Symposium on Indigenous Perspectives to Take Place Thursday, Friday

Syracuse Symposium™ 2014: Perspective will close with a collaborative symposium, “Indigenous Perspectives on Museums and Cultural Centers” on Thursday, Dec. 4, and Friday, Dec. 5, to discuss how to effectively communicate an indigenous perspective on the history of museums as well as in cultural centers. Over the last several decades, there have been efforts to transform museums into institutions that help support revitalization of indigenous nations and peoples.

A public panel discussion will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday in the Kilian Room, 500 Hall of Languages. All members of the Syracuse University community are invited to attend.

The panel discussion is co-sponsored by the Onondaga Historical Association and the Skä•noñh-Great Law of Peace Center.

Among those participating in the symposium:
• Rick Hill (keynote speaker), coordinator of the Deyohahá:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic, Ohsweken, Six Nations of the Grand River (keynote speaker). He was a lecturer in indigenous studies at McMaster University and SUNY-Buffalo, and former assistant director for public programs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. As an accomplished artist, researcher and writer, Hill has become an essential resource for numerous organizations involved in programming activities for the bicentenary of the War of 1812, including HDTV, PBS, Parks Canada and the History Channel. He currently serves as chair of the Six Nations Legacy Consortium. He is guest curator of the commemorative exhibition “Haudenosaunee and the War of 1812,” on display at the Woodland Cultural Centre Museum in Brantford, Ontario.

• Scott Manning Stevens, director of the Native American Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. He will discuss “A Place to Tell Our Stories: Re-imagining and Re-making the Indigenous Museum.” An Akwesasne Mohawk, Stevens earned an A.B. from Dartmouth College and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Stevens has taught as an assistant professor of English literature and American studies at Arizona State University and SUNY at Buffalo. In 2009, Stevens became the director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago. There, he led the Newberry Consortium in American Indian studies for the last five years. In January 2014, he began as an associate professor of Native American studies at Syracuse University, where he also serves as director of the Native American studies program. He is the author of numerous essays on American Indian visual culture, museum studies and the history of indigenous resistance in the arts and literature.

• Debora Winderl Ryan G’16, G’94 is a museum professional with more than 20 years of curatorial and collections management experience, half of which have been spent as senior curator of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. Prior to the Everson, she served as registrar of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica. Her presentation is titled “Revisiting the ‘French Fort’: Sainte Marie de Gannentaha, 1933-1943.” In addition to serving as an adjunct faculty member in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Ryan is a Ph.D. student in the Cultural Foundations of Education Program at Syracuse, where she has also earned a master’s degree in art & music histories.

• Sascha Scott, assistant professor of art history in the College of Arts and Sciences. She will present on “Transcultural Objects and Ethical Oversights.” Scott is a specialist in 19th- and 20th-century American art. In addition to offering broad surveys of American visual culture, she teaches courses that expand out from her research, including seminars that explore representation of American Indians, art and politics, and art and the environment. Scott received her B.A. in anthropology from the Colorado College, an M.A. in art history from George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in art history from Rutgers University.

• Ann M.D. Drumheller ‘89 (Onondaga), special assistant for Native American Initiatives at the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. She has been with the NMAI for 24 years and has served in collections management, as the head registrar and in her current position, which provides extensive outreach to native constituencies, fundraising opportunities, engagement, follow-up and continued partnership. Drumheller earned her B.F.A. from Syracuse University and is also a guest lecturer for the University’s museum studies program. She was named a Syracuse University Outstanding Alumni Award Winner in 2007. She currently serves on the board of trustees for the Tewaraaton Foundation.

For more information on the symposium, contact the SU Humanities Center at 443-7192.