November 2022
Diversity, Coffee & Conversations
Tuesday, Nov. 1 | 8:30-10 a.m. | Intercultural Diversity Center, 2100 Student Center
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement/Social Enrichment)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s monthly Diversity, Coffee and Conversations will highlight Native American Heritage Month, a celebration of the rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories of Native American people. The month provides a time to acknowledge the contributions of Native American people, educate the campus community about various tribes, and raise awareness about the challenges Native American people have faced historically and presently, and how tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.
Presenters for this month are Katherine Johnston, a senior Kinesiology major whose tribes include Caddo, Mvskoke, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Pawnee (Skidi Band), and Delaware (Lenape), and Dr. Clay Nelson, director of Moundville Archaeological Park. Johnston is co-president of Bama Indigenous Student Organization Network, also known as BISON. She will discuss the history of the month, share her lived experience and talk about the role, importance and impact of BISON. Dr. Nelson, who is UA graduate, has researched Muscogee (Creek) coalescence in the Southeastern United States. In addition to sharing his research, Nelson will talk about the history of Moundville and its value.
Register for this event. For more information, contact the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at diversity@ua.edu.
Native American Heritage Month Exhibit: ‘Cultures, Not Costumes’
Tuesday, Nov. 1-Wednesday, Nov. 16 | Intercultural Diversity Center
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Intercultural Diversity Center, in partnership with Moundville Archaeological Park and the Department of Museum Research and Collections, presents “Cultures, Not Costumes.” The exhibition explores regalia, including clothing, adornments, and jewelry, with historic and modern examples of Southeastern Native American people such as the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek. Visitors will learn about the rich and lasting history of Native American people through text panels, audiovisual elements, artifacts, and reproductions. In addition to the continued cultural contributions of affiliated tribes, the exhibition will explore themes of cultural misappropriation. It will demonstrate that the regalia of the Southeastern tribes is part of a thriving cultural tradition and rich regional heritage that endures today. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center at ua_idc@ua.edu.
Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
November 1-Nov. 9 | Student Center
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
In Mexico, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a holiday celebrated Nov. 1-2 to honor deceased ancestors, celebrate their lives and welcome the return of their spirits. During these days, people build an altar with offerings, including sugar skulls, food and drink, semisweet bread, marigold flowers, seeds, photographs, personal items, decorated tissue paper, and candles. This holiday has the long-held tradition of writing a calavera literaria, a short satirical poem that portrays people as if they were dead. From Nov. 1 through Nov. 9, the Hispanic-Latino Association and the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, with the support of the Spanish club Los Estudiantes de Alabama sin Fronteras and the Intercultural Diversity Center, will host a Day of the Dead commemoration. Also, students of different foreign languages classes collaborated in the creation of literary calaveras, which will be hung next to the altar in the Student Center. For more information, contact Dr. Yunuen Gómez-Ocampo at ygomezocampo@ua.edu.
Study Abroad Pop-Up Advising
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 8, 15, 29 | 1-3 p.m. | Intercultural Diversity Center, 2100 Student Center
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students
The Capstone International Center will host weekly information sessions on studying abroad. These sessions will provide advising on the overall process and timeline for studying abroad, dispel myths about Education Abroad, and help with program searching. For more information, contact the Study Abroad office at studyabroad@ua.edu.
Food for Thought
Native American Heritage Month
Wednesday, Nov. 2 | Noon | IDC
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Intercultural Diversity Center’s Food for Thought series will observe Native American Heritage Month by featuring activities centered on food, art, music, demonstrations, culture and more. This event will be held in collaboration with Moundville Archaeological Park and feature lunch, giveaways, panel discussions and a live jewelry demonstration. Register for this event. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center at ua_idc@ua.edu.
Multi-Cultural Coffee Hour
Friday, Nov. 4, 11, 18 | 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. | IDC
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement/Social Enrichment)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
International Student and Scholar Services and the Intercultural Diversity Center will host weekly coffee hours for students, faculty and staff to enjoy free coffee, tea, snacks and conversation with others from around the world. For more information, contact International Student and Scholar Services’ Sonya Harwood-Johnson at sonya.harwood@ua.edu.
