Lunaape-IAS Events
UPCOMING EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
31 October-2 November 2024:
Fourth Annual Munsee Language & History Symposium
View the 2024 PROGRAM. Info on the EVENT.
19 February 2024, Xwahteewi Koon Niipaahum
Third Annual Munsee Delaware Story Evening
NEEKAAWA KIHTAACHIIMUWAK WULAAKWUNUWII
(This Evening They Tell Stories).
maawehleewak naxpii Ian McCallum wunjiiyayuw Nalahii; Velma Noah Nicholas waak Kristin Jacobs wunjiiyayuwak Naahii; waak Maaliish Miller wunjiiyayuw Muh-he-conneok. neekaawa laachumohkawaatwak wunj Lunaape waak shihsuwanakuw. Ian, Velma, Kristin, waak Maaliish laachumohkawaatwak ambee aanihkwaachiimuwak alohke. Ella Johnston wunjiiyayuw Nalahii; neeka akunootamun kteekhiikeew laachumohkawaatwak.
Munsee-Delaware Nation community member Ian McCallum; Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit members Velma Noah Nicholas and Kristin Jacobs; and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans member Molly Miller (Historical Committee) share stories from their communities in both the Munsee (Lunaape) and English languages. Ian, Velma, Kristin, and Molly discuss the background to the stories as well as the active and ongoing interpretation and translation process. Artist Ella Johnston (Munsee-Delaware Nation) shares the artistic approach to illustrating the stories.
View the 2024 Munsee Delaware Story Evening videos together:
https://youtu.be/r1zuBriJDFI
or individually:
“First Kiss of Snow” (Nicholas Family story) with Ian McCallum and Ella Johnston, Munsee-Delaware Nation (Story 1 of 3) [19 minutes]
https://youtu.be/w0g5SDA6ITY
“Keenaamhaaláawuna Kiisheelumúkweengw” with Velma Noah Nicholas, Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit (Story 2 of 3) [5 minutes]
https://youtu.be/tyRNH1w8LiE
“Éenda Pūmchéhlayeengw Lakehead Shkoolíikaan” with Kristin Jacobs, Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit (Story 3 of 3) [25 minutes]
https://youtu.be/fk_XCydF-9A
3-5 November 2023:
Third Annual Munsee Language & History Symposium
This event continues and deepens ongoing relationships with Lunaapeewak (Lenape people) from Munsee-speaking tribal nations, bringing them together with IAS community members, Princeton students, staff, and faculty on their own traditional territory, Lunaapahkiing. Indigenous language reclamation and revitalization counteracts the violent history of settler colonial regimes, including boarding schools where Native children were forced to speak English exclusively. Speakers at the 2023 Munsee symposium will focus on archival evidence pertaining to these boarding schools, as well as on public history, the role of libraries and archives, and the development of K-12 curriculum.
Plenary lecture by Mary Jane Logan McCallum (Munsee-Delaware Nation / Professor of History and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous People, History and Archives, University of Winnipeg) "Lunaape History, Colonial Archives, and Munsee Historical Methods".
Please see here for the symposium program. Please see here for a report on the symposium.
View the 2023 Munsee Language & History Symposium videos together:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdDZb3TwJPZ5FrLktc3tGC7WF_UQ9uqoh
or individually:
Opening Remarks: How are Lunaapeew communities related?
