BGSU is celebrating Native American artistry through In the Round, a guest speaker series that brings Native American and Indigenous artists to campus to share culture through works of art.
In The Round has amplified Native voices since 2022. Heidi Nees, a co-founder of In the Round, explained the importance of hosting the event at BGSU.
“Oftentimes, Native Americans and their cultures are rendered as being in the past or of the past, and so we want to actively try and work against that stereotype by bringing contemporary artists to campus,” she said.
Nees said Native people have made contributions to society that many people ignore.
“I think people have this notion of a pre-1900 context or Native people being in and of the past, and that ignores all of the important contributions of Native people and nations,” Nees said. “All of the contributions artistically, ecologically, socially, in terms of systems of governance, like every facet of life.”
Arigon Starr was the most recent speaker for the In the Round series. Starr is an award-winning musician as well as an actress, playwright, comic book author and illustrator.
Nees explained Starr was one of the first names that came to mind when thinking of possible In the Round speakers.
“I was familiar with Arigon’s work because she has done theater work, and she’s very much a multi-hyphenate artist,” Nees said. “So when we compiled a list originally, she was one of the first names on the list.”
Arigon was also chosen as a speaker due to her work that connects with creative aspects of the university.
“There’s this amazing connection between the comic book creation that she has done, the pop culture studies and pop culture library here at the university. That’s so much part of the identity of this university,” Nees said.
There are no federally recognized tribes in Ohio, which can cause for Native culture to be thought of as in the past.
“Of course, there are Native people in Ohio. But in terms of having a reservation or tribal nations being situated within Ohio, we don’t have that,” Nees said. “So often there’s this perception of absence that happens.”
Nees explained events like In the Round allow people to learn about innovations within Native art.
“Thinking of the innovations that they are bringing to art form. Sometimes that’s pulling on traditions, sometimes that’s innovating traditions and sometimes that’s creating something completely new,” she said. “If people are aware and know about these artists’ works, I think they’re going to get really excited about it too.”
Nees said Starr’s work talks about being an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma.
“Arigon is doing a lot of work to get stories of the Kickapoo and other tribal nations out there,” she said.
In the Round is an extension of BGSU’s land acknowledgement, which states that the university is situated in the homelands of Indigenous and Native tribal nations. According to the written delivery land acknowledgement, BGSU is situated on lands that hold ties to the Wyandot, Kickapoo, Miami, Odawa, Potawatomi and other tribal nations present and past. These tribes were forcibly removed to and from the area.
Nees was a member of the committee that created this statement.
“We came together to develop a statement we found that could raise awareness for people whose homelands these are,” she said.
Nees said a criticism of land acknowledgements made by universities is not going beyond the statement that’s being made. This was something the committee discussed when creating BGSU’s statement.
“One of the things that was very important to the committee was how do we go beyond the statement? If this is being used as an educational tool, how do we go beyond just a statement that might be used at events,” she said.
This is what gave Nees the idea to make In the Round a series that continues each year, as it was only planned to be a one-time event.
“We can’t just let this be like a one-and-done thing, because then it becomes like a statement just to check the box initiative, so we decided to continue the series,” she said.
Nees encourages students who would like to learn more about Native culture to look into courses offered by the ethnic studies program at BGSU.
“Intro to Native studies is kind of an introduction course, but there are many more classes that are being taught and developed over there,” she said. “Especially by Dr. Michelle Stokley, who teaches a wide range of awesome Native American central classes.”
Nees said events like In the Round can help people learn more about the importance of Native culture.
“Coming to events like In the Round or other events that happen at the university, which center and focus on Native issues,” she said. “There is a lot of really amazing Native focused content out there.”
