Reading across genres, gathering across campuses, exploring connectedness to all our relations - this group is inspired by the work of Winona LaDuke. We are thankful for the activists, scholars, and communities that share their knowledge, their stories. We welcome all to join this learning community. 

This reading group is facilitated by Dr. Mary Churchill in collaboration with Dr. Erica Tom from the Santa Rosa Junior College. The following times/dates will be held over zoom.  Please email gomezs@sonoma.edu for the zoom link. 

Tuesday, September 6th | 4-5pm | Zoom

Tuesday, October 4th | 4-5pm | Zoom

Tuesday, November 1st | 4-5pm | Zoom

Tuesday, December 6th | 4-5pm | Zoom

GUIDELINES

This group provides opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the public to read texts and join in conversations about issues in Native American Studies, Indigenous Studies, Environmental Studies, and all areas that allow us to explore our connectedness with all our relations.

We want to acknowledge that Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQIA, disabled, and neurodivergent voices have historically been left out, or pushed out, of academic spaces. This continues in overt and covert ways today. To center these voices in our gathering, we ask that folx who do not hold these identities be conscious of how they take up space in the conversation. Please wait for others to speak first. Join us in uplifting the ideas and questions of these important voices in our gathering.

As many identities are not visible, we offer that people who embody these historically excluded voices may use an * before their name in the Zoom room to identify themselves as belonging to such an identity. We continue to learn the best ways to be inclusive, and welcome feedback and suggestions with appreciation.

In this group, we hold a brave space. The five main elements of a brave space (as defined in “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces" in The Art of Effective Facilitation: Reflections From Social Justice Educators):

1. Controversy with civility (where varying opinions are accepted)
2. Owning intentions and impacts (acknowledge and discuss instances if a dialogue has affected the emotional well-being of another person);
3. Challenge by choice (everyone has the option to step in and out of challenging conversations);
4. Respect (in verbal and embodied communication);
5. No attacks (where participants agree not to intentionally inflict harm on one another)
6. At no time with hate speech, or language of intolerance be accepted.
7. No photographs, or screen shots of zoom meetings, are allowed without explicit permission.
8. No previous knowledge is necessary; we are all coming from different backgrounds, experiences, and education.
9. Please ask questions (even if you think they might be "stupid"), share perspectives, and explore the texts!