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UC Berkeley students and faculty gathered Monday to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, a daylong event focused on the culture, dance and history of native people.

A collaboration between the UC Berkeley department of theater, dance and performance studies and the American Indian Graduate Student Association, the celebration of Indigenous People’s Day featured speakers and performers at the Bancroft Dance Studio, on the corner of Bancroft Avenue and Dana Street.

Performing-arts students made up the bulk of the audience members for many of the presentations, which included a talk by graduate student Peter Nelson on the study of archaeology and anthropology’s effect on native cultures. Edwardo Madril, a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and a professional dancer, performed the hoop dance and other traditional Native American dances.

“It’s not magical; it’s not mystical. It may be profound — I don’t know,” Madril said. “The image of an American Indian has been around for a couple hundred years, but we still seem to be a spectacle.”

Indigenous People’s Day is a movement to counter Columbus Day, the federal holiday falling on the second Monday of October each year that celebrates Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492. According to Timothy Molino, a UC Berkeley graduate student in the department of ethnic studies and a member of the American Indian Graduate Student Association, Columbus Day fails to acknowledge the flourishing Native American culture that exists today.

“Rather than Columbus Day, this is a movement to recognize indigenous people,” Molino said. “It’s about recognizing these cultures rather than the defeat of these cultures.”

Indigenous People’s Day celebrated its second year on campus. The event was prompted when a UC Berkeley production resulted in outcry from the Native American community in the spring of 2012. The play, “Ishi: The Last of the Yahi,” elicited negative reactions from the American Indian Graduate Student Association and other groups for what some claimed to be an inaccurate and harmful depiction of Native American culture.

Lisa Wymore, a UC Berkeley associate professor of dance whose students took part in the event, said the department decided to start Indigenous People’s Day as a way to address the tension left over from the production.

The program received funding from the Office of Vice Chancellor of Equity and Inclusion Gibor Basri, the American Indian Graduate Program and the department of ethnic studies, according to Olivia Chilcote, chair of the American Indian Graduate Student Association.

“This day is about sharing culture, but it’s also about remembering history,” Chilcote said. “It would be really great if UC Berkeley were to make this a campuswide event.”

Libby Rainey is the lead higher education reporter. Contact her at lrainey@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @rainey_l.

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Campus alumnus John Fisher’s play “Ishi: The Last of the Yahi,” which ran from March 2 to March 11, sparked outcry from the campus American Indian Graduate Student Association and American Indian community, which has since met with the department to discuss concerns with the play and how the department can better reach out to underrepresented communities on campus.

The play, according to the department’s website, explores the life of Ishi, the last remaining member of the Yahi tribe, and his time as an object of study at the campus Hearst Museum of Anthropology with anthropologist Alfred Kroeber beginning in 1911.

“Particularly offensive was the depictions of Native characters in the play and the intense physical violence done to them,” said Peter Nelson, anthropology graduate student and member of the association, in an email. “The play tries to speak for Native people, and in doing so, it takes our voice away.”

Department chair and associate professor Peter Glazer said the department and community have already held several meetings — and will continue to hold more — to address qualms about the play, ask and answer questions and provide commentary.

“It’s so problematic because the audience is led to believe that the actions Ishi commits in the play are actually true historical accounts,” said Tria Andrews, ethnic studies graduate student and association member. “It’s important that we recognize that we have to be careful with whose stories we tell and how.”

Glazer said that plans for a meeting  held late Tuesday afternoon were announced at each show over the past weekend. Though performance dialogues are generally held only for the department, they were opened up to the public “as soon as it became clear that there was so much controversy and so much hurt,” Glazer said.

“I don’t think we expected the reaction that we got,” he said. “We consider that an oversight on our part. We should have been more sensitive and vigilant about the subject matter.”

Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion Gibor Basri said in an email that he encourages the discussions facilitated by the department.

He added that the discussions are the sort of actions that should be carried out in response to unintended negative consequences in the campus community.

“It is not possible to always avoid such actions, but it is good to own them and move forward — with apology as appropriate,” Basri said in the email. “It would be helpful if such responsibility were taken more often.”

Geena Cova covers academics and administration.

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