https://youtu.be/PmDDQM2m3So?si=qAXphVFtJBN0O3QX
Opening lecture: Reclaiming the Stories of our Families
Cody Groat (Kanyen’kehaka, Six Nations/Western University)
https://youtu.be/-T2y_DwAR3A?si=0pAy7JHs0yUbTxSB
Session 1: Lunaapeewak in Public History: Indigenous Soldiers in the British, Canadian, and US Armed Forces
Jo Ann Gardner Schedler and Jacob Lenz (Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians)
https://youtu.be/GpnGu5ZUPjU?si=FZokYgeNb3FWoXoX
John Moses (Kanyen’kehaka and Delaware, Six Nations/Canadian Museum of History)
https://youtu.be/SjoTAnQ1oa0?si=uCVCoWHJml1CB4dJ
Session 2: Munsee Belongings
“Munsee-Delaware Wampum Belts”
Ian McCallum (Munsee-Delaware Nation/OISE, University of Toronto)
https://youtu.be/0amLNwWWDwc?si=fijQrZl9AMgV0Sg4
“Lunaapeewak at Princeton and Lunaape Book History”
Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Melissa Moreton (IAS)
https://youtu.be/561XM8GgJkE?si=NRMjjyPqrmpz3EZS
Session 3: Reclaiming Lunaape Knowledge
Velma Noah-Nicholas (Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit/Western University)
https://youtu.be/JMrjLf7MGxw?si=hl4Re9NtOWJHKtdN
Session 4: Teaching Lunaape Language: Community Updates (roundtable discussion)
Ian McCallum (Munsee-Delaware Nation), Velma Noah-Nicholas (Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit), Karelle Hall (Nanticoke Indian Tribe), and Kristin Jacobs (Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit)
https://youtu.be/OA3Z_qqN5_g?si=TnRi2Ra5Y9n3nWJA
Session 5: Resources for Lunaape Language Learning
“Towards a Digital Munsee Dictionary”
Jamie Tucker (Munsee-Delaware Nation) and Sreeniketh Vogoti (Princeton University)
https://youtu.be/90fHkiI4lm0?si=0pDM-uDcSCymdP40
“Using Lunaape Language Camp Videos in Teaching”
Kristin Jacobs (Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit)
https://youtu.be/U3aX-KELzJU?si=kvAFTZ5FnGQ2Msph
Session 6: Representing Lunaapeewak in School Curricula (roundtable discussion)
Rachel Talbert, Natacha Robert, and Nancy Tavarez-Correa (Teachers College, Columbia University), Claire Garland (Sand Hill/Navesink), Karelle Hall (Nanticoke Indian Tribe; Rutgers University), and Ian McCallum (Munsee-Delaware Nation; OISE, University of Toronto)
https://youtu.be/tmO4SARlkTw?si=AFX-iHsTaLDuDNA6
S.T. Lee Lecture: Lunaape History, Colonial Archives, and Munsee Historical Methods, Mary Jane Logan McCallum (Munsee-Delaware Nation/University of Winnipeg)
https://youtu.be/vqpocYft5sE?si=IIY8XWDQd64xrpZr
27-29 July 2023: Lunaape Language Camp.
Language teachers from Munsee-speaking communities, along with faculty and students at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, gathered for a Lunaape (Munsee Delaware) language camp on Lunaapahkiing, traditional Lunaape lands in and around Princeton, New Jersey. The gathering included teachers from all of the Munsee-speaking nations, along with young adult community members who are on a language journey that may end in them also becoming teachers.
The language camp – 3 full days, 27, 28, and 29 July – included traditional land-based learning, including a half-day canoe and kayak journey on the Millstone River and a day at the Seed Farm, sharing Lunaape language, local history, and discussions of Indigenous sovereignty in today’s world. The camp was led by language teachers from the various Munsee-speaking nations and included hands-on workshops that bring together language, land, and water as well as optional excursions – northeast to Manahatta (New York City) and south to Brotherton (or Edgepillock, now called Shamong) and Bridgeton, New Jersey, on 30 and 31 July. View the program here.
Event sponsored by the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Princeton (NAISIP), a collaborative humanities project of the Princeton Humanities Council, and American Studies and Canadian Studies at Princeton University.
10 May 2023: We Are the Stars: Honoring Our Literary Ancestors, Sarah Hernandez (University of New Mexico).
Online lecture followed by a conversation with Diane Wilson, author of The Seed Keeper. The recording of this event can be seen here.
Critically examining the U.S. as a settler colonial nation, this literary analysis re-centers Oceti Sakowin (historically known to some as the Sioux Nation) women as their tribes’ traditional culture keepers and culture bearers, and it offers thoughtful connections between settler colonialism, literature, nationalism, and gender.
