Natives Work: Cultural Fire and Indigenous Naming on Pacific Coast

Photo ©️ Bob Kroll courtesy of BobKrollPhotography.com

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Date/Time: November 9, 2024 - 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Join us as we participate in The Gathering, a celebration of Native American Heritage Month, on November 9th. At 10:30 a.m. the library will host Dr. Drew Viles, PhD, of the Siletz Nation and Rachel Cushman, Doctoral Candidate and Secretary/Treasurer of the Chinook Nation. They will present, “Natives Work: Cultural Fire and Indigenous Naming on Pacific Coast,” discussing traditional use of fire to steward natural resources. Don’t miss this fascinating presentation, which will also be livestreamed on the library’s Facebook page. Then, at 2 p.m., join us for a NW Authors talk with author and poet Cliff Taylor.

 

Andrew “Drew” Viles, PhD (Eugene) is a traditional basket weaver and storyteller who focuses specifically on gay-yu, Siletz cradle baskets; weaving cedar bark hats; and telling the traditional stories of the Siletz people. Viles, who is an instructor of Language, Literature, and Communication at Lane Community College, learned from elders to weave traditional baskets and carve canoe paddles as well as how to gather and process the natural materials to do so.

From Dr. Viles: A gay-yu is a traditional home for children, and it’s as ancient as our creation story. First woman makes everything for the first child, a cradle basket too, a gay-yu too. So this has been around as long as people have been around and babies have been put into gay-yu . . . since the beginning of time.

Rachel L. Cushman, Acting Chair of the Necanicum Watershed Council, is a direct descendant of Clatsop Chief Wasilta (WA), a primary negotiator and signer of the 1851 Tansy Point treaties. She is the duly elected secretary/treasurer of the Chinook Indian Nation Tribal Council. She loves paddling, singing, dancing, weaving, sewing, beading, cooking, and quill work, among many other things. While Rachel has deep connections with the Necanicum Basin, she currently resides in Eugene, Oregon, while she works on her PhD, but frequently visits Clatsop Territory for both vacation and tribal meetings.

Rachel is a PhD Candidate in Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon, and a member of the inaugural cohort for the department. She is a published scholar and speaker on topics relating to restorative justice and indigenous empowerment and a fierce advocate for the Chinook Indian Nation and the tribe’s effort to regain federal recognition.

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