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2023 KU First Nations Student Association (FNSA) Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival set for April 8
LAWRENCE — The First Nations Student Association Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival is a daylong, family-friendly event that welcomes KU, Lawrence and the surrounding communities to participate, share experiences, make connections and learn more about the traditions, culture, history and contemporary topics relating to the Indigenous peoples of North America. The festival is April 8, with additional activities planned April 5-7.
KU Libraries announce 2023 Textbook Hero
LAWRENCE — Ljudmila Bilkić, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Slavic, German & Eurasian Studies at the University of Kansas, is KU Libraries’ 2023 Textbook Hero, selected for making learning fun, fresh, culturally relevant and affordable using Open Educational Resources (OER).
Full stories below.
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Contact: Laura Kingston, [email protected]
2023 KU First Nations Student Association (FNSA) Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival set for April 8
LAWRENCE — For decades, the University of Kansas First Nations Student Association (FNSA) has hosted the Annual KU FNSA Powwow. The event celebrates the diversity of Native American cultures in the community through dancing, singing and honoring the traditions of Indigenous ancestors.
This legacy of enriching the local community through Native American traditions and cultural heritage expanded in 2017 with the establishment of the Indigenous Cultures Festival (ICF) through a partnership between FNSA and the Lied Center of Kansas.
The 2023 FNSA Powwow & ICF will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 8 at the Lied Center.
New this year, the committee is proud to share the addition of Gourd Dancing to welcome and honor elite military combat warriors through Tribal songs and dances. Gourd Dancing will take place on the Powwow grounds at 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
To learn more about the historical and contemporary traditions of Gourd Dancing and powwows, guests can attend “Powwow 101” at 11 a.m. and “Gourd Dancing 101” at 1 p.m.
This daylong, family-friendly event will welcome the KU, Lawrence and surrounding communities to participate, share experiences, make connections and learn more about the traditions, culture, history and contemporary topics relating to the Indigenous peoples of North America.
The day includes a full schedule of interactive experiences, educational workshops and children’s activities focused on Indigenous cultures and history, including:
1. Indigenous children’s language & literacy activities
2. Indigenous books with Ponak’azo
3. Educational presentations by Cornel Pewewardy, The Indigenous Arts Initiative, FNSA students and Jancita Warrington.
4. Community mural painting
Activities offered during the 2023 KU FNSA Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival will be held both outside and inside the Lied Center. Attendees planning on staying throughout the powwow are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.
Regional Native American artists and artisans will have items for sale in accordance with the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. Leading the food vendors is Raven’s Table and Redcloud’s Rock Chalkin Tacos and other Indigenous food from the Great Lakes area, invited friends of the festival, longtime vendor Peaches’ Frybread and popular local vendor Monteau’s Indian Tacos. Additional Indigenous-inspired food will be available for purchase throughout the day. During the event, adult-size and youth-size T-shirts will be for sale.
In addition to the all-day event April 8, there will be several in-person and virtual events leading up to the powwow and festival, including:
1. April 5, 7 p.m.: Film screening of “Beans” (2020), which tells the true story of the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec, directed by Tracey Deer, at Haskell Indian Nations University auditorium.
2. April 6, 4 p.m.: Public talk by Cornel Pewewardy, vice chairman of the Comanche Nation, professor of practice in the School of Education at Kansas State University, professor emeritus in Indigenous Nations studies at Portland State University and former KU assistant professor in teaching and leadership and the Global Indigenous Nations Studies Program, at the Jayhawk Welcome Center.
3. April 7, 7:30 p.m.: The Lied Center of Kansas presents Bone Hill — The Concert, featuring Martha Redbone. Bone Hill – The Concert is inspired by Redbone’s life and stories of the women from whom she descends. The lives of the Bone family members are shared through songs that span a variety of American music — from traditional Cherokee songs and lullabies to bluegrass, blues, gospel, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues. Tickets are available through the Lied Center.
Activities on April 8 are free and open to the public. It is recommended guests bring cash to purchase from vendors. For full and up-to-date details on the Annual FNSA Powwow & Indigenous Cultures Festival, please visit fnsapowwow.ku.edu or connect with the Facebook event.
For more information, contact Laura Kingston at [email protected].
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Contact: Kevin McCarty, KU Libraries, 785-864-6428, [email protected], @KULibraries
KU Libraries announce 2023 Textbook Hero
LAWRENCE — Ljudmila Bilkić’s Intermediate German II class redefines traditional norms. In her classroom, upbeat Spotify tunes provide a prelude to the “Foto des Tages.” The photo of the day — a manatee napping on its back — is a nod to subtropical regions instead of arboreal forests. The class banter shifts to the treachery of a newly deposited layer of ice on campus, shared opinions of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade and finally talk of a roommate’s unfortunate night out, which prompts a review of a variety of related medical and informal descriptive terms.
Bilkić, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Slavic, German & Eurasian Studies, is KU Libraries’ 2023 Textbook Hero selection for making learning fun, fresh, culturally relevant and affordable using Open Educational Resources (OER). More specifically she’s being recognized for her efforts to convert the class materials for four 100- and 200-level courses over the past two years — completing an overhaul of the entire German-language sequence after 300- and 400-level courses were converted in recent years.
Bilkić has used an OER grant provided by KU Libraries and coordinated with the Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communications & Copyright on the transformational work. The KU OER Grant Initiative supports the adoption, adaptation and creation of OER by KU instructors and encourages their use at KU to positively influen ce students. Instructors may apply for up to $5,000 to implement OER in their courses.
Bilkić said the grant has since provided freedom, comfort and accessibility in pushing a progressive approach to intercultural relations between students and the languages they’re learning. Some previously used materials in the German language proficiency sequence were outdated in their approach to language learning, despite being just a few years old, and Bilkić saw an opportunity to overhaul the current curriculum using the OER grant.
“We’re teaching German, but it’s not just German; it’s many things: how you walk through life expressing yourself, how you prepare yourself to talk in front of a camera, how to improve upon your own intercultural understanding,” Bilkić said. “There are so many other nuances to this. Having the opportunity to craft the OER, the flexibility has been incredible.”
Additionally, the cost of German language books has increased significantly in the past decade, following the trend of class materials in general, Bilkić said. The OER grant funding provides free resources that help students worry less about the cost of material and rather focus on learning.
“Every generation of students has a complex set of circumstances with which they’re working, whether it be studying, working from home, working two different jobs, having to pay for school,” Bilkić said. “So, the access to knowledge should be the least painful thing.”
In 2019 KU Libraries launched Textbook Heroes to recognize faculty, staff, students and allies at KU who have taken extraordinary initiative to increase access to and affordability of required course materials by implementing and advocating for OER and other low- and no-cost course materials. Textbook Heroes are announced in the spring semester.
“The study of German is more accessible and relevant at KU thanks to the tremendous efforts of Ljudmila Bilkić, this year’s worthy recipient of the Textbook Hero award,” said Josh Bolick, head of the Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communications & Copyright. “Thanks to previous efforts, most upper-division undergraduate German language courses were using low-cost materials, but the introductory core courses were costly. Dr. Bilkić saw an opportunity to eliminate costs for students and give instructors more control over the content and utilized the OER grant to flip those courses over a two-year period. It was our honor to assist with this project and recognize her great work.”
For information about Open Educational Resources grants, contact Heather Mac Bean, Open Education Librarian, at [email protected] or [email protected].
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