Celebrating Indigenous Voices at the SDSU Native Resource Center’s 5th Annual Native & Indigenous Research & Arts Symposium

On Thursday, March 6th, and Friday, March 7th, 2025, the San Diego State University (SDSU) Native Resource Center (NRC), in collaboration with the Indigenous Social Work Alliance (ISWA) and the Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship (CNNCTS), hosted their 5th Annual Native & Indigenous Research & Arts Symposium (NIRAS). CNNCTS held a roundtable discussion with CNNCTS partners Theresa Gregor, Cliff Devers, Henry Najera, and Johnny Bear Contreras, who shared their inspiring projects and experiences in their community work.

CNNCTS Panelists (from left to right) Henry Najera (Luiseño), Johnny Bear Contreras (Kumeyaay), Theresa Gregor (Kumeyaay/Yoeme), Megan Jennings (CNNCTS co-Principal Investigator and Panel Moderator), and Cliff Devers (Luiseño) stand together on the presentation stage in Montezuma Hall on campus at SDSU. The Native Resource Center logo is displayed on a projector screen behind them.

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Written by Vanessa Hernandez

Students, Faculty, Staff, and local community members came together on Thursday, March 6th, and Friday, March 7th, 2025, to be in community at the San Diego State University (SDSU) Native Resource Center’s (NRC) 5th Annual Native & Indigenous Research & Arts Symposium. The two-day symposium was held on-campus at SDSU in Montezuma Hall at the Conrad Prebys Student Union, where students presented on various Indigenous matters such as identity, language revitalization, healing, and more!

During both days of the symposium the activist art group the Beehive Design Collective showcased five of their murals and shared the stories behind their artwork, emphasizing the impact of two of their pieces, The True Cost of Coal and iMesoamerica Resiste!. Darius Bee, representing the collective, dove into the intricacies and interconnections of historical and ongoing movements of resistance, oppression, capitalism, and more across many communities that are symbolized within the murals. Each piece captivated and encouraged attendees to explore the ways in which various components of the murals interlink which allowed for a deeper understanding of these issues and a call to action.

Left photo: Darius Bee sharing the stories and movements represented in the Beehive Design Collective’s piece The True Cost of Coal.

Right photo: (from left to right) Flor Zarate Hernandez, Eliana Hernandez, and Taté Garcia seated at the panel table during Panel 1 Q&A as Eliana Hernandez responds to a question from the audience.

Day one of the symposium commenced with a blessing and bird songs from Kumeyaay community members Blue Eagle Vigil and Jamie LaBrake. Following the blessing the first student panel took place, building cross-community engagement by featuring students undertaking their studies at nearby universities. Attendees learned about first-hand experiences in language revitalization with Eliana Hernandez, community storytelling through zines with artist Flor Hernandez Zarate, and the importance of clean air mutual aid with Taté Garcia.

Students, staff, and attendees standing with keynote speaker Joe Buffalo following his talk.

The first day’s Keynote speaker was Joe Buffalo (Cree), a professional skateboarder from Samson Cree Nation. Buffalo shared his story navigating adversity through the residential boarding school system and his journey in becoming a professional skateboarder. The audience watched his film, “Surviving the Horror of Residential Schools by Skateboarding,” then listened to Buffalo expand on his experience working on the film, his work with Colonialism Skateboards, and his nonprofit Nations Skate Youth, through which he empowered many Indigenous youth through skateboarding.

The student panels that followed Buffalo’s keynote explored Indigenous philosophies as they shape identities with Celina Morales, Cherita Kowalec, and Abrianna Pingleton. The final student panel of the day addressed health and wellness on matters such as community health disparities with Raquel Kinman and Indigenous movement patterns with Mia Alfonso. Indigenous Hip-Hop group The Neighborhood Kids hyped up the audience, inviting everyone to the front of the stage as they performed their powerful music centered on Indigenous power and resistance. Closing out day one, SDSU Pacific Islander Student Association (PISA) performed traditional dances and the haka. The community building and sharing of cultural knowledges on the first day of the symposium left attendees, performers, and students alike invigorated for the next day!

Left photo: Amon the MC and Verde of The Neighborhood Kids performing their song “KIDS IN THE CAGES” on stage at NIRAS.

Right photo: Student presenters (from left to right) Raquel Kinman and Mia Alfonso are seated during Panel 3 Q&A as Kinman responds to a question from the audience.

Day two of the symposium opened with a heartfelt series of films presented by Brianna Carignan and Magdalena Ramirez, Skylar Tillman, and storytelling by Malaya Pojas. Though the student films centered on different avenues of the NRC’s core pillars of truth, education, and growth, each came with a call to action and a reminder of the heart in resiliency. Learnings of truth continued in the next student panel with a focus on Pacific Island Nations presented by Ethan Concepcion and Fa’aea Tumanuvao and intergenerational healing by Aiyiana Tiger-Mantanona.

CNNCTS Panel seated at a table. From left to right: Megan Jennings (Moderator), Henry Najera (Luiseño), Theresa Gregor (Kumeyaay/Yoeme), Cliff Devers (Luiseño), Johnny Bear Contreras (Kumeyaay). Theresa Gregor speaks on her work at CSU Long Beach as Director of American Indian Student Programming.

