May 13
Every April, the Chickasaw Nation hosts the Annual Chickasaw Dynamic Women’s Conference and Forum. The event includes panel discussions, a forum, and topical presentations. This year, the event was held in Sulphur, OK in the Artesian Hotel and at the Chickasaw Cultural Center. Dr. Traci Morris, as a member of the Chickasaw Nation, has participated in this event annually since 2009.
Apr 10
Last week, I was honored to be a part of Steven Yazzie‘s Indigenous Tours Project. This series of art works are narratives of Indigenous people and they function as a community outreach project that reinterprets land, peoples, and histories. Steve is a Navajo/Laguna multidisciplinary artist working out of Phoenix, Arizona. He’s a painter, sculptor, performance, installation, and film/video artist.
Jan 31
Chances are, you’ll be watching the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII this weekend and chances are, you’re excited to see the big-time advertisements too. As we know, companies go all out for this broadcast and there are often some memorable commercials. Well, we think you’ll be moved by the ad that National Congress of American Indians has just released. In fact, word on the street is that it isn’t just a piggyback ad, but that it will actually be aired during the Super Bowl. It’s titled Proud to Be.
Jan 9
“…For her, she saw the world from a Chickasaw worldview, without the interference of English at all.”
—Josh Hinson, Director of the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program
(From the recent NPR article “What Happens When a Language’s Last Monolingual Speaker Dies”)
–She was the last person who knew the world only through Chickasaw.
I am not good at languages. I tried as an undergraduate to learn Spanish. I took an entire year of daily Spanish language classes and worked with a tutor the entire time and I was unable to learn more than a few simple phrases, not even enough to get me by living in the border state of Arizona. What I did learn was that I didn’t even know English grammar well enough to think about another language and its use of grammar.
However, I have to say, I’ve been hit hard by the news of the recent death of Emily Johnson Dickerson, the last monolingual speaker of the Chickasaw language. I did not know her, but she is symbolic and represents the passing of an age. Last year, I spent some time at the Chickasaw Nation and I learned that there were only about 70 some speakers of Chickasaw. At the time this alarmed me. But, late last week we learned that the last person who had only a Chickasaw worldview had died. Well, this –to me—is staggering. According to Chickasaw elder Catherine Wilmond, if we lose our language, the world will end (see her talk about this here).
Jan 7
As part of our ongoing series of blog posts highlighting Tribal leaders, we’re starting with the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, Bill Anoatubby. The Governor was first elected in 1987, becoming the 30th Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. He is currently serving his seventh term in office. As the tribal leader, he manages nearly 13,000 employees, 50 governmental programs, and over 100 tribal businesses, having grown the Nation from 250 employees when he took office. Check out this video history of Governor Anoatubby created by the City of Ada, Oklahoma last year.
Dec 5
It’s like early Christmas at the Homahota Consulting offices! We got a big order in of research books for a new book project. As a part of my #GivingTuesday commitment, I ordered via Amazon Smile to benefit one of my chosen non-profits, the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums.
These books will be used as primary reading and preparation for a book I’m working on about Chickasaw allotment. The book will be a cultural biography that examines the loss of land and culture through the lens of a series of historic correspondence that took place between my great-grandmother and great-grandfather between 1907 and 1912 in Chickasaw Indian Territory.
Dec 2
Chukma! As the end of the year approaches, we at Homahota Consulting would like to say “yakoke hotfoot chiapelachi” or thank you for your support (Chickasaw Language). This year has been one of tremendous growth. We have been honored to work with a number of local, regional and national tribes and organizations. We worked with an Arizona Native Nation on a tribal business project, helped several Native non-profits leverage their grants funds to improve their communities, we spoke to national audiences raising awareness about the importance of digital inclusion for Tribal communities and Native Nations, and have launched an extensive email and social media campaign to improve our communication with you. We know that more communities need a stronger voice so we are challenging ourselves to keep going and we look forward to many new projects in 2014.
Homahota Consulting LLC 