Sarah Hernandez (Sicangu Lakota) is an assistant professor of Native American Literature and the director of the Institute for American Indian Research at the University of New Mexico. She is a member of the Oak Lake Writers Society, an Oceti Sakowin-led nonprofit for Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota writers. Together they launched #NativeReads, a community-based reading campaign and podcast series that seeks to increase knowledge and appreciation of the Oceti Sakowin literary tradition. Sarah is also the author of We Are the Stars: Colonizing and Decolonizing the Oceti Sakowin Literary Tradition, a literary study that recovers the literary work of Dakota women and furthers discussions on settler colonialism, literature, nationalism, and gender.
Diane Wilson (Dakota) is a writer and educator, who has published four award-winning books as well as essays in numerous publications. Her first picture book, Where We Come From, co-written with John Coy, Sun Yung Shin, and Shannon Gibney, was released in October 2022. Wilson’s 2021 novel, The Seed Keeper (Milkweed Editions) received the 2022 Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies, including Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations (2021); We Are Meant to Rise (2021); and A Good Time for the Truth (2016). Pre-registration is required.
15 February 2023: Second Annual Munsee Delaware Story Evening
NEEKAAWA KIHTAACHIIMUWAK WULAAKWUNUWII (This Evening They Tell Stories).
maawehleewak naxpii Ian McCallum wunjiiyayuw Nalahii neeka laachumohkawaat wunj Nalahii Lunaape waak shihsuwanakuw. Ian laachumohkawaat ambee aanihkwaachiimuw alohke. Katherine Chupik-Hall akunootamun kteekhiikeew laachumohkawaatwak.
Join Munsee Delaware Nation community member Ian McCallum as he shares stories from the community in both the Munsee and English languages. Ian will discuss the background to the stories as well as the active and ongoing interpretation and translation process. Artist Katherine Chupik-Hall will share the artistic approach to illustrating the stories. Register to join the virtual gathering.
View the 2023 Munsee Story Evening videos together: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdDZb3TwJPZ7D9BNueCQeE9f6izqhV8f0
or individually:
“Asiiskusiipuw wiichkuneew Munsiiwak” (Story 1 of 3) [25 minutes]
https://youtu.be/b8l39Bh46g0
“Kiss of the First Snow” (Story 2 of 3) [27 minutes]
https://youtu.be/_k0RBvC1ezI
"Ngihtaachiimwi” (Story 3 of 3) [34 minutes]
https://youtu.be/P5Sn1bweCnM
27-29 October 2022: Munsee Language & History Symposium
LUNAAPAHKIING, HULUNIIXSUWAAKAN, LUNAAPEEWAK
(Munsee Land, Munsee Language, Munsee People)
This second annual event takes place during the Punihle Waniipakw Niipaahum (Falling Leaf Moon) on Lunaapahkiing, at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. The gathering puts Princeton and IAS students, staff, members, and faculty in direct dialogue with members of the Munsee-Delaware Nation to learn about Munsee language, history, and culture. Speakers include Munsee language keepers, historians, artists, and community members.
Indigenous language revitalization counteracts the violent history of settler colonial regimes, including boarding schools where Native children were forced to speak English exclusively. This is the second in what we hope will be a series of annual gatherings in support of Lunaape language revitalization efforts.
View the symposium program here. Pre-registration is required for virtual and in-person attendance. For questions about the event, please contact Melissa Moreton at: mmoreton [at] ias.edu.
View the 2022 Munsee Language & History Symposium videos together:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdDZb3TwJPZ5rrJoqA5fPgZRKk35m-VjK
or individually:
Session 1: Land and Language (2 hours, 4 mins.)
https://youtu.be/kWPJAYxQICI
Maaliish Molly Miller (Turtle clan mother Mohican Nation, Stockbridge-Munsee); Ian McCallum (Munsee Delaware Nation; Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto); Karelle Hall (Nanticoke Indian Tribe; Rutgers University); Kristin Jacobs (Eelünaapéewi Lahkéewiit; Naahii Ridge Elementary)
Session 2: Language Learning (1 hour, 27 mins.)
