When: November 4, 2023, 4-7pm
Where: International House, Davis
Acorn Traditions, the inaugural event of the new I-House World Tour series, was presented in collaboration with the YoloSol Collective. The event began with an interactive family workshop. Diana shared stories from her family’s experience of gathering, storing and preparing acorn flour as the Wintun people have done for thousands of years. Participants got a chance to use grinding stones to make acorn flour. Diana was assisted in her workshop by her daughter Christina Almendariz, and her grandson Alex Almendariz.
The workshop was followed by a fishbowl conversation on indigeneity and diaspora, and how to work toward right, respectful relations to the Wintun homeland. Alongside Diana, the other guest speakers on the panel were Danny Manning and Stan Padilla.
Listen to the following excerpts from the fishbowl conversation. In these clips, Stan talks about negotiating multiple identities, Danny shares stories about how he passes on cultural knowledge to his children, and Diana talks about ceremonial dance as a rewarding mode of intercultural travel.
- Further Resources:
The fishbowl conversation brought up troubled stories about the legacy of boarding schools in California, and how these histories have eroded trust and learning within Indigenous communities. In the following section, we offer the following resources for Native Californians listening to these clips, who might want to access care and healing around these traumas:
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- Coming Soon!
We also offer the following resources for non-native allies to learn more about the history of boarding schools in the US:
We can, as human beings, reset ourselves - our mind sets, our habits, our behaviors. We can change our history."
- Stan Padilla
Special Thanks to:
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- Diana Almendariz and her family for sharing so generously of their family histories with us
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- Danny Manning and Stan Padilla, for their insightful contributions to the fishbowl conversation
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- yAyA Pourras, Shelly Gilbridle, and Johanna Abasto for all their support in organizing this event
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- Adelita Serena and Mootens Productions for documenting the event
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- UC Davis Arboretum and Danny Manning for providing grinding stones for the workshop
- Arts and Cultural Affairs Fund, the City of Davis for their support of this event.
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Photo Credits: Illustration by Diana Almendariz; Photos by Mootens Productions at International House Davis
