IHREN Webinar with Venaya Yazzie

We are delighted to announce our next talk for the Incomindios Human Rights Education Network (IHREN) will be hosted by Venaya Yazzie on October 30th at 6pm UK time! Venaya's presentation is titled 'Reflecting Doodá Desert Rock Resistance: Navajo Guardians of the Matriarchland'.

Venaya Yazzie is a member of the eastern Dinè (Navajo) and Hopi. She dwells in northwest New Mexico and her family homelands of Dziłnaodithłe (Huerfano), NM and Kinbetó (Chaco Canyon). Venaya is a multidisciplinary artist, poet and a cultural educator within the Tótá, four corners community near Farmington, NM. She has worked with a variety of disciplines and regional artist on issues, including cultural preservation, identity, and land politics, promoting the indigenous Southwest narrative within Bordertown communities. Yazzie has currently been working with Southwestern region of national parks, sharing experiences and educating the public about cultural landscape and what she has titled, Matriarchland. Venaya is alumnus of: the Institute of American Indian arts, Fort Lewis College, and graduated with an M.A. in Education/ Indian Education at the University of New Mexico.

Venaya will be presenting on her work for the Dooda Desert Rock resistance. Traditionally the Diné (Navajo) have lived their lives as Indigenous-minded pragmatists always acting on behalf of their communal balance of hózhó, or the stronghold of cultural and spiritual epistemology.  When an entity brings imbalance into the Diné cosmos reaction is eminent – the approach concerns guardianship over the People and the Land, which is inextricably connected to the Diné identity.  Venaya will speak on the art of resistance of modern Diné who realize their roles in the cultural stewardship of the Matriarchland.  From the tangible acts of pollution and water rights issues of the Navajo Nation, Venaya will dialogue on modern issue facing the People in the American Soutwest.  She will also revisit the art she curated for the 2008 art exhibition, Connections: Earth + Artist = A Tribute Art Show in Resistance to Desert Rock at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

Please join us on October 30th at 6pm UK time to hear about Venaya's work! The Zoom link can be found here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84916612035?pwd=DSRj6C9jR9ZDImu1wUxqWcbAVnEk2F.1

Meeting ID: 849 1661 2035

Passcode: 880551

Thank you to our funders, the British Association for American Studies, for making this series possible.