Sourcing Wisdom, Collective Connection, and Empowerment : A Call to Action for Strengthening Indigenous Maternal and Infant Health and Wellness Across Geographies and Opportunities
Date and Time
Location
In collaboration with Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative, the Harvard Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development invites you to our two-day, in-person event!
Sourcing Wisdom, Collective Connection, and Empowerment will bring together Indigenous practitioners, scholars, community leaders, students, and health-care advocates to strengthen maternal and infant health and wellness across communities and geographies. Through community-based inquiry, storytelling, dialogue, and reflection, participants will explore Indigenous mothering, culturally grounded approaches to care, health policy, research, funding, and the restoration of ancestral knowledge.
The convening will center Indigenous experiences and expertise while creating space to share knowledge, build relationships, and identify collective pathways toward action that support Indigenous families, pregnant women, infants, and communities.
Thursday, October 29th
Opening/Welcome: Randall Kekoa Akee and Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz
Words of Wisdom/Song: Tobias Vanderhoop
Framing dialogue: Conveners: Randall Kekoa Akee and Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz
Michele Goodwin, author of “Policing the womb: Invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood,” will open our two-day meeting by framing the landscape of the laws around reproductive rights, and the ways in which the history and evolution of the law has led to the criminalization of women and women’s bodies. Through the challenge of legal analysis and the poetry of narrative, Goodwin will explore connections between law/policy and its application to reproductive rights and implications for Indigenous communities and nations. The keynote will seek to build a broad concept of fighting for the dignity of pregnant women and look to what is on the horizon for our communities and our collective work to honor Indigenous women and motherhood.
Presented by: Michele Goodwin, Georgetown University Law
The Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative network, five sites across the United States, will discuss local and intersecting Community-Based Inquiry projects that seek to strengthen maternal and infant health and wellness. Site teams articulate their own inquiry questions and explore ways to find answers to their questions; this dialogue will visit each IELC site, learning from their initial inquiry questions and processes to restore ancestral knowledge into the life cycle of maternal and infant attachment, practitioner learning, and community engagement.
Panelists:
- Cheryl LaRose, Heather Woods, Wiikwedong ECD Collaborative
- Fawn YoungBear-Tibbetts, Wicoie Nandagikendan
- Sara Merrick, Jenna Hailey, Erika Tracey, Melissa (Lovey) Sanchez, Xine:wh-ding Inc.
- Sanoe Marfil, Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture (INPEACE)
- Danica Parkin, Ami Palmateer, həłmxiłp: Indigenous Birth Justice
Moderator: Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative Institute & First Light Education Project
Food and drink options in the Smith Center
“Indigenous Mothering” references the importance of culturally centered approaches to maternity care, urging health systems to adopt policies and practices that distinctly support Indigenous women. This panel dialogue will focus on the broad spectrum of policy and practice, across a continuum of systems, services, and research initiatives, including discussion of examining women’s preferences for care, support, and Indigenous birthing options. From different maternal and infant health landscapes, panelists will explore Indigenous birthing networks, issues of cost of care, maternity leave, and Indigenous lead care. The panel will conclude with insights on developing research networks, what still needs to be created on the practice to policy continuum, and the broader research needs that may inform tribal, regional, and national policy.
Panelists:
- Tess Abrahamson-Richards, Hummingbird Family Services
- Pia Long, Elephant Circle
- Chelsea Wesner, University of Colorado - Anschutz
- Meenakshi Richardson, John Hopkins University
Moderator: Joshua Sparrow, Harvard University Medical School & Brazelton Touchpoints Center
Menu TBD
Creating a call to action involves reflecting on shared ideas and collectively thinking through how we move from ideas to action. In this session, moderators of Day 1 panels and participants will reflect on what they’ve heard from panelists, what they want to think more about, and how the ideas that have been shared build the foundation for the next steps toward action. These questions will guide the discussion:
- What did you hear in today’s dialogues and keynote?
- The theme of our meeting is Sourcing Wisdom, Collective Connection, and Empowerment, what are specific examples of each that you heard?
- What do you want to hold on to?
- What do you want to learn more about or think about?
- How would you move what you heard to action?
Panelists:
- Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative Institute & First Light Education Project
- Joshua Sparrow, Harvard University Medical School & Brazelton Touchpoints Center
- Nick Terrones, Rainier Valley Early Learning Campus, University of Washington
Facilitator: Ethan Yazzie-Mintz, First Light Education Project
Sign-ups and more information available in the registration link above.
Peabody, Harvard Indigenous Tour, Harvard Archives, Movement for the People
Reflection of day's discussions presented by Michelle Goodwin.
Dinner reception with members of the Harvard Native community. Menu TBD.
Friday, October 30th
Menu TBD
Storytelling in the context of practice, research, evaluation, and policy is more than just “anecdotes” — stories are often the center of this work, the data that drive both what we do and the shared understandings about what we do. This session — comprised of practitioners, early career scholars, and graduate students all working on how to tell the story of impact — will feature a collection of ways to tell stories of our work and impact, using a variety of methodologies, including video, photography, music, and spoken word. The purpose of this discussion is to untie us from the academic trappings of research, evaluation, and medical practice, moving toward powerful ways to tell our stories for the purpose of transforming perspective, approach, and connection with families/pregnant women. Focal questions of the dialogue will be: What are our motivations for telling our inquiry story? What are the messages that get lost in translation in practice (medical, research, programming), pregnancy and birth, and broader concepts of Indigenous health and wellness? In what ways does the framing of stories as “anecdotes” undermine the credibility of the knowledge and experience of pregnant mothers and families supporting pregnant women?
Panelists:
- Alison Lester-Owen, Wrexham University
- Danica Parkin, həłmxiłp Indigenous Birth Justice
- Ami Palmanteer, həłmxiłp Indigenous Birth Justice
- Nick Terrones, Rainier Valley Early Learning Campus, University of Washington
- Kari Bañuelos, New York University
Moderator: Ethan Yazzie-Mintz, First Light Education Project
Food and drink options in the Smith Center
How do funding streams — federal, state, and philanthropic — impact tribal health initiatives and economic development? This final panel dialogue, consisting of tribal leaders and healthcare experts, will reflect on the landscape of funding in light of the locally driven work highlighted throughout this convening. What priorities are emerging for funding in Indigenous communities? How has the landscape changed? What health initiatives and systems exist — and what needs to be built — to support tribal and Indigenous prenatal and maternal health and wellness?
Panelists:
- Karen Diver, Fond du lac
- Marilynn "Lynn" Malerba, Senior Fellow for Indigenous Governance and Development
- Tennille Black Feather, Sicangu Co.
Moderator: Amy Besaw Medford, Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development
Creating a call to action involves reflecting on shared ideas and collectively thinking through how we move from ideas to action. In this session, moderators of Day 2 panels and participants will reflect on what they’ve heard from panelists, what they want to think more about, and how the ideas that have been shared build the foundation for the next steps toward action. These questions will guide the discussion:
- What did you hear in today’s dialogues?
- The theme of our meeting is Sourcing Wisdom, Collective Connection, and Empowerment, what are specific examples of each that you heard?
- What do you want to hold on to?
- What do you want to learn more about or think about?
- How would you move what you heard to action?
Panelists:
Ethan Yazzie-Mintz, First Light Education Project
Amy Besaw Medford, Harvard Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development
Sanoe Marfil, Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture
Facilitator: Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative Institute & First Light Education Project
Menu TBD
Sign-ups and more information available in the registration link.
Peabody, Harvard Indigenous Tour, Harvard Archives, Movement for the People
Menu TBD