1
Table of Contents 1. Project details..........................................................................................................2 2. Project Overview......................................................................................................2 3. Historical Background..............................................................................................3 4. The Seven-Generation Framework (SGF)...................................................................5 5. Spaying and neutering program...............................................................................8 6. Stakeholders.............................................................................................................8 7. The Inaugural ‘Festival of Healing’............................................................................9 8. Governance system................................................................................................10 APPENDIX A...............................................................................................................12 1
1. Project details
Community Client: Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation Point of Contact: Camille Griffith Project Overview
2.
The project aims to provide a space in which Tribe Members can have mind, body and spiritual healing, a process that includes improved community animal health, building capacity across multiple generations and encouraging the sharing of animal husbandry experiences, traditions and practices. This project’s success is intrinsically linked to engaging the Tribes knowledge and stewardship of the land and its co-inhabitants, their autonomy and their internal decision-making processes.
This project provides a 7-generation framework for Community Dog Population Management in the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation. This framework is composed of three tracks, Mind, Body and Spirit, which form the basis for a One Health healing. It is organized in 7 stages that begin with defined by an event called ‘The Festival of Healing’ where Tribe Members meet to evaluate the framework’s progress and decide the following actions to implement the next initiatives.
2
The terms Lakota and Sioux are often used interchangeably to refer to the tribe of native peoples of the Dakotas. The word nadouessioux was created by French traders and later adopted by the English as just Sioux. The words Lakota and Dakota, however, are Lakota words for “friend” or “ally”. Many Lakota peoples today prefer to be called Lakota instead of Sioux, as Sioux was a disrespectful name given to them by their enemies. There are seven bands of the Lakota tribe. In South Dakota, there are four Lakota reservations: Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, and Cheyenne River. Each of the reservations are home to a different branch of the Lakota people.
There is a deep cultural meaning for dogs in the Lakota worldview. As Meyers and Weston (2020) narrate: In our culture, people traditionally don’t own animals the way other cultures have pets; the animals are left wild, and may choose to go to a home to offer protection, companionship, or even to become a part of a community. People feed the dogs and care for them, but the dogs remain living outside and are free to be their own beings. This relationship differs from one where the human is the master or owner of an animal 3
3. Historical Background Figure 1: Ancestral relationship of Lakota Peoples and dogs
Source: Meyers and Weston, 2020 3.1. Sioux or Lakota
3.2. Canine Lore
3.3. Current Context
There[...] is a story in Lakota culture about an old lady and a sunkpala (puppy) that we all are told growing up. The old lady is quilling—a craft that uses porcupine quills to adorn various items—a buffalo hide, and it is said that when she finishes the hide, the world will come to an end. Luckily, the sunkpala is there to help because, as the story goes, when the lady gets up to tend to something else, the puppy undoes some of her work, thus giving people a little more time on this planet. (parr. 7-13)
Several tragic events at the South Dakota Reservations have resulted in the death of children, adults and dogs. As a result, “members and volunteers from across South Dakota founded the Oglala Pet Project (OPP) in 2011 to rescue abandoned, unwanted, and abused animals, especially dogs. The OPP also works to provide medical services to reservation animals” (Meyers and Weston, 2020, parr. 23). However, other outside organizations, who follow a narrative of ‘rez dogs’ that wander through life without purpose, are “swooping into the reservation to save dogs, extracting them from their native culture to live healthy, happy lives in mainstream America” (Meyers and Weston, 2020, parr. 25). For the Lakota Peoples, this is the continuation of settler colonianialism in which Wasicu (White settlers) invade Tribal Land and extract their relatives, in this case dogs, to ‘civilize’ them under Western values and worldviews. 4
who is considered property. Instead, the dog and people provide service to one another in a mutual relationship of reciprocity and respect.
In[...]the Lakota language, there is no hierarchy of animals. All animals, including people, horses, dogs, and so on, belong to oyate (a group of animals/organisms). No particular species in the oyate holds dominion over others, and they share existence on the planet within nature. The notion of humans being at the top of the chain, superior to other animals, is a colonial one. Historically, in the Lakota culture, a dog (sunka, pronounced sh-UN’-ka) was seen as a sacred being that protects the camps and provides various sacred rites. The dog also helped people, prior to the horse, by carrying wood, keeping watch of the camp, or towing the tipi in what is known as a travois. The ideas of the dog and its spiritual connections are complicated and often particular to different healers in the communities.
The Lakota community navigate the processes of change, development and growth in terms of a Seven Generation Framework (SGF). The generational model is emancipated from the static manufactured non-nature of the Gregorian calendar, it prioritizes forward focused multigenerational growth in which each generation is a registration of change and process. The Seven-Generation framework creates a platform for interconnection between strategy, events, variable time frames and multiple scales.
