WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.005 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:03.005 --> 00:00:07.280 align:middle line:90% 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.020 align:middle line:90% [SPEAKING IN O'ODHAM] 00:00:09.020 --> 00:00:13.220 align:middle line:90% 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:14.480 align:middle line:90% Natalie Diaz. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:16.440 align:middle line:90% [SPEAKING IN O'ODHAM] 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:39.650 align:middle line:90% 00:00:39.650 --> 00:00:43.490 align:middle line:84% So it's my pleasure to welcome my friend Natalie Diaz. 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:45.200 align:middle line:84% And we're very happy that she joined us 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.810 align:middle line:90% this afternoon in our seminar. 00:00:47.810 --> 00:00:50.840 align:middle line:84% And also, on behalf of the O'odham Nation, 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:53.420 align:middle line:84% we welcome you to O'odham land, where 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:58.340 align:middle line:84% we have this very beautiful facility and a beautiful moon 00:00:58.340 --> 00:01:02.520 align:middle line:90% hanging out there this evening. 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:10.070 align:middle line:84% So let me do my job here and so we can get to Natalie's work. 00:01:10.070 --> 00:01:15.920 align:middle line:84% So I initially met Natalie when I heard about the work 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:20.240 align:middle line:84% that she was doing on the Mojave language 00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:21.800 align:middle line:90% because that's an area-- 00:01:21.800 --> 00:01:25.940 align:middle line:84% language reclamation and language maintenance-- that, 00:01:25.940 --> 00:01:30.110 align:middle line:84% of course, I've been involved in as part of my work 00:01:30.110 --> 00:01:31.310 align:middle line:90% here at the university. 00:01:31.310 --> 00:01:36.470 align:middle line:84% So it was very exciting to hear someone working on Fort Mojave. 00:01:36.470 --> 00:01:40.700 align:middle line:84% But before I get to that part, to the Mojave language 00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:42.140 align:middle line:90% at Fort Mojave-- 00:01:42.140 --> 00:01:44.450 align:middle line:84% but before I get to a little more about that, 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:49.550 align:middle line:84% let me just begin by saying that in reading around 00:01:49.550 --> 00:01:55.970 align:middle line:84% about Natalie, I chose some of her writing 00:01:55.970 --> 00:02:01.070 align:middle line:84% about herself to share with you as part of her introduction. 00:02:01.070 --> 00:02:04.700 align:middle line:84% So Natalie writes as coming from the Indian village also known 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:06.620 align:middle line:90% as Fort Mojave. 00:02:06.620 --> 00:02:09.800 align:middle line:84% She lived there with four brothers and four sisters 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:12.080 align:middle line:90% in a two-bedroom house. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:16.910 align:middle line:84% She is born to a Native mother and a Spanish Catholic father. 00:02:16.910 --> 00:02:23.060 align:middle line:84% She continues to write, "we held to many truths at once. 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:26.480 align:middle line:84% Each seemed to strengthen the possibility of the other 00:02:26.480 --> 00:02:28.550 align:middle line:90% rather than cancel it out. 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:30.470 align:middle line:84% In my house, we never had to choose 00:02:30.470 --> 00:02:32.900 align:middle line:84% between the numerous parts of ourselves. 00:02:32.900 --> 00:02:35.840 align:middle line:84% We were all those things at the same time, 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:41.120 align:middle line:84% sometimes in noisy collisions, sometimes in an easy weave." 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.270 align:middle line:84% So it sounds like a typical family. 00:02:44.270 --> 00:02:47.240 align:middle line:84% Natalie is also nearby as an enrolled member 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:50.900 align:middle line:84% of the Gila River Indian community near Phoenix. 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:53.480 align:middle line:84% She earned her BA from Old Dominion University, 00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:55.550 align:middle line:84% where her skill as a basketball player 00:02:55.550 --> 00:02:58.310 align:middle line:90% took her on a full scholarship. 00:02:58.310 --> 00:03:01.100 align:middle line:84% Natalie played professional basketball in Europe and Asia 00:03:01.100 --> 00:03:04.460 align:middle line:84% after undergraduate career before returning to Old 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:08.360 align:middle line:90% Dominion to earn her MFA. 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:11.190 align:middle line:84% Natalie has had her work appear in numerous places, 00:03:11.190 --> 00:03:15.410 align:middle line:84% including Poetry Magazine, Narrative, Drunken Boat, 00:03:15.410 --> 00:03:20.270 align:middle line:84% the Prairie Schooner, Iowa Review, and Crab Orchard 00:03:20.270 --> 00:03:23.120 align:middle line:84% Review, just to mention a few of them. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.480 align:middle line:84% As a young writer, her book, When My Brother was an Aztec, 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:29.210 align:middle line:90% has received critical acclaim. 00:03:29.210 --> 00:03:32.420 align:middle line:84% Some of her honors as a result of this publication 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:35.120 align:middle line:84% include awards from Nimrod/Hardman-- 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:42.930 align:middle line:84% Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, the Narrative Poetry Prize, 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:47.690 align:middle line:84% a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Native Arts Council Foundation 00:03:47.690 --> 00:03:52.610 align:middle line:84% Artist Fellowship, and probably the frosting on the cake 00:03:52.610 --> 00:03:57.200 align:middle line:84% is her recent fellowship given out 00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:01.460 align:middle line:84% by Princeton University, which is the Theodore H. Holmes '51 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:03.740 align:middle line:84% and Bernice Holmes National Prize, 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:06.710 align:middle line:84% which is awarded by Princeton University's 00:04:06.710 --> 00:04:08.690 align:middle line:90% program in creative writing. 00:04:08.690 --> 00:04:12.110 align:middle line:90% So that's a wonderful honor. 00:04:12.110 --> 00:04:14.760 align:middle line:84% In addition to her poetry, Natalie, as I mentioned, 00:04:14.760 --> 00:04:17.420 align:middle line:84% is also involved in language reclamation efforts 00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:19.220 align:middle line:90% for the Mojave language. 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:21.620 align:middle line:84% In her PBS interview, Natalie speaks 00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:24.740 align:middle line:84% about the high school-age population and the importance 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:26.870 align:middle line:84% of understanding that being Mojave 00:04:26.870 --> 00:04:30.200 align:middle line:84% is something that they always will carry with them, no matter 00:04:30.200 --> 00:04:32.000 align:middle line:90% where they might travel. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.250 align:middle line:84% Building the self-awareness of who they are 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:38.270 align:middle line:84% is an important part of language reclamation. 00:04:38.270 --> 00:04:40.850 align:middle line:84% With the high school-age population in mind, 00:04:40.850 --> 00:04:43.220 align:middle line:84% Natalie, along with Professor Jon Reinhardt 00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:46.250 align:middle line:84% from the University of Arizona's English department, 00:04:46.250 --> 00:04:49.250 align:middle line:84% have a collaborative project entitled Partnership 00:04:49.250 --> 00:04:51.860 align:middle line:84% for Indigenous Knowledge and Digital Literacies, 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:55.070 align:middle line:84% funded by the National Science Foundation. 00:04:55.070 --> 00:04:57.530 align:middle line:84% This is a project employing new technologies 00:04:57.530 --> 00:05:01.330 align:middle line:84% for documenting the language, as well as producing 00:05:01.330 --> 00:05:05.350 align:middle line:84% digital language material by and with high school students 00:05:05.350 --> 00:05:07.030 align:middle line:90% at Fort Mojave. 00:05:07.030 --> 00:05:08.740 align:middle line:90% So she's a very busy person. 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:12.480 align:middle line:84% So would you please welcome Natalie Diaz.