All are invited to the launching and community celebration of Stories of Indigenous Oberlin, a 2023 Winter Term project of Oberlin College and Conservatory in partnership with Oberlin’s Indigenous community, on Sunday, February 5, 2.30pm, in the Oberlin Public Library Community Room.
The history of Indigenous people in and through this place we currently call “Oberlin” is woefully undocumented. Stories of Indigenous Oberlin was co-directed by Sundance (OC ’92, Muskogee), Jennifer Fraser (Professor of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology & White settler), and Megan Mitchell (Academic Engagement & Digital Initiatives Coordinator, Oberlin College Libraries and White settler) and involved eight student participants. The project offers redress by collecting and sharing Indigenous people’s stories of survivance (survival and resilience)–a fancy way of saying “tell us how you have maintained your indigenous identity in the face of colonization and its attempts at assimilation” (Sundance, 2022)–in and through this place we call Oberlin. The project aims to refute Indigenous erasure and invisibility by sharing a more nuanced picture of what Indigeneity looks like and what it means to be Indigenous today. On February 5, we will launch a website that highlights eight local Indigenous voices and makes these narratives, amplified with mixed media and resources, accessible as a teaching tool.
