The College of General Studies is excited to announce we have received a Major Grant from Wisconsin Humanities. The upcoming project, headed by Professor Gregg Jamison, “Exploring Native American Cultures and Lived Experiences in Wisconsin: past, present, and future,” support the Wisconsin Humanities’ mission to strengthen the roots of community life through educational and cultural programs that inspire civic participation and individual imagination.
Project Details
As mentioned, the project title is “Exploring Native American Cultures and Lived Experiences in Wisconsin: past, present, and future.” With the aid of this grant, the College of General Studies (CGS) has developed an innovative, experiential, and multi-disciplinary project to promote awareness and understanding of Native American cultures and lived experiences in Wisconsin. The project will specifically focus on Native American cultural diversity in Wisconsin, past and present, and aims to provide unique learning opportunities for CGS students, staff, and the communities we serve. Public engagement is a major goal of the program and will be supported by partnerships with the Waukesha County Historical Society, the Waukesha County 4-H Program, the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books, and others. Though the College of General Studies and UW-Milwaukee have students, faculty, and staff who will contribute to programs, all will directly involve and emphasize indigenous participants, voices, and perspectives.
The project consists of four programs scheduled to take place from August through December 2022, primarily on the UWM at Waukesha campus. These include a public archaeology day at the UWM at Waukesha Field Station, a reading circle of a book written by Louis Clark III (Two Shoes), an indigenous author from Wisconsin, a cultural performance by Ojibwe artist Michael Laughing Fox Charette, and a panel discussion featuring Native American scholars and students focusing on historical and contemporary issues that connect the past with the present. Participants will experience and learn about how and why the study of Native American cultures, histories, and lived experiences are important, in Wisconsin and beyond. Because of the focus on indigenous voices, participants will explore and experience project themes through programs that are not often included in traditional academic and extracurricular settings. The project will also provide crucial awareness of Native American cultural diversity and contemporary issues from individuals and organizations that represent and experience both.