Social Justice Movie Series: “Gather”
Friday, Nov. 4 | 7 p.m. | Intercultural Diversity Center, 2100 Student Center
(Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Intercultural Diversity Center will continue its Fall 2022 Social Justice Movie Series with “Gather,” a documentary that takes a close look at Indigenous American movements that aim to rediscover identity and reclaim sovereignty through ancestral foods. Participants will follow an intimate portrait of the growing movement among Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide. Register for this event. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center at ua_idc@ua.edu.
Native American Heritage Month Keynote: Carrie Billy
Monday, Nov. 7 | 6 p.m. | Zoom
(Cultural Exploration/Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will host Carrie Billy for a special moderated conversation for Native American Heritage Month. Billy is president and CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which is the nation’s 37 Tribal Colleges and Universities. Billy has a track record of success in government and nonprofit sectors, where her accomplishments include designing and implementing strategic initiatives, developing innovative policies and programs, and forging partnerships and coalitions. An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, she has dedicated more than 25 years to ensuring that American Indian students are given the resources they need to stay successfully on an academic track. Participants can register to attend. For more information, contact the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at diversity@ua.edu.
TEDTalk Tuesdays: “The Standing Rock Resistance”
Tuesday, Nov. 8 | Noon-1 p.m. | Intercultural Diversity Center, 2100 Student Center
(Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Intercultural Diversity Center’s TEDTalk Tuesday Series will focus on Native American Heritage Month with “The Standing Rock Resistance.” Tara Houska is a tribal attorney who represents tribal Americans in the United States. She spends her time in Washington, DC, lobbying on behalf of indigenous people and their rights to education and basic government services. The TED Talk details the history of indigenous people within the United States and Canada, their current efforts for change and how other people can become allies to their movement. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center ua_idc@ua.edu.
Veterans Day Presentation
Friday, Nov. 11 | 3-4 p.m. | IDC
(Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Intercultural Diversity Center will share a PowerPoint presentation in observance of Veterans Day. Focusing on this year’s theme Honoring All Who Served, the presentation will highlight the invaluable contributions veterans have made, physically and emotionally. The presentation also will offer educational resources and ways to support veterans. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center at ua_idc@ua.edu.
TEDTalk Tuesdays: “America’s Native Prisoners of War”
Tuesday, Nov. 15 | Noon-1 p.m. | Intercultural Diversity Center, 2100 Student Center
(Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
This TEDTalk features “America’s Native Prisoners of War.” Aaron Huey is a photographer that spends his time photographing poverty in the United States. He documented his time in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation with the native Lakota people, one of the poorest reservations. He details the discouraging and largely ignored history of the Lakota people as given to him by the friends that he made while residing at the reserve. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center ua_idc@ua.edu.
Coffee & Mental Health
Wednesday, Nov. 16 | 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Intercultural Diversity Center, 2100 Student Center
(Educational Engagement/Social Enrichment)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Intercultural Diversity Center and the UA Counseling Center present Coffee and Mental Health, an activity where participants can speak with therapists in a one-on-one setting. The program provides an environment for participants to ask questions, get to know a UA therapist and learn about counseling as a student resource. Also, the program will offer a space for students to learn about the many mental wellbeing resources the counseling center has and ways they can connect with the counseling center. Coffee and Mental Health occurs on third Wednesdays. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center at ua_idc@ua.edu.
World AIDS Day: Exhibit Opening and Keynote Address
Tuesday, Nov. 29 | 6-7 p.m. | IDC
(Educational Engagement)
*Open to UA Students, Faculty & Staff, UA System
The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will host a program in observance of World AIDS Day with a special exhibition of the National AIDS Memorial. The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with AIDS Quilt Touch, brings all 50,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to people all around the world to experience each panel’s story, beauty and love that represents one of the largest acts of activism and social justice.
The program features a keynote address from UA professor Dr. Pamela Payne-Foster, who will discuss her research on HIV/AIDS, community outreach and ways to work together to combat this public health crisis. In addition to serving as a professor in community medicine and population health in the UA School of Medicine, Dr. Foster also is deputy director of the Institute for Rural Health Research and principal investigator of Faith-based Intervention to Heal HIV/AIDS, also known as Project FAITHH. Refreshments will be provided. The National AIDS Memorial Quilt will be available for viewing from Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 6 p.m. until Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Intercultural Diversity Center. For more information, contact the Intercultural Diversity Center at ua_idc@ua.edu.