Indigenous Mind is an open-access, community-based movement and zine celebrating indigeneity in meditation, mindfulness, and ceremonial praxis. Use the button below to keep up-to-date on issues and calls for submissions.
Indigenous Mind is actively accepting submissions for its inaugural issue, to be published in May 2020. Keep reading for more information.
Focus and Scope
Indigenous Mind bridges the space between knowledge,
experience, and practice. We publish nonfiction essay, counterstories, visual
arts, visual poetry, flash and micro stories, and everything between which
engages in navigating and decolonizing knowledge and practice of meditation and
mindfulness spaces. We welcome innovate pieces which blend multiple styles and
that may not fit in typical academic or nonfiction literary journals and
magazines to empower and inspire decolonial narratives on their own terms.
Submitted works may reflect on experiences in dominant culture meditation/mindfulness
spaces, the history of Indigenous praxis, explore the benefits of contemplation,
ceremonial, and mindfulness practices towards decolonization, be a creative
product of a practice, or teach practices.
We recognize the simultaneously unique and global experiences of marginalized
peoples, and thus accept submissions from all over the world.
Submissions in any language (with English translations and/or summaries as
appropriate) are accepted.
Indigenous Mind also actively solicits artwork for the cover of each issue. Please indicate on the cover page that you would like your submission considered for the cover, along with a high-res image file (at least 300 DPI).
If you also want to contribute, please review the guidelines below and submit your contribution for consideration to indigenousmindzine@gmail.com
Submission Guidelines
Text-only Works
Works may not be previously published or under consideration by other publications.
There is no strict limit to prose; however, works over 4,000 words will need to be extraordinary.
Submit via word document or similar editable format.
Artistic and Visual Works
Right to print/publish must still be held by the artist for works previously published.
May submit via PDF or low-res files, but be prepared with high-resolution versions of files upon acceptance.
Contributor Cover Page
Each submission should include a cover page which includes:
The full name and pronouns of the contributor(s), exactly as you wish them to appear in published version;
Affiliation(s) of each contributor (e.g., Indigenous nation/peoples, department, university/organization, city, country);
Contact details;
A short biography of the contributor(s), no more than 100 words;
A list of 4-6 key words describing your submission;
Abstract or Artist Statement of no more than 200 words summarizing the submission.
In honor of #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth, Rock your Moccs 2019, and our world’s on-going climate actions, I wanted to take today to share a bit from my talk and experience participating in CSU Stanislaus’ 3rd Annual Indigenous Peoples Days celebrations last month.
The theme of the week of celebrations was “Indigenous Sustainability: Protecting Land, Water, Human, and More than Human Kinships”. I am humbled to have been included among a cast of community practitioners, each of whom is doing work to revitalize and continue Indigenous cultures. I shared a panel with Shannon Rivers and Jace Kaholokula Saplan, where we explored the topic of protecting the sacred.
As the first speaker following the opening blessing for the Friday evening gathering, I decided to start our journey with an examination of the impact of colonization on the self and how simply by being Indigenous and conscientiously enacting Indigenous practices, we participate in sustainability and decolonization. I shared that
Colonization is trauma that involves a variety of acts – invasion and theft of land, displacement, violence, and loss of cultural rights upon the people.
Modern manifestations include continued displacement and isolation of reservations and rancherias, loss of language, and disruption of ceremony due to damaged land ecologies…[b]ut there are impacts beyond this, on the self – the brain and our genes.
A few years ago, I began extending my exploration of my positionality as a mixed-heritage womaxn researcher and began writing about connections to a branch of genetics that studies a phenomenon called epigenetic inheritance – the inheritance of a previous generation’s experiences in the form of functional gene differences. Maya-Lenca Chief Leonel Chavez, speaks about the connection between our brains and culture. Specifically, he talks about the aspects of belonging, expressing, and connecting within our communities as essential for maintaining personal well-being and how these experiences may transfer across our epigenomes; influencing ourselves and our descendants.
And like previous research that has been carried out with holocaust survivors, research in the last few years has shown a measurable difference in reactions to stress hormones among Indigenous populations with linkages to the methylation of genes regulating these stress responses – DNA methylation being one of the best described mechanisms of epigentic processes. There are some other biological changes of Indigenous bodies that are documented…[t]his is really just a scratch on the surface to illustrate that Western scientific evidence is undergoing a process of catching up to what many Indigenous communities have understood for a long time about influences of intergenerational historical trauma.
Weaving in a group guided meditation with the rest of my comments, I played Lift and directed those gathered to turn inward as I shared how mindfulness, meditation, contemplative, and ceremonial practices work to counteract the physical effects colonization. The whole practice was about ten minutes, and included how focus and breathe together as a group. I won’t relay the entire transcript here, but some of the key takeaways from the practice included:
There is evidence that mindfulness and meditation practices can interrupt the damaging stress response pathways of the brain. We want to impede the effects colonialism has constructed in the brain to create space in ourselves for the cultural practices and systems that were taken away or abandoned so that we continue the story of Indigenous cultures and land.