https://youtu.be/Q0HSn_ySlv0
Part 1 - Roundtable led by Sarah Rivett (English and American Studies, Princeton University)
Ian McCallum; Maaliish Molly Miller; Nikole Pecore (Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians); Kristin Jacobs; Velma Noah-Nicholas; Karelle Hall (Nanticoke Indian Tribe; Rutgers University); Kala Ligon (Sand Hill / Navesink)
Part 2 - Lunaapahkiing Timeline Project - Keely Smith (Graduate student, Department of History, Princeton University)
Session 3: Art and Making, the Artist and the Museum* (55 mins.)
https://youtu.be/VGI-O2ay8b0
Lisa King (University of Tennessee, Knoxville); Tecumseh Ceaser (Matinecock, Montaukett, and Unkechaug Nation); Julie Rae Tucker (Munsee Delaware Nation; Art Windsor-Essex); Vanessa Dion Fletcher (Eelünaapéewi Lahkéewiit); Colette Denali Montoya (Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of San Felipe; Guttman Community College, CUNY)
*please note that the presentations by Tecumseh Ceaser and Colette Denali Montoya have been omitted at the speakers’ request.
Session 4: History (2 hours, 4 mins.)
https://youtu.be/qxIR3lq865Y
Part 1: Archives and Lunaapahkiing
Roundtable led by Suzanne Conklin Akbari (Institute for Advanced Study): Melissa Moreton and Caitlin Rizzo (Institute for Advanced Study); Claire Garland (Sand Hill / Navesink), with Rick Geffken and Princeton University archivist Faith Charlton; Anuradha Vedantham (Princeton University Library, Liaison for Indigenous Studies); Evan Ditter and Cindy Ruoheng Li (Princeton University students)
Part 2: Special Collections Visit (Princeton University, Firestone Library): Gabriel Swift (Princeton University Library, Special Collections)
Part 3: Closing Remarks: Will Noel (Associate University Librarian for Special Collections, Princeton University); Ian McCallum (Munsee Delaware Nation; OISE, University of Toronto); Kihkay (Chief) Roger Thomas (Munsee Delaware Nation)
13-15 May 2022: Munsee Delaware Gathering
MAAWEHLEEWAK - EHAHKIIHEET NIIPAAHUM (Planting Moon)
Munsee Language, History, and Culture weekend (hybrid event)
This Munsee Language, History, and Culture gathering features presentations at the Munsee-Delaware Community Centre. The event will also be hosted virtually and includes presentations on “planting” vocabulary in the Munsee language, starting your own beans and corn, Lunaape objects in museum collections, Munsee Delaware history, and updates on current research projects. To join the virtual event, contact organizer Ian McCallum at: imccallum72 [at] hotmail.com.
1 February 2022: Munsee Delaware Story Evening
NEEKAAWA KIHTAACHIIMUWAK WULAAKWUNUWII (This Evening They Tell Stories).
maawehleewak naxpii Karen Mosko waak Ian McCallum wunjiiyayuwak Nalahii neekaawa laachumohkawaatwak wunj Nalahii Lunaape waak shihsuwanakuw. Karen waak Ian laachumohkawaatwak ambee aanihkwaachiimuwak alohke. Katherine Chupik-Hall akunootamun kteekhiikeew laachumohkawaatwak.
Join Munsee Delaware Nation community members Karen Mosko and Ian McCallum as they share stories from the community in both the Munsee and English languages. Karen and Ian will discuss the background to the stories as well as the active and ongoing interpretation and translation process. Artist Katherine Chupik-Hall will share the artistic approach to illustrating the stories.
Munsee Story Evening: Story 1 - “Weemachekaniishak” (Video 1 of 3) [40 minutes]
https://youtu.be/AMzpIMDIqZU
Munsee Story Evening: Poem - “The Missing Airman” (Video 2 of 3) [34 minutes]
https://youtu.be/4ukKYvSqbHs
Munsee Story Evening: Story 2 - “Njekp kihtaachiimuw” (“Jacob Tells a Story”) by Jacob Logan (Video 3 of 3) [34 minutes]
https://youtu.be/16-EHQsRquI
4-5 November 2021: Munsee Language Symposium
LUNAAPAHKIING, HULUNIIXSUWAAKAN, LUNAAPEEWAK (Munsee Land, Munsee Language, Munsee People)
View the 2021 Program
This inaugural event takes place during the Shayeewi Koon Niipaahum (First Snow Moon) on Lunaapahkiing, at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. The gathering puts Princeton faculty and students in direct dialogue with members of the Munsee-Delaware Nation to learn about Munsee language, history, and culture. Speakers include Munsee language keepers, historians, and speakers from Ontario, New Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin, representing the current lands occupied by Lunaapeewak.
