Buffy Sainte-Marie to Appear at "Strong Medicine" 

L.A. Hyder / Bay Area Business Woman v.8, n.12, Sep01

Buffy Sainte-Marie came into and affected the lives of millions in the 1960s singing words of jarring truths about war, colonization, the environment, and simply loving. She traveled the globe, always using her concert venues as a stop along the way to meet with the indigenous peoples of the area -- learning of their joys as well as challenges.

From then till now, she finds her own joy in being a bridge between the non-native and Native American worlds.

Educated as a teacher, Sainte-Marie holds that role as a sacred trust to bring Native Americans into text books and classrooms - enhancing knowledge about indigenous peoples at the same time as encouraging the potential of Native American scholars.

What few of us know is that in 1969 Sainte-Marie, with her newly found financial success, went a step further founding the Nihewan Foundation for American Indian Education as a way to fulfill her self-described mandate.

Sainte-Marie says, "The combination of big, fancy concerts in the cities of the world paired with my work in indigenous communities, taught me there are good-hearted people on both sides and that people wanted to know about each other. But there really was not a bridge. So I really enjoyed creating that bridge through photographs and songs and speeches now and then, and personal networking, and painting and dance and, of course, education."

She also discovered that the challenges facing Native American people were mirrored throughout the world wherever colonialism had marginalized indigenous people.

As the 70s brought more conservative politics to this country, Sainte-Marie was one of the artists who experienced being banned from large-scale commercial venues due to her outspoken lyrics and feisty attitude.

She continued to perform in other parts of the world and was only seen here regularly on Sesame Street where, among the many topics she would touch upon, she delivered the belying simple message that 'Indians exist.' This message reached children and their care givers of all races in 73 countries of the world and, according to Native American teachers, battling virtual invisibility in the American school system, was an educational triumph.

Not resting here, the Nihewan Foundation went on to create the Cradleboard Teaching Project to address the dearth of accurate information available about living and historic Native Americans - as well as their knowledge of medicines, the sciences, etc. - within school curriculums.

To do that, a core curriculum was developed for use in a Partnering Program where an indigenous and a non-indigenous class of the same age and in different parts of the country learn about themselves and their partner class. The Nihewan core curriculum is currently available for elementary, middle and high school levels of learning in Science, History, Music, Geography and Social Studies as seen through an indigenous perspective.

"It's one thing to read in last years' text book about 'the Indians' and it's another thing to have 82 non-Indian kids come to a Native American tribal school at the Tuscarora Reservation and meet the partners that they've been working with all year. And when you're a sixth grader, that's a huge impact. There's nothing that takes the place of what we call the Fire, or the Personal Circle," Sainte-Marie exclaims in excitement over what she's engendered.

Where the Partnering Program involved an intensive training for teachers, Sainte-Marie recognizes many of them want access to the curriculum. Since they cannot attend a training, she's developed what she calls an Electronic Pow-Wow Model.

She says, "In this model, people get most of the core curriculum and the supplementary curriculum, along with the Electronic Pow-Wow offering our chat room and discussion board. If someone wants to interact with another class they find online, they can." An added benefit to all of this is the building of self-esteem and respect between children of many cultures.

Sainte-Marie has been producing her own vivid and deeply moving digital artwork since the early 80s, so it comes as no surprise that a CD-Rom is part of the Nihewan offerings. Titled "Science through Native American Eyes" the CD focuses on the principles of sound and friction, and the science involved in Native American lodges. The second in the planned CD series will focus on Native Americans in the sciences, on medicine and botany, and on star knowledge and astronomy.

Along with all of these endeavors, Sainte-Marie continues to write and perform her music. Not surprisingly, this newer music also brings audiences to their feet. She will grace the stage here in the Bay Area on Sept. 28, headlining "Strong Medicine, The Healing Voice of Native Women," a concert in celebration of California's Native American Day to benefit the Native American Health Center. Performers include Ulali, Lorrie Church, and The Mankillers (see sidebar). In addition, Sainte-Marie will be presenting her Cradleboard Education Project at UC Berkeley, specifically for educators, the day before.

The Native American Health Center is a nonprofit community-based organization which operates two licensed community health clinics in Oakland and San Francisco. Their primary goal is to assist American Indians in improving and maintaining their physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual well-being while respecting cultural traditions, and to advocate for the needs of all Indian People - especially the most vulnerable members of the community. They do this by providing a full range of community services including primary family medical and dental care, and a Tribal Athletics Program.

In these days when the phrase "talk your talk, and walk your walk" is being used by just about everyone, Sainte-Marie is an example of what that can truly mean and what one individual with vision and energy can do.

source: http://www.babwnews.com/buffy.html 17sep01
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