The Office of First Year Experience will host a viewing of the docuseries “Indigenous Land Stewardship” for Native American Heritage Month from noon to 2 p.m. Nov. 16 in the Ceremony Room of Patriots’ Casa at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
The docuseries allows viewers to learn about indigenous culture from indigenous people. Students can expect to learn about the connections between indigenous communities and the earth.
The event will stream an episode that focuses on perspectives and voices from indigenous communities in California, and how they keep their heritage alive through the earth by building community, said Myrna Garza, coordinator for the First Year Experience.
“I think this is something that is very important for us to hear from the source,” Garza said.
After the show, there will be a discussion so students can gain further information as well as resources.
The event is a collaboration with the office’s Common Experience in connection to the reading assignment “Tell Me Who You Are.”
“We like to provide different styles of events,” Garza said. “The format we keep is for events to have a learning component, a conversation and an action.”
The action for the event is for participants to learn from the conversation and to take the resources from this event and to use them in their own communities.
Those attending the event for the First-Year Seminar Common Experience assignment should bring a notebook to take notes during the streaming and discussion.
Pizza and drinks will be provided. Attendees with a special diet can email the First Year Experience before the event for accommodations.
The series “Indigenous Land Stewardship” is part of the series “Tending Nature” produced by PBS. The entire series shows the work currently being done in an effort to keep indigenous culture alive.
Those who cannot make the event can stream the docuseries on PBS.
The Common Experience provides 20 to 30 events a year to give students opportunities to experience different cultures. The goal of the events is to help students “gain knowledge and also be able to go into the community and provide support,” Garza said.
This is the second year the Common Experience celebrated Native American Heritage Month. They hope to continue this tradition while having a different conversation every year.
For more information, visit here, contact the Office of First Year Experience at 210-784-1435 or email fye@tamusa.edu or mgarza3@tamusa.edu.
