Lyla June, a poet, singer-songwriter, hip-hop artist, human ecologist, public speaker and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages, will bring her ideas on inter-cultural and ecological healing to a Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) Committee’s 2022 Boundary Breakers and Shakers Series free event at the DeLuca Forum in the Wisconsin Discovery Building on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m., the Wisconsin Union announced on Thursday.
The event, titled “An Evening with Lyla June: The Power of Indigenous Knowledge in an Age of Neocolonialism,” is free and open to the public, with no tickets necessary.
June’s 90-minute talk will include both lecture and Q&A portions, according to a press release. Combining her personal experience with her studies in human ecology and Native American pedagogy, June advocates for Indigenous rights, the use of traditional land stewardship practices and mending from historical trauma.
“There’s a lot of work to do to improve our communities,” June said in an interview with Navajo Times. June earned a master’s degree in Native American pedagogy at the University of New Mexico and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Indigenous studies with a focus on Indigenous food systems revitalization at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “I was raised by strong people to live my life deliberately and to view every one of my creations as an opportunity to heal my people, all people.”
