Located in room 206 in the Dreyfus University Center at UWSP is the Native American Center (NAC), home to two societies, American Indians Reaching for Opportunities (AIRO) and American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). Throughout the year, the NAC hosts a variety of events, including powwows and advocacy events for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women organization and for the Indian Child Welfare Act.

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Rachel Davis, the coordinator for the NAC, is an enrolled member of the

Sac and Fox Nation, located in Kansas. She thinks that becoming the

NAC coordinator has helped bring more diversity to her life.

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“I grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin,” Davis said. “I grew up Caucasian

-passing, I grew up with Caucasian peers. I never really had a diverse

community until I actually came to this job position, where I was

surrounded by people with lots of different lived experiences and

backgrounds. It’s so great, it just provides a lot of richness.”

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Davis said she didn’t grow up knowing much about her indigenous

background. Despite Wisconsin’s rich indigenous history, not much is

taught in schools.

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“We’ve passed Act 31, which is a requirement that all K-12 schools have

the legal responsibility to teach about Wisconsin tribal history, specific

to the tribes in Wisconsin, but I don’t see that happening,” Davis said.

“Our education system isn’t really giving [students] that context. And it’s

hard because there isn’t really an indigenous-approved curriculum.”

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Another way in which indigenous history is being forgotten and changed is through harmful stereotypes, with schools as close as Mosinee having an indigenous person as a mascot.

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“Representation matters,” Davis said. “If we’re seeing a very stagnant, very homogenized version of a native person in media all the time, that’s what our youth see. That’s what they grow up seeing, that’s what they visualize, and those concepts aren’t very helpful.”

 

                                                                                                                                     Davis explained more specifically how this relates to mascots.

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“                                                                                                                                   A lot of times we see a native person in a headdress,” Davis said. Well,

                                                                                                                                     that’s a southwest indigenous person. Tribes from around here are

                                                                                                                                     woodland, we wouldn’t be wearing those types of regalia. I think that a

                                                                                                                                     lot of times people will be like, ‘We’re doing it to honor you,” and that’s

                                                                                                                                     just not true because it’s not a factual representation of an indigenous

                                                                                                                                     person. It’s a character, it’s a fantasy.”

 

                                                                                                                                     Sometimes, non-indigenous people may have difficulties finding a

                                                                                                                                     starting place when educating themselves on local indigenous history

                                                                                                                                     and culture. Davis related to this, sharing how she learned more about

                                                                                                                                     her heritage.

 

                                                                                                                                    “I did not grow up traditional, but through time and perseverance of

                                                                                                                                       trying to be a part of this community, I’ve learned things along the way,”

                                                                                                                                      Davis said. “I think it’s important to do your own work. There are lots of great resources online, like Native American Tourism in Wisconsin and The Department of Health and Professional Services, but I think the most effective one is going to different cultural events and programs and spending time in the community talking to community members, talking to elders, really figuring out kind of what modern indigenous life looks like.”

 

When asked the age-old question of why people should care about diversity, Davis had a strong response.

 

“Diversity is life,” Davis said. “Everywhere you look there is diversity. When we see the healthiest environments in nature, they’re the most diverse. The more that we go towards homogeny, sameness, the less healthy those environments become. I think that you can also relate that to people.”

 

Davis has a few projects in the work to encourage education and respect regarding Wisconsin and UWSP’s indigenous history, one of which is a traveling teacher program.

 

“Right now, I’m really trying to advocate to our university to have a traveling teacher

program, where we host indigenous knowledge-barrers here on short-term basis,”

Davis said. One person might give a teach about indigenous food; One person might

give a teach about leatherwork; One person might give an overview of the historical

context. I really believe that there is a thirst for that indigenous knowledge.”

 

Additionally, Davis is working hard with the university regarding the Ancestors Below

Us project, a program being put together to honor the indigenous people buried

below the Communication Arts Center (CAC), including a mural Ho Chunk artist Chris

Sweet.

 

“We have plans for next semester to host three different events leading up to the art

reveal,” Davis said. “We will be doing a ghost dinner for the spirits and the ancestors,

asking if there is anything that they need from us, doing things in a good way to kind

of let them know what we’re planning on doing. Then we will be doing a small ceremony

the day of the installation, and in May, in our Native American Awareness Week leading

up to our powwow, we’ll have the big art reveal, which will include all tribal government

representatives, representatives from our government, and the university.”

 

Many people have a hard time with events that look back at a darker history.

 

“I think that sometimes things that are very painful, humans in general tend to avoid,” Davis said. “The truth is that we have [the CAC] built on a mass grave site of lots of different indigenous people that were basically refugees in their own land that died by devastating disease brought by colonizers, who now inhabit a majority of this land. That’s just the facts. If we can help lead people to embrace this painful truth and to stand together in unity with indigenous people to bring them to the table, it will not only benefit the indigenous people brought to the table, but everybody sitting at the table already. That’s what I’m hopeful that, and I think the university recognizes that as well.”