Luther College’s Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month events foster dialogue

In November, Luther College will celebrate Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month through a series of events designed to foster dialogue and strengthen community building. The events are free and open to the public.

The monthlong commemorative celebration begins with a lecture by University of Arizona Anthropology Professor Marcela Vásquez-León, Ph.D., at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in Olin 102. This event is made possible by the Lucille Price Endowed Lecture and the Luther College Department of Identity Studies.

Marcela Vásquez-León

During her talk, Vásquez-León will discuss her experience mentoring Indigenous and Afro-descendent women from Latin American countries when these women participated in the Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) program at the University of Arizona. Funded by the U.S. State Department, SUSI is a five-week academic seminar offered to undergraduate students, university scholars and secondary educators from outside the United States. The program aims to provide participants with an understanding of American society and culture and encourages them to build connections with peers from around the world. Each year, Arizona’s Center for Latin American Studies hosts two Indigenous and Afro-descendent women from Latin American countries for SUSI. Vásquez-León is the director of Arizona’s Center for Latin American Studies.

In her talk, Vásquez-León will reflect on her experience mentoring these young women. She will focus on how the program is a transformational site in which the participants envision and build a sense of intersectional feminism to create networks of solidarity that go beyond SUSI. At the same time, challenges and contradictions arise given the ways in which the institute itself is situated in the larger geopolitics of U.S. and Latin American relations.

Vásquez-León was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. She has an interdisciplinary background, with a Ph.D. in anthropology and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Arizona.

Members of the community are invited to join a campus conversation exploring Indigenous leadership, which is rooted in relationships, storytelling and reciprocity, at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11, in Brunsdale Lounge. During this conversation titled “Intergroup Dialogue: An Indigenous Leadership Practice,” participants will practice dialogue as leadership, building community through shared stories, nurturing curiosity through deep listening, and fostering inclusivity by honoring every voice as part of our collective wisdom. The event is sponsored by the Center for Intercultural Engagement and Support (CIES) at Luther College.

Carson Faust

Luther’s Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month activities will wrap up with eats, education and engagement at a Cultural Community Connection event celebrating author Carson Faust and his new Native American southern gothic novel “If the Dead Belong Here” (Viking, 2025) on Thursday, Nov. 18, at The Landing Market, 211 College Drive in Decorah.

Faust will give an author presentation and Q&A session followed by a book-signing at the event sponsored by CIES with support from The Landing Market. Faust is two-spirit and an enrolled member of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe of South Carolina. He is the recipient of fellowships from the McKnight Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. His fiction has appeared in “Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology.” He lives in Minnesota.

Starting at 5 p.m., Indigenous-inspired cuisine will be served at The Landing. The cost for the meal is $10 per person, $5 for college students (with ID) attending any college or university and for children 17 and younger. No reservations are needed.