NIRAS hosted the Collaborative of Native Nations or Climate Transformation and Stewardship (CNNCTS) partners Theresa Gregor, Kumeyaay and Yoeme Associate Professor and Director of the American Indian Studies Program at CSU Long Beach from the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, Johnny Bear Contreras, Kumeyaay artist, sculptor, and community leader from San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, Henry Najera, Cultural Outreach Coordinator of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, and Cliff Devers, Forestry Department Manager of the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians. Our panelists joined together to engage in a roundtable discussion centered on connecting Indigenous Stewardship and Ecological Knowledges across communities. Each panelist shared their personal experiences in being part of the CNNCTS network and the impactful projects they have implemented in their community work.

Much of the conversations in the roundtable discussion centered around the land, impacts of climate change, and shared responsibilities of caring for the land since time immemorial. Theresa Gregor shared that the land will take control when it has been neglected or mismanaged and won’t take it anymore. It is our responsibility to connect and take care of the land as has traditionally been done. Panelists Cliff Devers and Henry Najera expressed how sharing knowledge about their Tribes’ stewardship efforts and working on intertribal collaboration has helped expand important efforts focused on stewarding forests and revitalizing fire stewardship among Tribal communities.

In the student panel prior to the CNNCTS roundtable, focused on film and storytelling, the conversation of reclaiming colonized spaces resumed. Student presenter Skylar Tillman shared a moving film on Orange Shirt Day, highlighting the meaning of the day and the NRC’s banner-drop art installation of footprints down Hepner Hall. The mission-style building is well-known as an icon of SDSU, but many non-Indigenous folks do not consider the violent colonial implications of the building. Tillman’s film inspired audiences to reflect further on the action of reclaiming such spaces. Expanding upon Tillman’s conversation of Hepner Hall, Johnny Bear Contreras, who is the sculptor for a series of art installations across the SDSU campus titled Living Land Acknowledgements, shared the backstory of his first piece in the series, Stargazer, installed directly in front of the same building. For many Native peoples, this building serves as a reminder of Spanish colonization and the mission system stretching across so-called California. Empowering Indigenous peoples, his piece represents visions beyond the building, into the stars and the voices of the ancestors. Stargazer is one of three Living Land Acknowledgements installed at the SDSU campus, and Contreras excitedly shared the next addition to the series. The new sculpture, created in collaboration with several local artists including Contreras, will be installed at the SDSU Imperial Valley Campus in the coming months!

Another important conclusion from the panel is the importance of involving the youth in the work being done in community. Cliff Devers shared with students and attendees that as the next generation it is crucial that youth continue to pursue education, have seats at the table, and lead the way in conversations of uplifting their communities and working with the land regardless of colonial powers that continue to push against them. 

Left photo: Jag Arreola and Native Threat, the Hip Hop duo comprising Kozmik Force performing on stage at NIRAS.

Right photo: Student presenter Edwin Calmo Ramirez standing at the podium and speaking during his presentation titled “An Intergenerational Collaboration Towards Transformative Community and Climate Justice Through the Lens of A Young Oakland Leader,” with fellow student presenters (from left to right) Elita Brannigan and Thomas Morales seated at the panel table.

Following the CNNCTS Panel, Hip Hop group Kozmik Force, made up of duo Jaguar Arreola and Native Threat took to the stage. They got the crowd up on their feet, moving with their powerful songs centered on Indigenous resistance across Turtle Island and around the world. The last student panel of the event took place following their performance, focusing on discussions surrounding DDT+, AI, and intergenerational collaborations. NIRAS concluded with Green River and Soaring Eagles, who shared their good medicine through drum songs and showcasing various regional traditional dances. 

Throughout the entire symposium students shared research, art, culture, and personal parts of themselves that spoke volumes to the SDSU community and beyond, showing how a multitude of issues continue to impact our Indigenous communities and how students and community members’ efforts in their fields of interest can uplift the collective. Those in attendance shared continuous good medicine with each other, cheering students on and envisioning together ways in which Indigenous resilience continues to enact change for re-Indigenization. 

Thank you to our CNNCTS panelists, Joe Buffalo, Bird Singers, Kozmik Force, The Neighborhood Kids, Beehive Design Collective, Green River Drum, Soaring Eagles, DJValleyBeatz, DJ Tierra Mojada, and all of the symposium’s student presenters for being part of NIRAS! 

Visit the SDSU Native Resource Center webpage at nrc.sdsu.edu to stay up to date on future events and opportunities.

Learn more about the Collaborative for Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship (CNNCTS) at cnncts.org.

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San Diego State University Land Acknowledgement

“We stand upon a land that carries the footsteps of millennia of Kumeyaay people. They are a people whose traditional lifeways intertwine with a worldview of earth and sky in a community of living beings. This land is part of a relationship that has nourished, healed, protected and embraced the Kumeyaay people to the present day. It is part of a world view founded in the harmony of the cycles of the sky and balance in the forces of life. For the Kumeyaay, red and black represent the balance of those forces that provide for harmony within our bodies as well as the world around us.

As students, faculty, staff and alumni of San Diego State University we acknowledge this legacy from the Kumeyaay. We promote this balance in life as we pursue our goals of knowledge and understanding. We find inspiration in the Kumeyaay spirit to open our minds and hearts. It is the legacy of the red and black. It is the land of the Kumeyaay.”