Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concepts of Health and Illness
Exhibition overview
The Ames Library was selected to host Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness , a traveling exhibition created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).* This exhibition demonstrates how Native peoples of the United States today enhance their wellness through both traditional and Western healing practices.
Native Voices was displayed at the NLM headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, from 2011 to 2015. Through a partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), the exhibition is now traveling to libraries throughout the United States. We are thrilled to bring the exhibition to our community and to hopefully broaden people’s perspectives about this fascinating topic.
On January 4, 2019 the exhibit will arrive at The Ames Library where it will be available to anyone during the Library’s regular hours through February 14. The traveling exhibition comprises six free-standing banners and six iPads with stands which contain videos honoring the native tradition of oral history. The National Library of Medicine has gathered a multitude of healing voices from across the country so that you may hear their stories in their own words.
**Attention K-12 educators: the NLM website contains a variety of lesson plans and additional resources**
Exhibition-related programs at IWU
(all are free and open to the public)
| Date/Time | Location | Featured individuals | Brief summary | Sponsor(s) |
| January 11, Friday, 6:00-7:00 p.m. | The Ames Library's entry level rotunda | Butch McCamy, Spirit of the Rainbow drum singers; remarks by President Eric Jensen, University Librarian Karen Schmidt, and Chaplain Elyse Nelson-Winger | Exhibit Opening event; if the weather is nice the singers will do a pipe ceremony at the end of the event for those who want to participate. [90-110 attended] | Chaplain's Office and The Ames Library |
| January 17, Thursday, 6:00-7:30 p.m. | Center for Natural Sciences, Rm. C101, 201 Beecher St. | Francine Dudoit-Tagupa, Director Native Hawaiian Healing, Waikiki Health | Ho’onoponopono: Native Hawaiian healing practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. “Ho’onoponopono is a communication practice based on the physical and spiritual need for family members to work together, and aid in one another’s well-being.” [101 attended] | Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Student Nurses’ Association, the Arnold Health Service, and The Ames Library |
| January 24, Thursday, 6:30-8:00 p.m. | The Ames Library's entry level rotunda | Eliida Lakota Knoll and Rev. Carol Lakota Eastin | Medicine Wheel Teaching: a station of activities in each of the four directions. Participants will be instructed
to move sunwise (aka clockwise) from station to station, and will be guided through
a set of craft-making activities at each one creating a set of power-objects to put
into a medicine bag. [over 100 attended] |
Sociology/Anthropology, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and The Ames Library |
| February 11, 6:00-7:00 p.m. | The Ames Library's Beckman Auditorium
|
Quita Verban Shier, Class of 1960 | A presentation drawn from stories of selected individuals from the 140 Native Americans she researched for her book Warriors in Mr. Lincoln's Army: Native American Soldiers Who Fought in the Civil War (iUniverse, 2017). Attendees will learn learn of the one soldier's treatment through the Ojibwe tradition of midewiwin. [speaker available in advance for interviews] | Office of Diversity and Inclusion and The Ames Library |
*The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) developed and produced Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness. The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in partnership with NLM, tours the exhibition to America’s libraries.
