Afro-Indigenous Kin Project: Partially Sponsored by Afro-Indigenous Kin

Description:

The Afro-Indigenous Kin project aims to instill pride in the next generation of Afro-Indigenous people and will feature art and written work that showcases and celebrates Afro-Indigenous existence and experiences.

Hosts:

Keisha Erwin (they/them) is an urban reconnecting nīhithaw kaskitīwithiniw from Toronto but who has grown up around the world. Keisha is passionate about their language (nīhithawīwin) and is an emerging artist.

Shanese Indoowaaboo Steele is an Afro-Indigenous, Fat Femme living and learning on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg people and the Dish With One Spoon Wampum. Shanese has spent the last 10 years as an activist facilitating workshops, creating curriculum, giving training and guest speeches on Black and Indigenous Issues. Founder of the non-profit Aazhganan Project, Shanese works to educate Racialized and Indigenous peoples on their shared histories.

Jaelyn (she/her) is an Afro Inuk who is originally from a small community in Northern Labrador called Nain, Nunatsiavut. She recently graduated from Carleton University with a double honours degree in Law and Indigenous studies and works for a Indigenous NGO as a training and development manager.

Amber Starks aka Melanin Mvskoke (she/her) is an Afro Indigenous activist, organizer, cultural critic, decolonial theorist, and budding abolitionist. Her passion is the intersection of Black and Native American identity. Her activism seeks to normalize, affirm, and uplift the multidimensional identities of Black and Native peoples through discourse and advocacy around anti-Blackness, abolishing blood quantum, Black liberation, and Indigenous sovereignty.