For some, the month of November brings thoughts of turkey dinners, Starbucks holiday cups and the realization that fall term at PSU is almost over. For the members at the Native American Student and Community Center, this month holds a different meaning.
For some, the month of November brings thoughts of turkey dinners, Starbucks holiday cups and the realization that fall term at PSU is almost over. For the members at the Native American Student and Community Center, this month holds a different meaning.
Riza Liu/VANGUARD STAFf
Heritage heads: Rachel Cushman (left) and Felicia Arce (right) are coordinating PSU’s Native American Heritage Month.
Because November is considered Native American Heritage Month, the center has been holding events in celebration of this theme.
“It’s a month to celebrate indigenous cultures that are often forgotten by the dominant culture,” said center specialist Rachel Cushman. On Nov. 30, Cushman and students who are part of the center will collaborate and host an Indigenous Art Fair and Harvest Festival for students, faculty, staff and the greater Portland community.
The art show will expose different talents in a collaborative and interactive fashion. Basket weavers, painters, carvers and cedar hat makers are just a few of the artists who will be located at tables throughout the space.
During the show, the artists will both create their works of art and explain how each one is made. These artists are all part of the PSU student community. After the show, guests will be invited to stay for the Harvest Festival portion of the evening, which 808 Grinds will cater.
Salmon, tamales and other indigenous foods will be served, and the audience will be able to dine while watching a talent show. The talent show will feature students, faculty, staff and alumni singing, dancing, reciting poems and much more.
Felicia Arce, the center’s program coordinator, explains the motives behind holding this event.
“It’s celebrating diversity, and it’s also giving people time to just have an event that shows a lot of indigenous cultures and indigenous food and performances,” Arce said. “They’ll get a chance to know a little bit more about Native American Heritage Month and just have a place to meet between the two big breaks in cultures. Most of all this is for students who feel marginalized, to show that we do create events that represent our communities and show that we care about the indigenous population.”
With celebrating Native American Heritage Month, however, the staff at the center have a greater goal than awareness of indigenous cultures that covers the community across a larger spectrum. Arce’s greatest goal is to create a sense of community within the center.
“One of my biggest goals is to make everybody feel welcome, so to everyone who is hesitant of coming or joining I just say give us an opportunity because this is what the event is for,” Arce said. “For everybody to feel more welcome in the center and feel like they have a voice in what goes on here. It’s an opportunity to just make this a more inclusive environment.”
Cushman added that this event is also a collaborative effort with the students at both the center and PSU in general, and fulfills the center’s mission of providing a program that is both relational and engaging amid different cultures.
“I think that they’re teaching people about different cultures and experiences. I mean, Portland is home of the largest native populations in the nation, but the native community is still invisible and this helps to educate people, to say that we’re still around, and we still exist and we have culture in the area,” Cushman said. “I mean, knowledge is power, so it’s giving people knowledge that we exist.”
For the committee and participants putting the art fair and festival on, the excitement can be felt. Cushman explained that the variety of people participating, attending and putting on the event added to the authenticity.
“All of the events we hold are to bring a sense of community and maybe more knowledge and understanding that indigenous cultures aren’t all the same, and there isn’t just one native language or culture,” Cushman said.
