Indigenous Forum – Women at the Center: A Call to Interdependence
Women are central to the Great Law of Peace and Governance within the Six Nations, whose federalist structure valuing peace, justice and collective wellbeing inspired democracy in the United States. A timely new book, American Indigenous Democracy: A Call to Interdependence, focuses on the teachings of Haudenosaunee traditional thinking, its influence at the foundation of the American republic, and its continuing power and relevance. This session will highlight women’s leadership and governance rooted in peace and matrilineal values by featuring revered contemporary leaders, author-activists, elders and clan mothers who are also key contributors to the text. They will speak to the themes of women’s leadership, governance rooted in peace and matrilineal values and wisdom from their own life’s work and activism. Moderated by Beverly Cook (Akwesasne Mohawk – Wolf Clan). With: contributing authors Katsi Cook (Akwesasne Mohawk – Wolf Clan); Michelle Schenandoah (Oneida); Louise Herne (Bear Clan Mother in the Kaniekehaka Mohawk Nation At Akwesasne); and editor Jose Barreiro (Taíno)
Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm
Panelists
Katsi Cook
Executive Director
Spirit Aligned Leadership Program
Tekatsi:tsia’kwa Katsi Cook (Wolf Clan member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation), an Onkwehonweh traditional midwife, lifelong advocate of Indigenous midwifery and Native women’s health throughout the life-cycle (drawing from the longhouse traditionalist teaching that “woman Is the first environment”), is Executive Director of the Spirit Aligned Leadership Program. Her work over many decades has spanned a range of worlds and disciplines at the intersections of environmental reproductive health and justice, research, and policy. Katsi’s groundbreaking environmental research of Mohawk mother’s milk revealed the intergenerational impact of industrial chemicals on the health of her community, and she is a major figure in a movement of matrilineal awareness and “rematriation” in Native life.
Beverly Cook
Family Nurse Practitioner
Beverly Kiohawiton Cook who recently concluded her 4th term as an elected Chief on the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, is a Family Nurse Practitioner and a prominent voice in the mind-body medicine approach to restoring wellness, reproductive health and environmental justice for Mohawk people. She was previously Clinic Coordinator of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Health Services and also served on the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) Board of Directors and on the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Technical Tribal Advisory Committee (SAMHSA TTAC). Beverly is also active in traditional practices and circles in her ancestral community of Akwesasne, along the St. Lawrence River.
Michelle Schenandoah
Founder and Executive Lead
Rematriation
Michelle Schenandoah, a member of the Onʌyota':aka (Oneida) Nation Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, is the founder of the non-profit organization, Rematriation, which is dedicated to uplifting Indigenous women’s voices. Raised in a family of traditional leadership, she carries the values and responsibilities of being a Haudenosaunee woman throughout her life, including the truthful telling of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s global influence on modern democracy and women’s rights.
Louise Herne
Founding Member
Konon:kwe Council
Louise Herne (Wakerakatste), a Bear Clan Mother for the Mohawk Nation Council, is a founding member of Konon:kwe Council, a circle of Mohawk women working to reconstruct the power of their origins and the principal organizer and leader of Ohero:kon (“Under the Husk”), a traditional rite-of-passage ceremony for Mohawk youth. A former Spirit Aligned Legacy Leader, Louise has presented at the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, lectures regularly at universities throughout North America on Haudenosaunee philosophies, and is the Distinguished Scholar in Indigenous Learning at McMaster University Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (MIIETL).
Jose Barreiro
