Month: November 2024

World Champion Hoop Dancer Lisa Odjig to Perform at UConn

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In honor of Native and Indigenous Heritage Month, world champion hoop dancer Lisa Odjig (Wiikwemkoong First Nation) will perform at two UConn events in November. The events are supported by the UConn Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) in the Department of Social and Critical Inquiry.

Odjig's first performance will take place at the UConn Women's Basketball halftime show on Nov. 10 at 4:30 p.m. The following day, she will lead a classroom performance followed by a Q&A/workshop on Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. in the School of Business Building. Both events are open to all students.

A two-time World Hoop Dance Champion, Odjig was introduced to hoop dancing at a young age by her uncle. She has since dedicated her life to performing this traditional and powerful art form across the U.S., Canada, and internationally.

Lisa Odjig performs a traditional hoop dance

WGSS Co-Sponsors Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium

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A group of participants poses in front of a display of puppets at the Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium.
From left to Right: Katharine Capshaw, CLAS associate dean and professor of English and social and critical inquiry; Jeffrey Ogbar, professor of history and Africana studies; Paulette Richards, curator and puppetry historian; Vibiana Bowman, Rutgers University; John Bell, director of the Ballard Institute of and Museum of Puppetry; Nancy Naples, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of sociology and social and critical inquiry; Khalilah Brooks, puppeteer, Aunty B’s House; Stephen L. Ross, professor of economics; and Jacqueline Wade, filmmaker and puppeteer.

The Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Area in the Department of Social and Critical Inquiry co-sponsored the Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium, which took place Oct. 25-26, 2024.

Hosted by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, the event offered an interdisciplinary exploration of how puppetry in the U.S. has intersected with the Civil Rights Movement, residential segregation, and the Women’s Movement. It featured several panel discussions; a film screening on African American puppetry; and a keynote by curator Paulette Richards, an adjunct instructor in the UConn School of Fine Arts.

The event was attended by scholars, puppeteers, and activists from across the U.S. and abroad. Participants from the Department included CLAS Associate Dean and Professor Katharine Capshaw and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Nancy Naples.