural Center at 5:30pm for a community welcome dinner.

Wed, May 21, 4-6 pm: Chicana Poet Lorna Dee Cervantes & Chicana-Indigena Artist Celia Herrera Rodriguez
El Centro Chicano, Stanford University

Join Indigenous Identity in Diaspora as we welcome Chicana Poet Lorna Dee Cervantes and Celia Herrera Rodríguez (Xicana-Tepehuan) as they discuss re-membering Chicano/Latino Indigenous history and identity.  Born in California, Lorna Dee Cervantes is a Chicana poet with Native ancestry. Interested in the conundrums of race and race relations--in part because her heritage was both Native American and Mexican -- her poetry she attempts to bridge the gap between her Mexican heritage and the Anglo world in which she lives, making an explicit statement about race and sexuality. Herrera Rodriguez teaches in Chicano/Indigenous Art Theory, History and Practice in the Ethnic Studies Department at UC Berkeley.  She is a painter, performance and installation artist who has exhibited internationally.  Her art work confronts the ever-inventive forms of colonization imposed upon Chicano/Latinos in the U.S. and other people of color. Author's suggested reading, Emplumada, available at campus bookstore. They will also have books for sale onsite. Reception to follow.

Wed, May 28, 7-8:30 pm: Native Author Linda Hogan
Margaret Jacks Hall- Terrace Room, Bldg 460, Stanford University

Indigenous Identity in Diaspora presents Linda Hogan (Chickasaw), internationally recognized public speaker and author of poetry, fiction, and essays.  An influential and provocative Native American figure in the contemporary American literary landscape, Hogan is a prolific writer and political, environmental, philosophical theorist. Her books include novels Mean Spirit, a winner of the Oklahoma Book Award, the Mountains and Plains Book Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer; Solar Storms, a finalist for the International Impact Award, and Power. The Book of Medicines, a collection of poetry, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Brief Q&A and booksigning to follow. Author's suggested reading: The Woman Who Watches Over the World, available at Campus Bookstore. They will also have texts for sale on site. Please join us at the Native American Cultural Center at 5:30pm for a community welcome dinner.