As Meyers and Weston (2020) argue, “like the slang term “hood rat,” a derogatory phrase used to refer to adolescents in low-income areas, “rez dog” can also now refer to a younger person found within a tribal community who seems, to outsiders, to be walking through life without purpose. This highlights areas of misunderstanding or disagreement between the cultures” (parr 20).
The festival is a community-led weekend event in which the Mind, Body and Spirit Tracks converge into different activities, conversations, workshops and spaces. The meeting will make space for Tribal Members to evaluate the progress of the community dog management framework (CDMF) and decide on future generational initiatives and milestones. Each ‘generation’ is marked by a milestone, in the case of the CDMF, the ‘Festival of Healing’ is treated as a generational milestone. The festival is understood simultaneously as an autonomous decision-making process and a capacity building initiative for the next ‘generation’. The festival is also an opportunity to harness scalability of the SGF. Initially, initiatives will be 5
3.4. Colloquialisms
4. The Seven-Generation Framework (SGF)
The SGF is a means for the Lakota to trace progress back to their ancestors and project it forward to their decedents, in this way, complex multigenerational memory facilitates the organic blossoming of the Tribe. In the Shunka Kola Project, we apply the Seven-Generation Framework future facing. In conversation with the POC we understand that Tribal Members have a community derived duty to make space and resources available for the future generations.
4.1 Project Proposal: ‘Festival of Healing’ (Festival) The ‘Festival of Healing’ ushers in the beginning of a new stage in the Seven-Generation Framework in an attempt to rebalance the human – dog relationship in the Lakota communities.
B. Extracurricular activities could include weekly mapping workshops or other student-led activities related to CDMF.
introduced at a local scale within the Pine Ridge and Rosebud towns. As the ‘generations’ advance, the project scales, growing into neighboring Pine Ridge Reservation towns and, eventually, into a Tribal scale. The Festival, and the processes it engenders, transitions from oyate, a community of animals and organisms, to tiyóšpaye, our extended family.
A. To design a sustainable spraying and neutering program, taking into account resource requirements and long-term efficacy. In collaboration with partner programs in South Dakota and afield, the Shunka Kola project will need to constantly raise funds to maintain veterinary operations.
The Spirit Track involves spiritual healing and decolonization. 6
4.4. Spirit Track
4.2. Mind Track
The Mind Track involves capacity-building and extracurricular activities:
B. Tribal Nations have constraints to own land, so, as a temporal solution, the SGF proposes the Shunka-Truck, a truck in which a veterinary can travel within the Pine Ridge reservation offering their services. Building on the successes of the pilot program, part of funds raised will go towards obtaining and manufacturing the Shunka-Truck. Ultimately, the Shunka Kola Project aims to find land, create local expertise and establish a locally-run indigenous-owned veterinary service.
4.3. Body Track
A. Capacity-building workshops are intended for school students who want to learn about pathways to tertiary education in veterinary, conservation or biological sciences related to dogs and wildlife. These workshops should held at least every two months over a weekend and will be led by invited academics or professionals. Workshops should be conducted as a combination of class and fieldwork.
The Body Track focusses on community dog management strategies, a spaying and neutering program and contributes to establishing important local expertise in the form of locally owned and run Lakota veterinary services.
7
B. Decolonization involves the recollection of ancestral epistemologies about dogs and traditional healing methods. This involves having Elders share their knowledge that can be recorded into a multimedia library or applied in the extracurricular activities in the Body Track.
A. Spiritual healing meetings are intended for Tribal Members that have experienced attacks by the canine population. Spiritual healings are scheduled by community need, a Tribal facilitator will lead participants in sharing their traumatic and painful experiences. The aim is to work towards the reconciliation and coexistence of humans and dogs.
