It is always very important to learn about the different cultures and languages around us. Dyani White Hawk’s exhibition Hear Her is all about the experiences that Native Women go through. She highlights these experiences through video and photography. Her goal is to bring light to societies ignorance that they have on the people, culture, and language of those native to the land we live on. When walking through her exhibit it is important to want to learn more Native people. A good resource that highlights native history is the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. They have created lesson plans geared towards learning more Native knowledge.

A lesson plan I find particularly informative is about the American Indian Removal: What Does It Mean to Remove a People?. The lesson provides different perspectives of Native American community members through documents, maps, images, and activities to help us understand the effects removal of people has on Native Nations. One part of the lesson plan that stuck out to me is that they state that American Indians have always adapted and changed in response to environments, economic, and social factors. They are fully engaged in the modern world. This relates back to Dyani’s exhibition because she is trying to get rid of the stereotype that is brought on to Native Americans. If Native Americans have always adapted to new places and environments and excepted other culture for who they are, then why can’t American societies become more aware and adapt to other cultures and languages as well.

Here are some screenshots from the online lesson:

 

Click here to see more of the American Indian Removal: What Does It Mean to Remove a People? lesson plan.

 

By Grace Lankford, spring 2022 intern

 

All screenshots are from the National Museum of the American Indian’s website, https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/

Artwork Image: Dyani White Hawk in collaboration with photographer Tom Jones, I Am Your Relative (detail), 2020, photo-sculpture © Dyani White Hawk, Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis