Summer might feel far away, but it's never too soon to plan some fun and educational trips. The Office of Global Experiences offers a two-week Lakota Perspectives Program, from the end of June into July. The trip will take place on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in partnership with Amizade, an organization that works worldwide to create “fair trade” global education experiences, mainly for students and schools.
Mark Kramer, a teaching professor in the Department of English at the Dietrich School, will be traveling with participating students and facilitating the course’s service work, cultural learning, and writing and academic assignments.
“During these two weeks, we're spending each day living in community at a small cattle ranch, and then we're partnering with a couple of local families to support their annual ceremonies and programs for youth” says Kramer. “We want to contribute to work on the ground, while building relationships and learning about Lakota culture and history.”
He continues: “This past year entailed construction work on a small structure used to prepare food each year for the family’s annual sacred dance, which takes place over the course of four days in August. It's one of the tribe’s sacred rites, the Sundance, which used to be illegal in the United States because our government wanted to suppress their expression of culture while forcing assimilation.” The group also put on a two-day youth culture camp where they supported local Lakota leaders in helping nearly 30 local kids learn about Lakota culture, through sewing, beading, archery, and other cultural activities.
The Pitt students helped raise money, $5,000 to be exact so that they could make repairs to the “cook-shack” like new flooring, painting, and fixing the countertops. In addition to the student-led fundraising campaign run through Engage Pitt, the following units provided funding and scholarship support for the program: the Center for Ethnic Studies Research, the Global Studies Center, the Nationality Rooms & Intercultural Exchange Programs, and the Director's Office at the University Center for International Studies.
Kramer also emphasized that students didn’t need to come with experience in this kind of work; various forms of service simply complement course readings, writing, and discussions, and students assert themselves in whatever ways fit their abilities and comfort levels.
Additionally, students took day trips out to some of the national parks and other significant areas nearby, where Kramer says the history, they learn there is learned through the lens of the Lakota people.
“The places we visited are viewed differently by Native Americans, compared to other U.S. citizens. So, for example, when visiting Mount Rushmore or visiting Devil's Tower in Wyoming, they have a different history with that land than others. It's really interesting for Pitt students to see these places through Lakota eyes. For instance, the Black Hills used to be Lakota land, but once gold was discovered, the U.S. government broke treaties by taking the land by force. And now we have Mount Rushmore there, sculpted on land sacred to the Lakota. The Lakota still feel the pain of that injustice.”
The program is a writing intensive course: Topics in Composition: Lakota Perspectives on Environmental Sustainability & Indigenous Rights (ENGCMP0500) worth three credit hours. Students will be using readings, videos, and podcasts in writing their papers and journals during the course, which can also go towards the Global Studies or Human Rights and Social Justice certificate programs. Kramer says leading up to the trip there will be several meetings, both in person and on Zoom, and then there will be a debrief after the trip is completed.
After all of that, if you aren’t convinced to go on this trip, you can read some student testimonies that might sway you a little more. For additional information like costs, you can visit the program page on the Global Experiences Office website. The deadline for applying is January 21, 2025.
If you’d like to learn more about the Lakota people and culture, program participants are hosting a film screening of the documentary Lakota Nation VS the United States on December 5 at 7 pm in room 630 at William Pitt Union. There will be discussion during and after the film centering around Indigenous rights and activism.