These practices are important not just for sustaining culture, but for reducing harm upon Indigenous bodies – whether a mindful meditation, an Indigenous contemplative practice, or even engaging in ceremony – we utilize deep, focused thought, listening, and uninterrupted attention to teachings, meanings, and kinships around us.
It is how we can be nurtured by the most ordinary and simple tool that we have.
Our breath.
And our aware presence.
As we talk about Indigenous Sustainability and protecting land and culture, we must acknowledge that this includes sustaining our self. Wellness encompasses the whole-person, as well as the land – the stresses and trauma of colonization crosses generations in our bodies. Honoring our Indigenous selves with practices to reduce and heal that trauma is part of that act towards sustainability.
Decolonization takes place as a process – multiple acts of practice added up throughout our journey. Colonization is traumatic, invasive and generational – honoring ourselves, creating space within ourselves so that we might continue the restoration of cultural practices and generate new ideas and knowledge for the advancement and empowerment of our peoples is also an act of Indigenous Sustainability.
Sitting in the night air of the patio with so much positive energy flowing through the audience during the meditation was just a lovely experience that I wish I could put into words. Engaging in prayer, contemplation, and song (which we shared several times throughout the two evenings I was able to attend) takes a trust and vulnerability that underlines these important gatherings in the continuity of our peoples and cultures.
You can experience some of this beautiful spirit that was cultivated with this short film produced on site by Sam Contreras.
The speakers, elders, students, musicians, and community members who came together, experienced, and explored our collective journeys as Indigenous peoples were truly inspiring. A huge thank you to all the organizers involved in bringing us to such a beautiful shared space.
Native American History is American History. And also, the present and the future.
I’ll be speaking on October 10 about protecting Indigenous lands and culture on a panel with Dr. Jace Kaholokula Saplan at the upcoming 3rd Annual Indigenous Peoples Day at CSU Stanislaus. The celebration spans two days and is free and open to the public. And, if you happen to be local to the area, there will also be a tree planing and blessing on October 14.
You can read more about the speakers who will be present here.
Music has long been a part of my identity, though I hesitate to call myself a musician. Having had the privilege to study music formally in college and work alongside extremely talented individuals who have gone on to contribute meaningfully to the field, knowing how much I don’t know, and the skills that I don’t have – these are all definitely reasons that give me pause. That said, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t continue to push the boundaries of my learning. Most recently, this has brought me into a space of exploring the creation of ambient soundscapes. This is the work that I am now sharing via Nicole Herself.
Instead of practicing a single instrument, I use a digital audio workstation to piece together sounds and phrases. I alter and layer until I have something that resembles a feeling or idea inside me.
The first piece, “Lift”, is available to stream now. Utilizing singing bowls in a non-traditional form, “Lift” represents the element of metal. Typically, singing bowls would be resonated over quite long phrases, moving from one tone to the next with only slight layering. Instead, I’ve chosen to have several tones layer over each other, focusing more on the bell-like qualities of the bowls.
I’ll be exploring the other elements in upcoming pieces, and who knows where this journey will take us.
Abstract: Despite the plethora of schooling options in Indigenous communities, the public policy debate, research, and discourse on school choice is almost entirely absent a specific engagement with how school choice intersects issues relevant to American Indian youth and tribal nations. This article suggests that Indian Country is an important and unique context for understanding the meaning and processes of school choice because of the government-to-government relationship between tribal nations and the federal government, the sovereign status of tribal nations, the nation-building goals of tribes, and the muddled history of schooling options within Native communities. We offer an alternative way of conceptualizing “school choice” that is more applicable to Indigenous communities and that has yet to be articulated in the literature. First, while schooling options have existed in Indian Country for much longer than has been the case in other communities, the presence of schooling options has not historically been centered upon offering youth and families choices. Instead, it has been about control—control of the schooling offered to Indigenous youth, and therefore, control of youth and communities themselves. Second, while school choice policies focus on autonomy as an important governance principle to prompt change in traditional public school systems, sovereignty has and remains the most salient governance issue within Indigenous communities.
It was quite an honor to be among scholars and Indigenous community activists acknowledged in Dr. McCarty’s Brown Lecture in Education Research given on October 22, 2015 to the American Educational Research Association.
For those of you who have not yet heard her talk “So That Any Child May Succeed – Indigenous Pathways Toward Justice and the Promise of Brown“, you may now watch the live-stream video by clicking here.
Abstract: There are ways of giving new life to cultural objects through the creation of photographic representations. Still life photographs are a medium easily distributable for tribes wishing to archive and advance their material culture. This article focuses on photographic representations of Native cultural objects as its own contemporary artistic practice. We posit that this practice can complement the archiving and preserving needs of museums by facilitating continued knowledge preservation within Native communities.
Although the images are printed in black & white in the article, I wanted to share with you a peek at the beautiful color versions.
(I highly recommend going someday and seeing all the wonderful exhibits in person as it is quite a treat!)
