UMass Boston

On March 20, UMass Boston’s Native American Indigenous Studies Program (NAIS), the New England Institute for Native American Studies (INENAS), and the Native/Indigenous Student Association (NISA) hosted a delegation from Hawai’i Community College (Hawai’i CC) for a day long visit to our campus that included a cultural exchange, knowledge sharing, student performances, and more.  

Assistant Professor of History and Director of the NAIS Program, Maria John said the event came about when representatives from Hawai’i CC reached out to inquire about visiting the UMass Boston campus to learn about how the university teaches Indigenous studies and serves the Indigenous student population. John said that Hawai’i CC runs many programs that support their Indigenous student community and wanted to connect with schools that offer similar programs. 

The event included a welcoming ceremony, featuring dances and songs from UMass Boston students and the delegation, lunch, a campus tour, and a viewing of Ohke Kah Nippi Mehquontamūonk (Earth and Water Memory) a film created for UMass Boston in 2021 by a group of local Indigenous dancers, Mar Parilla (Taino), Jenny Oliver (Massachusett), and Andre Strongbearheart Gaines Jr (Nipmuc).  This film, which was commissioned by the Vice Chancellor Division of Student Affairs, NAIS, and INENAS, is on display in the Atrium of University Hall. “I encourage everyone on our campus to go and view the film if they haven’t already. We invited the choreographer to join us for lunch during the delegation’s visit, to share the film with our guests so that they could see some of the community engaged work that we do,” John said.  

Members of the delegation later had the opportunity to tour the campus, view various Indigenous art installations across campus, and do a walking tour of the harbor to learn about the connections between the Harbor Islands and local Indigenous history. John said she believes the increased visibility of the work being done for the Indigenous community at UMass Boston initially encouraged Hawai’i Community College to reach out. 

 “It is meaningful that they reached out to us,” she said. “I think there might be something in the way that our campuses are similar in terms of the students that we’re serving and there might be an affinity in the work that we do." 

The event also gave students and members of the UMass Boston Indigenous community the opportunity to take on leadership roles, and their contributions to the day helped make the visit successful, John said. UMass Boston alum and program coordinator at the Asian American Studies Program Asa Peters led the stomp dance, and CECS graduate student Brittney Walley presented a formal welcome and opening remarks at the welcoming ceremony.  

“Seeing them so comfortably and beautifully inhabit those leadership roles was just a moment of both feeling proud of them and a lot of admiration for them,” she said. 

John said one of the benefits of hosting the welcoming ceremony on campus was that people could stop by and engage for a moment, giving the broader campus community the chance to reflect on the event, ask questions, and witness the expression of Indigenous cultures that might’ve challenged preconceived notions.  

“We did get a lot of people who were passing by and heard the music and wanted to pause and check out what was going on,” she said. “It's just an opportunity to start a conversation in many ways so I was really happy that we were able to do the event in a public space.” 

John said the new connections built with Hawai'i CC could lead to new pathways that can help expand learning opportunities for both student bodies and has inspired her to think more openly about what can be built moving forward. 

“That’s something that’s been sitting with me–to think really openly about ways that we can build forward from this relationship for the benefit of our students,” she said. 

Last fall, the Native and Indigenous Student Resource Hub opened in the Campus Center. Since its opening, John said, the hub has been transformative in building a stronger presence on campus for current and incoming Indigenous students looking for community.  

“I don’t think the significance of that space can be understated,” she said. “It’s so much more than just having a space: It’s about what building that space together has allowed our student community to do, which is to come together and, in many ways, dream together about what this space could be and how they want to use it.” 

John said that students had previously expressed difficulty in finding an Indigenous community on campus and that this hub has provided a visible space that allows students to collaborate and organize events that speak to the diversity of the Indigenous population on campus. The hub space and the Hawai’i CC visit are two of many visible markers that are representative of the support for Indigenous students on campus from offices across the university administration, which John believes has increased since the arrival of Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco.  

“There’s also been a couple of things behind the scenes that speak to our growing sense of commitment,” she said. “All of these things are so important and make it possible for us to do this work, and I feel really grateful and hopeful especially after seeing how impactful and successful this event was.”  

On May 4, UMass Boston will host a Powwow on campus, which will include a day of ceremonial dancing, music, food, and more. The Powwow is sponsored by the Institute for New England Native American Studies, Native American Lifelines Inc., NAIS, UMass Boston Native, Indigenous Student Association, and the UMass Boston Chancellor’s Office. The event will bring together organizations and vendors from across the state, and John encourages Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members to join the event, engage with diverse Indigenous cultures, and enjoy the food.  

“If you’ve never attended a Powwow before, here’s your opportunity to see one on your doorstep,” she said.