Past Events
In November of 2023, IEI organized a Native Indigenous Film Festival focused on Indigenous and Native women activists. The event engaged the outlying community by having the first film shown at the Oldham Theater in Winchester, TN. After each film, there was a discussion and Q & A with a person who worked on the creation of the film.
Regular Events
Indigenous Peoples' Day
Sewanee begins Indigenous Peoples Day every year through a sunrise service at Angel Park, utilizing scripture from an Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, the Seven Direction prayer, inclusive prayers, and Cherokee language songs. Later that day, a Native Labyrinth Exhibition on the main quad offers self-guided labyrinth walks and self-reflection for students, faculty, and the wider community. The day is concluded with a Reflective Trail of Tears Remembrance Walk at St. Mary’s Ayres Center for Spiritual Development, with class participation for reading accounts from “Voices of the Bell Route.”
The Winchester Trail of Tears Commemorative Walk is an annual event in which community members are invited to walk .8 miles in the footsteps of the Cherokee, who walked the same ground in 1838. The walk is succeeded by an informative talk on the history of the Trail of Tears in this area, known as the Bell Route.
Native American Talking Circles
Every third Thursday of the month, IEI hosts Native American Talking Circles. Led by Indigenous Spiritual Leaders Dan Hull (Ojibwe) and Christina Ulibarri (Dine), these circles create a space for Sewanee students, faculty, and community to gather and share without judgement, interruption, or hierarchy.
Future Endeavors
In partnership with the Office of Community Building and Connections, as well as the Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, the Indigenous Engagement Committee is seeking to install a turtle effigy in Lake Cheston. Rather than serving as a monument or a memorial, the Turtle is intended to serve as a symbol and an invitation towards truth, memory, responsibility, and healing. The Turtle is a call for integration with one another as a human family and from that of the land which sustains all life.
For more upcoming and current events, visit us at: @ieisewanee
