Native American hymn singing, AIR Talks

Events connected to the Return From Exile exhibition continue this week on campus and at the Lyndon House Arts Center. Tonight at 6 pm Native American filmmaker and friend of the blog Sterlin Harjo returns to Athens to show his new film, This May Be The Last Time:

Tracing a heartfelt journey, award-winning filmmaker Sterlin Harjo interweaves the tale of a mysterious death in 1962 with the rich history of the powerful hymns that have united Native American communities in times of worship, joy, tragedy, and hope. By investigating the stories of these songs, this illuminating film takes us on an epic tour as we travel with the power of the music through Southwest America, slavery in the deep South, and as far away as the Scottish Highlands.

And tomorrow (Wednesday) at 4 pm in room 214 of the MLC, Jodi Byrd, associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Illinois and a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation will present her lecture, “Something Native This Way Comes,” the first in the AIR (American Indian Returnings) Talk lecture series:

“Returnings” writes Dr. Byrd, “is an active sense of continual renewal, rebirth, and reclamation, but when it is attached to American Indians, the idea of “return” is also something that sparks trepidation, fear, and unease for settlers living on indigenous lands. Figured as both uncivil and illiberal, Native lives are often temporalized as part of a long lost and undead past that continues to haunt within the speculative genres of horror and science fiction. Return of the repressed, return of the living dead. Something Native This Way Comes considers the implications of indigenous returnings to the South as part of a deeper movement toward reclamation of indigenous embodiment, storytelling, and presence as an act of renewal.”

Fantastic continuation of the Return From Exile autumnal equinox celebrations organized and presented by the Institute for Native American Studies and the Eidson Foundational Fund in the department of English. Don't miss either one. Both events are free and open to the public

Image: Still image from the film, This May be The Last Time.