The idea of being “en route” grows from the premise that peoples and places are interwoven in a complex relationship. The geographic focus of this workshop is a small portion of the traditional homelands of the Lakota people. We will travel to prominent Lakota places within the boundaries of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, including Mato Paha (Bear Butte), Cankpe Opi (Wounded Knee), Wasun Niya (Wind Cave) and Pe Sla (Reynolds Prairie), and more, as well as artworks that depict Lakotas and more generally, American Indians.

The intention of the workshop structure is to encourage critical thinking about the intersections of Lakota history, culture, land and art on the one hand, and non-Lakota perspectives of important places and events on the other. We will strive for a more nuanced awareness of the broader historical and contemporary relationships between American Indians and non-Indians, through an experience of Lakota arts, land, and culture. Intellectually, it is built on rigor and reliability, and the experientially involves being at the exact site where important events happened while exploring collaborative workshop content.

This is not a tour. You are not a tourist. This is a traveling workshop more like a college course. During the three days together one goal is that you should sit in every row on the bus and not sit beside the same person twice. You will conduct “interviews” with your seat mates, watch film clips, listen to presentations, participate in group discussions and have time to complete written assignments. Of course, you will also have some time to observe the landscape passing beyond the bus windows.

A special thanks to Dr. Craig Howe and CAIRNS (nativecairns.org) for facilitating this fantastic workshop!