Bard College Center for Indigenous Studies Hosts Inaugural Symposium with Keynote Speaker Beth Piatote, April 25–26

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Bard College Center for Indigenous Studies will host its inaugural symposium on Thursday, April 25, and Friday, April 26, at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The symposium includes workshops, lectures, and discussions centered around Dr. Beth Piatote’s (Nez Perce enrolled Colville Confederated Tribes) brilliant play Antíkoni, an adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. Piatote will give her public keynote address “Antíkoni and the Question of Adaptation” on Thursday, April 25, 2:00–3:30 pm ET in Weis Cinema, located in the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College. A closing public lecture “Between the Heart and Horizon Line: Culturally Responsive Care in Collection Management” will be delivered by Yale University’s Dr. Royce K. Young Wolf (Hiraacá, Nu’eta, and Sosore, ancestral Apsáalooke and Nʉmʉnʉʉ) on Friday, April 26, 4:30–5:30pm ET in the Bito ’60 Auditorium, located in the Reem-Kayden Center, room 103, at Bard College. All talks are open to the public and do not require registration.

Dr. Beth Piatote’s (Nez Perce enrolled Colville Confederated Tribes) play Antíkoni is from her collection The Beadworkers and was written in part while in residence as a fellow at Bard Graduate Center. Inspired by this work’s themes of possession, belonging, and inheritance, the Center for Indigenous Studies has invited speakers to discuss tribal preservation, NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), and the universality of the values that run through both Sophocles’ Antigone and Piatote’s adaptation. Invited guests include Dr. Laurie Arnold (Sinixt Band Colville Confederated Tribes), the director of Native American Studies and Professor of History at Gonzaga University; Bonney Hartley (Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican), tribal historic preservation manager for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans; Dr. Julie Burelle, performance studies scholar, dramaturg, and assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California San Diego; and Dr. Sailakshmi Ramgopal, classicist, artist, and assistant professor of history at Columbia University.

On the symposium, the Center for Indigenous Studies Curator of Public Programs Brandi Norton (Iñupiaq) writes: “To have Beth Piatote and her play Antíkoni at the center of this symposium is more than we could have hoped for. The play uses the classics as its own trojan horse; it is an invitation to examine how we as a collective can disrupt colonial practices and shift decision making. Antíkoni is the perfect material for the cross fertilizing between the classics, theater, American and Indigenous Studies and civic engagement.”

This symposium highlights the curricular mission of the Center for Indigenous Studies to support interdisciplinary work at Bard and beyond. “It is a privilege to host such a diverse and distinguished group of thinkers and artists,” says the center’s director Christian Ayne Crouch, “Antíkoni is the perfect work around which to launch the annual symposium because it showcases the dynamism of contemporary Indigenous thought, method, and practice for liberal arts education today and because, at its core, it invites collaboration.”
Symposium Schedule

Apr 25, 2024
2:00–3:30 pm, Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center
Opening Keynote: “Antíkoni and the Question of Adaptation”
Dr. Beth Piatote (Nez Perce, Colville Confederated Tribes)

6:00–7:00 pm, Blithewood Manor
“Possession, Belongings and Inheritance: Stockbridge-Munsee Community’s Approach to NAGPRA”
Bonney Hartley (Stockbridge-Munsee Community)

Apr 26, 2024
9:15–10:45am, Finberg House (seating is limited, please arrive early)
“Antíkoni in a Settler Classroom on Kumeyaay Land: Storytelling ‘in the Meantime’ to Imagine ‘Beyond’ It”
Dr. Julie Burelle, associate professor of performance studies in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego

11:00–12:00pm, Finberg House (seating is limited, please arrive early)
“Antíkoni as Public History”
Dr. Laurie Arnold (Sinixt Band of the Colville Confederated Tribes), professor of history and director of Native American Studies; Powers Chair of the Humanities at Gonzaga University

1:15–2:30pm, Finberg House (seating is limited, please arrive early)
Dr. Sailakshmi Ramgopal, assistant professor of history at Columbia University

2:45–4:00pm, Finberg House (seating is limited, please arrive early)
Dr. Amy Pistone, assistant professor of classical civilizations at Gonzaga University
Tyler Archer, postdoctoral fellow in classical studies at Bard College

4:30–5:30 pm, Bito ’60 Auditorium, Reem-Kayden Center 103
Closing Keynote: “Between the Heart and Horizon Line: Culturally Responsive Care in Collection Management”
Dr. Royce K. Young Wolf (Hiraacá, Nu’eta, and Sosore, ancestral Apsáalooke and Nʉmʉnʉʉ)

For more information, contact Melina Roise, CfIS program coordinator at [email protected].
About the Center for Indigenous Studies
The Center for Indigenous Studies (CfIS) provides dedicated programming on key topics and methods in Native American and Indigenous studies throughout the Bard network and in public-facing events, including an annual lecture series, arts programming, curricular enrichment programming, and community-focused events. The creation of CfIS was made possible through a transformational endowment gift to Bard College made by the Gochman Family Foundation in 2022 to substantially advance the College’s work deepening diversity and equity in American and Indigenous Studies.

Bard College’s Land Acknowledgement, developed in dialogue with the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.

In the spirit of truth and equity, it is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are gathered on the sacred homelands of the Munsee and Muhheaconneok people, who are the original stewards of the land. Today, due to forced removal, the community resides in Northeast Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We honor and pay respect to their ancestors past and present, as well as to future generations, and we recognize their continuing presence in their homelands. We understand that our acknowledgement requires those of us who are settlers to recognize our own place in and responsibilities toward addressing inequity, and that this ongoing and challenging work requires that we commit to real engagement with the Munsee and Mohican communities to build an inclusive and equitable space for all.

To learn more about the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, please visit www.mohican.com.

Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck encourages all members of the Bard community and visitors to Bard’s Campus to please consider financially supporting the ongoing and essential work of the Mohican Cultural Affairs Department. Donations may be made here.
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 13 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 163-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 04-11-2024

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