 Kip Tiernan and Fran Froelich have been instrumental in creating resources for women.
| |
When settlers and explorers came to the New World, they encountered cultures and societies already deeply entrenched in the land. Though those people were pushed off the land over time by the ferocious technology, puritanical fervor, and unfamiliar diseases of the Europeans, Native Americans today are asserting their place in the nation's culture.
On Tuesday night Janice Falcone, a member of the Iroquois tribe, spoke about her culture and heritage as well as the work she has been doing for the last 30 years at the North American Indian Center (NAIC) of Boston. The lecture was sponsored by the Graduate AHANA program and is part of a series intended to educate attendees about the history of Native Americans as well as the struggles they face today.
Falcone began the lecture with a traditional Iroquois prayer of thanksgiving. The prayer is recited in the tribal culture when groups come together in discussion or for other purposes, and it invokes the people, the Earth Mother, the Creator, and other natural forces to bear witness and give blessing to the gathering.
"We need to stop and take the time to enjoy the beauty the Creator has given us," she said.
Falcone talked about the Native American view of the planet, which stresses sustainability and stewardship. She stressed the way in which the modern world is often disconnected from the natural world. "Whoever thought we'd be buying water?" she said, gesturing to a water bottle.
Falcone told stories of her youth, and of the reservation in New York where she grew up. Her father was a chief on the reservation, and, as such, was an important community leader.
She explained how the election of a tribal chief was a process that involved the whole community and was ultimately decided by the clan mothers, who are female elders respected for their age and wisdom. "The Iroquois were known for their long and deliberating councils," she said.
Her father, though a chief, also worked in a gypsum mine in order to provide for his family. Falcone said he was always eager to learn about new ways in which he could help and better advise the tribe. He was a voracious reader, she said, and would read her school textbooks more thoroughly than she did. "He should have gotten my degree instead of me," Falcone said.
2008 Woodie Awards