Figure 2: The 7-Generation Framework 8
9
5. Spaying and neutering program 10
11
6.1. Professional Practice Veterinarians
Pet Boarding Service Keep Waggin' Ranch, LLC (605) 877-4153 https://goo.gl/maps/3bV4tggqZ5sFUHTm8
Dakota Hills Veterinary Clinic (605) 342-7498 https://goo.gl/maps/PegGyvveNXT1FP176
Nebraska Sasse Animal Clinic (308) 282-1450 https://goo.gl/maps/DUPZGmHwdz9akHALA
Pine Ridge Reservation Animal Control
6.2. Educational Contacts
Rushville Veterinary Clinic (308) 327-2128 https://goo.gl/maps/sA1ZpywRTQPSCKc77
Fall River Veterinary Clinic (605) 745-3786 https://goo.gl/maps/PnMj1XK9PA41gUhL8
Barnyard Veterinary Services & Supply (605) 745-6888 https://goo.gl/maps/iWjadjw2J2ijHKm6
Black Hills Animal Hospital (605) 343-6066 https://goo.gl/maps/oLyDmHV6KnnSQPpAA
South Dakota State University Angela Pillatzki, Interim Department Head/Director/Associate Professor Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences Department, Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine 605-688-517212
6. Stakeholders
Beguin Veterinary Service (308) 327-2869 https://goo.gl/maps/xWUtSXMFgwHkYr2o6
Box Elder Vet Clinic (605) 791-1588 https://goo.gl/maps/hzgyjha7G2CremCM6
South Dakota High Plains Animal Clinic (605) 685-6620 https://goo.gl/maps/BNcUmTMpEDHZoWkj6
Panhandle Veterinary Clinic (308) 432-2020 https://goo.gl/maps/KGPxqarqfYu6uU15A
Popcorn, Tribal Animal Control Officer
Dr L.E. Steadman Veterinary Clinic (308) 432-3604 https://goo.gl/maps/vD9qMjmapT1goCxJ9
for
South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (POC has prior contact) Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation (POC has prior contact) Pine Ridge School (POC has prior contact) Oglala Lakota College (POC has prior contact) Oglala Sioux Community Leadership (POC has prior contact or is willing to make contact)
The first ‘Festival of Healing’ will be a hybrid event for high school students as a part of Summer Bridge Program. Depending on the Bridge Program’s agenda, the Festival will be a 2 to 3 hour held at the Oglala Lakota College and over Zoom. (The date and time and Camille is looking into
more)
13
Event Planning
situation
VeterinaryChristopherangela.pillatzki@sdstate.eduChase,InterimDirector/Professor&BiomedicalSciencesDepartment, Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine, Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory Christopher.Chase@SDSTATE.EDU605-688-5652 6.3. Partner Organizations Rosebud Reservation “Helping Animal Center” https://sovereign-nations.org/rosebud/ Oglala Pet Project https://oglalapetproject.org/about-oppprograms 6.4. Other Potential Stakeholders
are not yet specified as this information is not available
to changes)
the 2022
Speaker
10:00
and
Time [1] Presentation [2] Organization Hybridity – 10:20 Introduction to the Shunka Kola Project the dog
7.1.
7. The Inaugural ‘Festival of Healing’
3:
CamilleSpeaker:Griffith Shunka Kola Project In-person 10:20 – 10:40 knowledge and Speaker: Oglala Lakota In-person
Figure Schematic agenda inaugural Festival (subject
Ancestral
7.3. Scalability
Veterinary opportunitiesprofessional TBDSpeaker: South Dakota State University TBD
traditional dog healing Stephanie (Surname) College
7.2. Media To advertise the event, we have prepared 2 flyers that will be sent via email to high school students and speakers. These have a QR code that will lead to a “What is a ‘Festival of Healing’?” website (currently under design). The flyers (Figures 4 and 5) can be found in the Appendix A of this report. Also, to address the dog abduction problem we have designed 3 flyers that can be pasted around the Reservation, especially in the areas where most dogs are abducted. These also have the QR code and can be found in the Appendix A of this report (Figures 6, 7 and 8).
Camille decided that a first Festival only for students would be a manageable scale at this first stage. Then, as the next milestones are reached and Festivals are held, the SGF will escalate in scale. In the second Festival, Camille plans to include adults and have radio advertising.
Animal husbandry and rehabilitation
DavidSpeaker:(Surname) White SanctuaryOwl Zoom
8. Governance system To ensure the successful long-term continuity of the SGF we have designed a governance strategy with Camille: 1. Tribal Volunteers and RAs: After the first Festival, the Shunka Kola Project will call for volunteers that will plan the second Festival and lead each track’s initiatives. Also, for future years, it is expected that students that attend the Bridge program can work over the Summer as Research Assistants. 14
10:40 – 11:00
11:30 – 12:30 Spaying and neutering lab TBDSpeaker: South Dakota State University In-person
[1] 10:00 is a time adopted to illustrate the event organization. As mentioned above, time and date are not defined [2]yet.The presentations have been highlighted according to SGF track they represent. As Figure 2, light blue is Spirit Track, yellow is Mind Track and Red is Body Track.
11:00 – 11:30
3. Non-Tribal RAs: In the long-term, we envision that the Project will form alliances with different universities. For example, DUSP can have a summer internship program available with travel grants.
2. The Shunka Kola Committee: The speakers that will take part in the First Festival have agreed to be a volunteer advisory body for the Project. They will compose the Committee whose guidance will define when next initiatives can be launched.
15
APPENDIX A Figure 4: Flyer 1 for the first ‘Festival of Healing’ 16
Figure 5: Flyer 2 for the first ‘Festival of Healing’ 17
18
Figure 6: NGO confrontation flyer 1 19
Figure 7: NGO confrontation flyer 2 20
21
Figure 8: NGO confrontation flyer 3 22
