Csu Community Celebrates Native American Heritage Month Starting with Taco Sale Thursday

Colorado State University will celebrate Native American Heritage Month with a month of activities starting Thursday with the annual Indian Taco sale and culminating with a Duhesa Lounge Exhibition Opening Ceremony on Nov. 30.

Native American Student Services, which is coordinating activities for the month, will host an Indian Taco sale from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday with entertainment on the CSU Plaza outside the Lory Student Center. In case of inclement weather, the sale will be moved to the Duhesa Lounge on the second floor of the student center. Tacos cost $5.

Native American Book Displays will be featured all month at the CSU Bookstore in the Lory Student Center, the Morgan Library and the Fort Collins Public Library at 201 Peterson St.

For a full list of events, go to http://welcome.colostate.edu/index.asp?url=campus_events_naam07.

Events happening within the next week:

Friday: The Fort Collins Museum in partnership with Native American Student Services is celebrating Native American Awareness Month with a community kick-off at the museum, 200 Matthews St. The evening will feature performances by CSU’s Ram Nation student drum group and storyteller, singer and songwriter Red Feather Woman.

Nov. 7: Gregory Smoak, history professor, will lead the first of three discussions and present informative programs on the highly acclaimed book, "Playing Indian," by Philip J. Deloria, who will be at Colorado State on Nov. 15. Registration is free and limited to 25 participants. Call 221-6378 to register. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the Fort Collins Museum store and CSU Bookstore.

Nov. 8: Poudre Valley Health System will host a symposium to demonstrate an understanding of the tribes that Northern Colorado health care providers serve; to increase one’s cultural awareness in order to work more effectively with colleagues and patients who are Native American; and to explore collaborations and partnerships for doing this work, including identifying local contacts and resources. The day-long event is at the Lincoln Center. Registration fee is $25. To register by phone, call (970) 495-7500. Scholarships are available.

Nov. 9: In her talk, "After the Indian Adoption Project: A Search for Identity," cultural anthropologist Susan Harness will explore issues of ethnic belonging, social hierarchy and social memory and their impact on adult American Indian trans-racial adoptees – like herself – who were adopted in the 1950s and 1960s. Although these adoptees experienced being "Indian" and being "White," they are not wholly accepted by either ethnicity. What makes her research unique is her look at colonization on the home soil of American Indians and their historic placement in the social hierarchy.

Assisting Native American Student Services with month-long events are the Native American Student Association, American Indian Science & Engineering Society, Division of Student Affairs, CSU Bookstore, Morgan Library, Fort Collins Museum, Lory Student Center, Fort Collins Public Library, Fort Collins Discovery Center, Poudre Valley Health System, Campus Activities, Department of History, School of Social Work, CSU Office of the President and the Ram Nation Drum Group.

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