Indigenous language revitalization counteracts the violent history of settler colonial regimes, including boarding schools where Native children were forced to speak English exclusively. We aim to make this an annual event in ongoing support of Lunaape language revitalization efforts.
The event includes a Language and Culture Circle with Karen Mosko (Munsee Delaware Nation, Ontario), Clan Mother Molly Miller (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, Wisconsin), Ian McCallum (Munsee Delaware Nation, Ontario), and Kala Ligon (Sandhill and Navesink descendent, New Jersey); and a Wampum and History Circle with historian Chief Mark Peters (Munsee Delaware Nation, Ontario), Chief Harry Wallace (Unkechaug Nation, New York), Tecumseh Ceaser (Matinecock, Montaukett, and Unkechaug Nation, New York), and Ian McCallum (Munsee Delaware Nation, Ontario).
Sessions are facilitated by Robbie Richardson (Pabineau First Nation, Princeton University), Suzanne Conklin Akbari (IAS), and Sarah Rivett (Princeton University).
This event is a Collaborative Humanities Project of the Humanities Council, presented by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Princeton (NAISIP). Co-sponsored by the Fund for Canadian Studies; the Program in American Studies; the Center for Culture, Society & Religion (CCSR); and the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ.
16 February 2021: Talking Circle "Undoing the Privilege of Writing"
Virtual talking circles will focus on undoing the privilege of written history, and on undoing the privilege of other forms of written knowledge, from literature to astronomy. In the process we hope to identify what that privilege is, how it came about, how it is maintained and reproduced, what interests it serves – and most importantly, how to undo it -- in the academic study of history, literature, and other forms of knowledge within the university setting. How can we value the memory practices of oratory, as much as writing often is? This topic opens us up to many forms of exchange, both within oral cultures and between oral and written cultures. It invites us to ask questions about the kind of ideas that writing facilitates, and those that it doesn't. How can we bring the oral, and perhaps even oratory itself, into the hostile environment of the university? What makes a rememberer or memory keeper, and how do these criteria differ among various Indigenous peoples? What kind of training do they undergo in order to learn how to remember and retell storylines? How can we bring rememberers into the classroom, for the study of science, history, story, and medicines?
These talking circles are dedicated to the memory of Pamela George and are organized by Lee Maracle, together with Neil ten Kortenaar, Uzoma Esonwanne, and Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Katherine Blouin and Robbie Richardson.
Facilitators: Lee Maracle, Lochin Brouillard
Presenters: Lee Maracle, Uzoma Esonwanne, Craig Williams, Robbie Richardson, Ange Loft, Mark Peters, Hilding Neilson
Respondents: Tania Carter, Columpa Bobb, Brenda Wastasecoot, Neil ten Kortenaar, Ian McCallum, Smaro Kamboureli, Keren Rice, Linc Kesler, Katherine Blouin
Witnesses: Heba Abd El Gawad, Suzanne Akbari, Ben Akrigg, Flavia Vasconcellos Amaral, Tarren Andrews, Prasad Bidaye, Jill Carter, Alexandra Chang, Wallace Cleaves, Lisa Conathan, Girish Daswani, Brenna Duperron, Amanda Goodman, Alexandra Gillespie, Robin Gray, Christine Johnston, Bryan Keene, Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Lisa King, Tiphaine Lahuec, Jessica Lambert, Isabel M. Lockhart, Michaeline Conklin Mann, Elizabeth Martin, Aven McMaster, Rick Monture, Ashley Caranto Morford, Jackie Murray, Sarah Rivett, Keely Toledo, Maria Mercedes Tuya, Karina Vernon, David Wallace-Hare, Zachary Yuzwa