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Winona LaDuke at Minnesota State Mankato Dec. 1

Former Green Party vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke and inspirational musician Kevin Locke are among the speakers addressing the Second Annual Native Nations Conference Dec. 1 at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

2006-11-09

Former Green Party vice presidential candidate Winona LaDuke and Native American musician Kevin Locke are among the speakers addressing the Second Annual Native Nations Conference Dec. 1 at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

LaDuke, a member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg, is program director of Honor the Earth and founding director of White Earth Land Recovery Project. Both organizations are dedicated to the preservation and sustainability of Native American land and culture. In 1989, LaDuke received the Reebok Human Rights Award and began the White Earth Land Recovery Project.

In 1994 LaDuke was among Time Magazine's 50 most promising leaders under 40. She received the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the Ann Bancroft Award in 1997 and was selected as a Woman of the Year by Ms. magazine in 1997.

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. Her books include both fiction, Last Standing Woman, and non-fiction, All Our Relations.  She has also written for children with In the Sugarbush.

In 1996 and 2000, LaDuke ran as running mate to Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

Kevin Locke

 An expert at the Hoop Dance, which represents the circles of life, Locke has performed and lectured in more than 70 countries with the goal "to raise awareness of the oneness we share as human beings."

 He has served as a cultural ambassador for the United States Information Service since 1980. A committed environmentalist, he was a delegate to the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil and a featured performer and speaker at the 1996 United Nations Habitat II Conference in Turkey.

 Since 1982, Locke has recorded 12 albums of music and stories, most recently The First Flute, Open Circle, and Dream Catcher.

Considered a key figure in the revival of the indigenous flute tradition, Locke gives hundreds of performances annually at conferences, schools, pow-wows, historic sites and performing arts centers. In 1990, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, which recognized him as a "Master Traditional Artist who has contributed to the shaping of our artistic traditions and to preserving the cultural diversity of the United States."

Locke will give a performance at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30, the day before the conference, as well as a workshop on Dec. 1.

Also scheduled to address the conference are teacher and former Lower Sioux Reservation Tribal Council Chairman David E. Larsen; Boarding School Seasons author and teacher Brenda Child; Minnesota State University, Mankato ethnic studies faculty members Wayne Allen and Elden Lawrence; Lakota historian and Minnesota State Mankato adjunct instructor Sebastian "Bronco" LeBeau and others.

 The roots of the Native Conference date back to 1977, when then-Mankato State University hosted the first American Indian Conference at the urging of Native American student leaders, faculty and staff members. The goal is to provide a forum in which Native American pride can be celebrated while issues affecting Native people can be discussed.

For details on registration and other information, contact the Office of Insitutional Diversity at 389-6125.

 

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