51ÁÔĆć

On September 10th, over 80 students, staff, and community members gathered at the EQI Fire Circle for an afternoon of connection, storytelling, and shared nourishment at the Fire Circle Soup event—co-hosted by the American Indian Student Center and the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education. 

The event featured two soups styled after the “Stone Soup” story tradition; the ingredients were contributed by staff from both offices or harvested from our on-campus Indigenous gardens, including beans and squash from the Three Sisters plantings. The soup preparation, serving, and cleanup were supported by Indigenous Kinship and Responsibility scholars, whose efforts helped bring the event to life. Attendees also enjoyed Oneida Strawberry Drink, adding a sweet touch to the meal. 

The atmosphere was filled with laughter, warmth, and a strong sense of community. Conversations flowed easily around the fire, creating space for new connections and shared stories. The event wasn’t just about the food; it was about being in community and sharing space – physical and emotional – with one another, something that’s often hard to come by in the busy rhythm of campus life. 

Fire Circle Soup is part of our broader effort to foster cross-campus relationships and create open, welcoming spaces for students and staff to gather. By centering food, culture, and community thrive, making the event a powerful reminder of how shared meals and traditions can foster feelings of belonging, spark meaningful conversations, and build bridges across campus. It highlights the importance of shared responsibility and kinship, not only in the preparation and serving of the soup, but also in the way people show up for one another embodying the tradition of community. 

Looking ahead, all are invited to our Community Feast on October 16th, starting at 4:00p.m.  where founding members and supporters of the American Indian Student Association will be welcomed to share the history and creation of the student organization. 

Offices or groups interested in co-hosting a future Fire Circle Soup are encouraged to reach out to Breann Clark for more information.

In the summer of 2024, the Electa Quinney Institute (EQI) and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) partnered up to help revitalize the land on some of the MMSD Green Seems parcels. The land parcels were primarily old agricultural land that is now being turned into a more natural habitat. Each one of these parcels of land has unique features to them.

EQI was able to hire seven student interns over the summer to help revitalize the land using Indigenous knowledge. Dr. Nathon Breu and his students spent two days each week in the classroom reading, engaging in discussions, doing research, and reviewing the relationships they were forming with the land and what the land was telling them. The other three days of the week were spent out on the land removing invasive species. While doing so, they observed the land and all the beings that are living on the land watching them. They worked towards rebuilding relationships with the environment and forming bonds amongst us. Dr. Nathon Breu described it as “an eye-opening experience for us all as we started to rebuild our relationship with the land and all its beings.” At the end of the internship, students presented their research to members of MMSD and the community.

Future initiatives for land revitalization will draw on the expertise of Potawatomi language specialist, Michael Zimmerman Jr., who will integrate Indigenous knowledge with contemporary land management policies. The Potawatomi language will be the primary medium for developing initial directions for the project, as the Greenseams parcels are located on land originally ceded in the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, where the Potawatomi were the primary residents at the time of negotiation.

Below are four students who shared reflections of their internship experience:

Julie Marie Contreras:

“My experience with EQI over the summer of 2014 was learning about what a true community is, and how communities develop outside of western society. On top of that, we developed skills to help us work with our environment. Our best times were spent outside getting to know the land and conversing with each other about our experiences. Our leaders expressed so much interest in us individually and helped us gain indigenous knowledge at our own pace.”

Aaron Kia Napunako Boyd:

“The summer internship with EQI is the first class where I’ve gotten to experience a balance of academic literature and field time when discussing modern/contemporary models of worldview and thinking from an indigenous perspective. With a focus on relationships between people and how we’ve used the land, it was a great opportunity to actually see what the results are from people’s actions in how we go about taking care or shaping an environment. Standing in spaces that were used in commercial agriculture and seeing how that has impacted the land is much easier to understand than reading about it in a book or hearing about it on the TV. For someone like me who is of Indigenous ancestry, (Kanaka Maoli), it was a class I take pride in being involved with as I got to understand the history of this area and what the relationship should begin to look like when it comes to revitalizing a healthier relationship. I also think that this internship’s topic seemed to be easier for non-indigenous students to feel comfortable in engaging in alternative worldviews than their own or any preconceived ideas about kinship to the land/environment.”

Andrew Mark Wehrheim:

“This summer I was part of the 51ÁÔĆć/EQI Indigenous Stewardship Land Management internship which was a combination of in class teaching and discussion, readings from Indigenous authors providing Indigenous perspectives, and field work at various properties owned by Milwaukee Metro Sewage District. I enjoyed the range of experience and learning that the internship provided as well as the opportunity to establish relationships with and learn from my fellow classmates and teachers. I feel that I grew in my relationship with the land and became more aware and appreciative of the land that surrounds me and upon which I live. I also realized how often I’ve taken the beauty and bounty of this land for granted. My favorite part of field work was ripping out buckthorn from a prairie area at one of the properties and being able to see the results of clearing out that invasive species. I also enjoyed being greeted by my biineshiinyag (bird) friends when we visited the properties. This was a great opportunity, and I am grateful that I was chosen to participate in this internship.”

Otoao Medina:

“I had a transformative summer thanks to this internship. This immersive experience taught me so much about land restoration, indigenous peoples, and the relationships that connect us all. I would recommend this experience to anyone, especially to folks who are passionate about land and people.”