It is with great pleasure that I write to you and welcome you to the relaunch of the AHVA newsletter! Building upon the stellar work of several former directors and staff, we felt it was time to reach out with a semi-annual update to keep in touch and to build and maintain relations. We are in relations here in the department and with all of you.
Having completed six seasons as Head, I have learned so much about the internal functions of the department and the larger university. I am elated to say that I enjoy my position immensely and am here to do good work for you—our alumni, faculty, lecturers, sessional instructors, staff, students, and friends of the department. This issue brings you news about all the goings-on in the department.
As a department, we have embarked on an important decolonizing project. Recently, nine staff and faculty completed the Squamish-led leadership transformation workshop Mi tel’nexw, which means “to figure it out” in the local Salish language. One teaching that has stayed with me from that workshop is being with one another in respect. Another recalls my own Lakota teachings about the medicine wheel and leading a life in which the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional realms are in balance. All staff and faculty are currently working with one of the facilitators of the Mi tel’nexw workshop, Ta7talíya Michelle Lorna Nahanee, who is leading us all through a two-part seminar called Decolonize First.
In this moment of global pandemic, our department is operating mostly online and as we strive to give the best instruction to students, and maintain good relations with one another, this newsletter reaches out to all of you in the hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well, and that you are enjoying life with music, literature, art, storytelling, and dancing in the living room! Here’s to being in good relations with that which gives you pleasure, nourishment, and overall lifts you up!
We welcome your comments, news, suggestions, and proclamations! I look forward to hearing from you—keep in touch!
Take care,
Dana Claxton
Head and Associate Professor
December 2020