The smell of fresh sage filled the painted room with inter-tribal student advice in the McCarthy Hall, welcoming visitors to a space covered with colored tapestries, a shelf with Native American memories and a freshly harvested sage wrapped in a red rope.
Dating from a small group of students in the 1970s, the ITSC continues a long heritage for the Amerindian and Aboriginal community of Cal State Fullerton.
The inter-tribal student council is a student organization that organizes events and builds a community for all people of Turtle Island, a term used by many Amerindians and Aboriginal people to refer to North and South America. They endeavor to provide students of indigenous origin with a space to explore identities and cultural practices.
ITSC is funded under the students associated through the association for Intercultural Awareness, a financing service for all cultural clubs on the campus. With this funding, they provide materials and tools so that people learn with their culture.
Although the Amerindian community of CSUF is small, it is the one that deeply cares about its inheritance.
“We are going to bring people from different tribes who really help people with line,” said Rosalina Camacho, ITSC advisor who has been playing this role since 2000.
All students are welcome at the ITSC, it doesn’t matter if they are of Native American or simply curious about culture.
“We welcome and accept anyone who has an inheritance or an indigenous association,” said Sean Garcia, treasurer for ITSC. “We also welcome the allies.”
The room of long houses serves as a meeting point for the community, its name with a deep cultural importance for the Amerindian tribes and where they host a range of events. From film watch celebrations to craft workshops, they offer students the opportunity to reconnect with their native heritage, which can be difficult to do alone.
“It is regrettable that many Aboriginal people have a restriction to access a culturally appropriate outfit, works of culturally appropriate art,” said Garcia. “I think that is why many people come to us; We provide them with these things at no cost. ”
In addition to their small events, they host older people like Powwows to perform cultural dances of the different tribes of students.
Modern Pow-Wows have a history that extends in the 19th century, passing from the reconstructions of “Grass Dance” warriors from the region of the Great Plains to a large gathering of various tribes following the reservation system.
“Powwow Dancing is considered very, very special,” said Kenya Perezgil, president of the ITSC graduated this spring. “In a way for urban natives and traditional natives, regardless of the history of this person, come together and rejoice in the community.”
The urban natives refer to the Amerindians who live in the reserve, according to Camacho.
“I am thinking of the Amerindians separated from the family, and they were brought to California and accommodated in Los Angeles,” said Perezgil.
Being further from the largest native community can make it difficult for urban natives to connect with their culture outside of reserves, which increases the importance of events like Powwows.
The ITSC Powswows were a success, but Camacho said that the school and the community were waiting for them too often. This made the ITSC felt under pressure, so they changed their model to focus on their community.
“This is not the only thing we are. We are more than Pow-Wows, we are more than we wear and dancing and we are looking for pretty photos,” said Camacho. “(Students) started to make smaller, more intimate rallies, more to want to connect individually.”
Garcia has shed light on what being Amerindian means for him and others in his community. While assimilation has led his family to lose his true identity, he is persistent to become more in contact with his ancestry.
“(It means) to be part of a long and long line of persistence, to return to who my family, who we were and are and the forces that come with it.”