Those attending the event will be treated to a presentation by Laura Tohe called Armed with Our Language, We Went to War: The Navajo Code Talkers. Following the presentation, the famous Yellow Bird Productions hoop dancing group will perform.
Tohe is Diné (Navajo) and Tsénáhábiãnii (Sleepy Rock People Clan), and she is born for the Tódich’inii (Bitter Water Clan).
She is a Dan Schilling Public Scholar for the Arizona Humanities Council. Her books include No Parole Today, Making Friends with Water (chapbook) and Sister Nations (edited). Additionally, Tséyi, Deep in the Rock won the Glyph award for Best Poetry and Best Book by the Arizona Book Association.
Her commissioned libretto, Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio, made its world premier in 2008 and was performed by The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. Her current book, Code Talker Stories, is an oral history book scheduled for a fall 2012 publication date.
Tohe is a professor of indigenous literature with distinction at Arizona State University.
The Yellow Bird Production group has toured South America and performed at the request of the U.S. State Department. It also has been featured in music videos with recording artist Nelly Furtado and has appeared on the American Billboard Music Award Show and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
For more information, including directions to the Superstition Mountain Campus, please visit http://nativeamerican.eventbrite.com/ or contact Dora Tompkins, community events coordinator, by phone at 520-494-5223.
