Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

April 27, 2011

IMPACT: Ofelia Rivas on Borders at University of Massachusetts




 
By The Border Crossed Us
http://www.ikatun.org/thebordercrossedus
Art Installation at the University of Massachusetts

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS -- In conjunction with the Native Studies program. With guests Ofelia Rivas (Tohono O’odham), Solomon “Rocky” Bear (Maliseet), Curtis Lazore (Mohawk), and moderator Ramona Peters (Director, Cultural Survival Board, Cambridge MA). The panelists discussed their experiences of living on both sides of the “imaginary” borders of US-Canada and US-Mexico, being repeatedly asked to declare their citizenship, and the ways in which they subvert the border, initiate educational sessions with border patrol staff and assert their identities as original peoples of the land.




The sound alternates between a blessing sung by Ofelia Rivas of the Tohono O’odham and helicopter field recordings and construction sounds from the border. The sound comes from a large vent in the ground.




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