Basket photographs by Pat Hall Walters at the Arrowhead McDonalds on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon.
Photos in this post by Pat Hall Walters. Used with permission.
You can find the link to purchase the book directly from the publisher here.
I am so excited to announce that I am a contributing author to this community-driven research strategies volume. It was wonderful working with editor Andrew J. Jolivette and I feel so blessed to be published alongside so many wonderful voices.
I know things have been kind of silent from me for awhile. I attended the American Anthropological Association meeting in Washington D.C. in December (and had a really great time presenting collaborative work and making connections with researchers doing great work across the world) and unfortunately picked up the very nasty flu that was working its way across the East. My illness and recovery were both prolonged due to complications and I just kind of fell behind. (Like not getting around to writing about the conference and the awesome time I had visiting the National Museum of the American Indian and meeting the awesome Chickasaw jeweler Kristen Dorsey!)
In an attempt to get back into keeping up with my posting about my scholarship, I wanted to share some key sessions where you can find me hanging out at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Chicago and give you a glimpse into the kinds of activities I get up to within the association.
This year, I am completing my term as the Program Co-Chair for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas SIG. What’s that mean? It means for the last two conferences, I and a colleague have been in charge organizing the peer review of all the paper and panel submissions for our group and then crafting the program space at the conference. It is incredibly rewarding work to be able to see the work of our scholars across the world and craft the program from scratch. This year’s conference, in addition to the SIG program features more than 100 papers and presentations engaging Indigenous education topics.
If you are a tweeter attending the conference, please also look to join our online conversations happening at #IndigenousAERA through out the meeting. Share learning from your Indigenous panels and workshops and draw out themes and ideas from the discussions in which you participate. (Please let your groups know that you are serving as a witness to the event and respectfully not share anything that is requested to not be shared to the public.) There is so much happening at #IndigenousAERA this a great way to keep up with sessions you can’t attend as well. You can also follow the #IndigenousAERA tag from wherever you are if you are unable to attend. Feel free to reach out to me @nicolereneephd as well.
See you around Chicago/Twitter/The Interwebs.
Thursday, April 16 (6:15-8:15 pm) Indigenous Peoples of the Americas SIG Business Meeting, Marriott, Fifth Level, Los Angeles/Miami
SIG Business meetings are a great place to get to see how scholars in the SIG interact, learn about what what it means to be a part of the SIG, and the yearly activities. In our meeting, officers will report on our work from through out the year, give awards to honor scholars, and also hear a special paper presentation on Indigenous students’ sense of belonging during their first year in college.
Friday, April 17 (12:25-1:55 pm) Humanizing Research Praxis Toward Indigenous Justice: A Fireside Chat, Hyatt, West Tower, Gold Level, Hong Kong
This is a special session convened by the Social Justice Action Committee, as envisioned and organized by myself and my fantastic program co-chair Dr. Cueponcaxochitl D Moreno Sandoval. Building on Dr. Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s 2012 AERA Opening Plenary speech, “The knowing circle of Indigenous education: It is not enough just to know” and engaging the ideals of Humanizing Research, edited by Drs. Django Paris and Maisha T. Winn in their recent book “Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and their communities” (2014), this fireside chat continues the conversations about the complex and dynamic intersections of culture, language, and heritage in developing a research praxis. Dr. Graham Smith, along with Drs. Paris and Winn, along with emerging Indigenous scholars will speak to the ways that scholarship, educators, and institutions can undertake a critical-theory view and implement policies and strategies to include the principles of Indigenous-human justice and move us from knowing to action.
Saturday, April 18 (2:45-4:15 pm) AERA SIG Executive Committee and 2016 Annual Meeting SIG Program Chairs Centennial Planning, Hyatt, West Tower, Gold Level, Atlanta
In this governance session, key members of AERA will be present to discuss the planning of the 100th annual meeting of the AERA, to be held in Washington, D.C. in 2016 (hopefully by April of next year there will be no more flu there waiting for me!). I and my co-chair, along with other program chairs have been invited to engage in conversation about innovative, collaborative practices that our SIGs use to develop programs.
Monday, April 20 (10:35-12:05 pm) Indigenous Students Navigating Identity, Motivation, and Epistemology in Education: A Fireside Chat, Hyatt, West Tower, Gold Level, Acapulco
As this session is so dear to me, I am happy that it is the last one of this series of key sessions for my 2015 conference schedule. Dr. Eve Tuck began the fireside mentoring series at the 2013 AERA when Dr. Crystal Jensen and I were still graduate student assistants helping her with some of the program duties. Now in its third year, the session brings invited advancing scholars and mentor scholars into conversation with each other in round-table style presentations and dialogues about scholarship and navigating academic careers. The session is fluid in its form, incorporating whole group and small group teachings and learning. The session is always re-shaping based on the needs of our scholars and is a really great place to spend some time thinking together about the ways we move among our many different communities.
Abstract: Included in this commentary is a discussion of five key problems that permeate racial identification of Indigenous students in America’s public schools.
