The Dakota Genocide: Impact, Memory, and Resilience
Chair: Nancy Marie Mithlo Fort Sill Chiricahua Apache (University of California, Los Angeles, Gender Studies and American Indian Studies)
- Sisokaduta Joe Bendickson Sisseton-Wahpeton, Dakota (University of Minnesota, US, American Indian Studies)
Oyáte Wičhákasotapi ga Wičháyuwašičupi: Tókhed Iápi kiŋ Uŋkíč’ihduzapi (Genocide and Assimilation: How We Held on to Our Language)
- George Dalbo (University of Minnesota, US, Curriculum and Instruction and Social Sciences Education) and Joe Eggers (University of Minnesota, US, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies)
Settling the Historical Record: Narratives of Dakota Internment in the Settler Imaginary
Nancy Marie Mithlo (Fort Sill Chiricahua Apache) is a Professor of Gender Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Mithlo’s curatorial work has resulted in nine exhibits at the Venice Biennale. A life-long educator, she has taught at the University of New Mexico, the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Santa Fe Community College, Smith College, California Institute of the Arts, Occidental College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her co-edited 2022 book Visualizing Genocide: Indigenous Interventions in Art, Archives and Museums was published by the University of Arizona Press.
Sisokaduta
Háu Mitákuyepi! Owás’iŋna iyúškiŋyaŋ napé čhiyúzapi do. Dakhóta iá Šišókaduta emákiyapi do. Wašíču iá Joe Bendickson emákiyapi do. Damákhota. Sisíthuŋwaŋ ga Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ ga Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ Oyáte emátaŋhaŋ. Bdé Hdakíŋyaŋ Owákpamni emátaŋhaŋ ga omáwapi. Mnísota Wóuŋspe Waŋkántuya ed Dakhóta Iápi uŋspéwičhawakhiye. Hináȟ Dakhóta Iápi kiŋ dé uŋspémič’ičhiye. Déčhamuŋ čha thokátakiya Dakhóta iápi kiŋ ičháǧe kta wačhíŋ. Thokátakiya wičhóičhaǧe šakówiŋ kiŋháŋ iápi kiŋ dé hduhá maúŋnipta wačhíŋ. Waŋná dé wóuŋspekhuwa ówičhawakiya héčhed hená iápi kiŋ dé pahípte ga t’iŋsyá hduzápte.
Hello my relatives! I happily shake all your hands. My Dakota name is Sisokaduta. My English name is Joe Bendickson. I am Dakota. I come from the Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Spirit Lake peoples. I am enrolled at Lake Traverse reservation. I teach Dakota language at the University of Minnesota. I’m still learning myself. I teach so the language will grow. In seven generations I want us have our language. I help students so that they will pick it up and hold on to it tightly.
George Dalbo is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction and Social Studies Education, with a graduate minor in Human Rights at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include Holocaust, genocide, and human rights education in middle and secondary classrooms and curricula in settler colonial nation-states, such as the United States and Canada. George is also a high school social studies teacher in rural southern Wisconsin. He has taught every grade from 5th through 12th in public, charter, and private schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as for two years in Vienna, Austria.
Joe Eggers is the Interim Director of the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota. Joe’s work critically examines settler memory of colonial violence, primarily in Minnesota, and the language ascribed to it. In his role with the Center, Joe coordinates public engagement activities, including programming and educator workshops.