Reflections on the BRESI Project: Another Curriculum is Possible: Decolonization, Multi-Generational Voices, and the Creation of Cross-Campus Native/Indigenous (N/I) Studies Initiatives at CUNY

Francisco Delgado, English

Likely because my reading selections skew towards all things Indigenous, I often find myself discussing my cultural background with my students:  that I am CHamoru (who are the Indigenous people of Guam) through my grandfathers, Japanese through my paternal grandmother, and Tonawanda Band of Seneca, who belong to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy of upstate New York, through my maternal grandmother. Because of my family background, I have always taken great pride in how I integrate Native American and Indigenous writers into each of my classes. Likewise, I am proud to have made my students more aware of nearby cultural organizations, such as the National Museum of the American Indian and the American Indian Community House (AICH), which I discuss later in this essay. Ultimately, though, one of my proudest achievements at BMCC so far has been the creation of the only course in the catalog devoted exclusively to the literatures of Native North America and the Pacific, ENG 329: Native American & Indigenous Literatures, which ran for the first time during the Spring 2022 semester.

At the end of that semester, though, I felt that I could do more in my capacity as an BMCC educator and as a member of the larger CUNY community to promote Native American and Indigenous literatures—a field that allowed me to finally see myself, and members of my family, in college readings.

Last summer, I joined the BRESI (Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative) project entitled “Another Curriculum is Possible: Decolonization, Multi-Generational Voices, and the Creation of Cross-Campus Native/Indigenous (N/I) Studies Initiatives at CUNY.” The team consisted of a group of CUNY faculty (Beth Cooper, Joseph Entin, Diana Pan, and Jocelyn Wills from Brooklyn College, Eve Eure from Lehman College, and me from BMCC) organized around three primary goals. Our first goal was to foster and build on any momentum regarding the development of Native American and Indigenous Studies curricula at CUNY, as well as to develop the intersection of Native American and Indigenous Studies and other Ethnic Studies fields. Such momentum was already underway at Brooklyn College with the development of their American Studies program, as well as here at BMCC with the recent creation of the Department of Ethnic and Race Studies.

Our second goal was to deepen connections between the teaching of and research into Native American and Indigenous Studies and other Ethnic Studies fields, such as Africana/Black/African American Studies, Latino/a/x Studies, Asian/Asian American Studies, American Studies, and Caribbean Studies. The interdisciplinary scopes of the team members’ respective research backgrounds speak to this goal. The BRESI team represented folks working in, and at the intersections of, a variety of these fields. For my part, while I primarily research and publish on Native American literatures these days, my dissertation incorporated works of Asian American literature, and my first class at Stony Brook University, where I completed my PhD studies, when I was the Instructor of Record was on Multiethnic American Literature.

The third goal of the BRESI project was to expand on the relationship between CUNY and AICH. This stems from Brooklyn College’s pre-existing relationship with AICH from their efforts to reintroduce a Native Studies course in their American Studies program. On a smaller scale, I was familiar with the work of AICH because many of my students attended one of their events and wrote a short report about it as part of a class assignment (this was before the pandemic). I also volunteered for AICH during the summer of 2021 transcribing some of their talks on YouTube as part of the organization’s archiving efforts.

Together, we planned a series of events commemorating Native American Heritage Month in November 2022. These events included an Opening Ceremony at Brooklyn College on November 1st, as well as a Youth Panel at BMCC on November 2nd. Our commemoration of Native American Heritage Month culminated with a Native Studies Curriculum Review on November 18^th in the Richard Harris Terrace at BMCC. We wanted this event to bring together students and faculty from CUNY and other nearby colleges, as well as artists, activists, and educators from AICH to reflect on and discuss key concepts and methodologies of a Native Studies curriculum. In this way, among many others, the event was a success. Attendees included CUNY students, faculty, and staff, namely from the Department of Ethnic Studies and English (in particular, Professor Maria Alvarez’s Journalism class), as well as graduate students from the Graduate Center, Columbia, and NYU. This event ultimately became a space where we shared our questions and concerns about, as well as our ideas for, developing a sustained presence of Native Studies at our respective institutions across CUNY and beyond.

The Native Studies Curriculum Review began with an opening drum song and prayer by Ben Geboe (Yankton Sioux of South Dakota), who is the Educational Director of AICH. His opening song and prayer were followed by addresses from George Stonefish (Delaware of the Thames River First Nation), Pamela Albert (Anishinaabe), as well as Donna Couteau (Meskwaki Sac and Fox) and her husband Joe Cross (Caddo and Pottawatomi). These opening remarks gave greater context to the longstanding work of AICH, as well as to our present objectives to promote Native Studies at CUNY and to strategize on how to better address the needs of local Native communities and organizations. Attendees were seated at seven round tables, and each table was soon given a specific topic to discuss. Topics included Culture, Literature, History, and Health/Medicine. Regardless of our familiarity with Native Studies, everyone was welcomed to contribute their comments and questions via sticky notes on a poster board (see image below). This format not only allowed for such a rich diversity of perspectives; it also gave all of us an opportunity to listen to and learn from one another. Many of us, in fact, left the meeting with a list of books, movies, podcasts, TED talks, and artwork that we couldn’t wait to check out. Every fifteen to twenty minutes, the groups would move on to another table – and another topic – and continue our conversation with one another: now spurred on by the sticky notes left by the previous group. This allowed us to converse – at least via the space of the poster board – with other groups, as well.

By the end of the day, each group had had a chance to contribute thoughts to every topic. This structure was a welcome contrast from the rigidity of many academic gatherings that I, and others in attendance that day, have attended. Overall, the discussions were thoughtful and thought-provoking and at least for me came at just the right time in the semester: the week before Thanksgiving break when many of us, faculty and students alike, can feel rundown by the demands of the semester.

The day ended with the entire gathering doing one final walkthrough together. Revisiting each topic one final time, we had the opportunity to continue the discussion that was perhaps short when our fifteen or twenty minutes was up. This final walkthrough also allowed us to reiterate main points from the day’s discussions, and most importantly, articulate actionable goals about what we can do going forward.

In the very least with the Native Studies Curriculum Review, we wanted to deepen alliances across CUNY so that the curricular goals of the BRESI project could be fulfilled. One tangible piece of evidence that we may have succeeded with this goal arrived with our recent collaboration with folks from the CUNY Grad Center, including CUNY Law and the PublicsLab. Working together throughout the Spring 2023 semester, we organized a gathering called Sovereignty: Re-land-ing Indigenous Studies and Movements at CUNY & Beyond on June 2, 2023. This event ensured that the Fall 2022 events would not be an end to our efforts. Rather, this most recent event helped build on our efforts to promote Native Studies across CUNY, as well as to build on outreach efforts to meet the needs of AICH and other local Indigenous communities and Indigenous-led organizations. We concluded by brainstorming a set of strategies on how to proceed into the 2023-24 academic year – emphasizing, in particular, the importance of mobilizing CUNY students to demand more Native Studies courses. Students are historically harbingers of change many of us seek. This sentiment was voiced powerfully at a recent Ethnic Studies conference at BMCC that I attended when Eleanor Drabo noted, “change comes from students. Change always comes from students.”

There is plenty of work ahead: Native Studies courses still need to be created and offered more widely across CUNY, and CUNY needs to hire more Native American or Indigenous faculty to teach them. As the term of the BRESI project comes to an end, I feel incredibly hopeful, as I am sure many of us on the BRESI team are, thanks to the sense of community and collaboration that arose over the course of these meetings and events.

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