Arizona’s history of the LGBT+ community begins long before Arizona was a state with the Native American belief of two-spirits, continuing on through to the seismic shift of Civil Union/ Marriage Equality. There are some surprises along the way as we talk about artists and Arizona connections to Warhol, Keith Haring, and those muscle magazines […]
During WWII a group of young Navajo men enlisted in the Marines without knowing that they would be called on to develop a secret code against the Japanese military. This select group of Code Talkers devised a Navajo language code that was accurate, quick, never broken, and saved many American lives. This talk profiles four […]
There has been a lot of attention on pronouns in the news headlines recently—from state bills aimed at regulating pronouns in the classroom to social media platforms offering pronoun options. So, what is a pronoun? How are pronouns related to gender identity, such as cisgender, transgender, nonbinary? What are gender identities? Is there a difference […]
In 1961 a newspaper article discussed a proposal to build an 18-story, 600-room hotel inside the Grand Canyon descending from the south rim to the canyon floor. A letter-writing campaign ensued that succeeded in blocking the hotel. But lawmakers instead passed a bill that allowed the company to mine uranium there—they never had any intention […]
In today’s digital world, anyone can publish their writing. Anyone can make a movie. The democratization of knowledge or content creation has given a voice to untold stories. But there is a flipside. Who, or what, gets to create knowledge? Can AI systems create knowledge? When Chat GPT writes a student’s paper, is that original […]
The debate over what happens in the classroom continues to escalate as politics creep into curriculum. What can be taught, what can be said, and what pronouns teachers can use are all in question. What are the new bills and school policies being introduced in Arizona? How is legislation in other states influencing the national […]
The Art of Drag -- a performance of exaggerated gender expression intended to highlight the performative aspect of gender --has never been more popular or controversial than it is today. This program, presented by ASU faculty member and Drag Story Hour Arizona president David Boyles and local drag legend Felicia Minor, will discuss the history […]
Many Arizonans call the Sonoran Desert and its striking landscapes home. Long before our urban centers and city lights lit up the dark desert skies, the Tohono O’odham were cultivating and shaping the land with abundant agriculture—from squash and beans to corn and cotton. For generations they passed down their rich knowledge and culture grown […]
Ancient American Indian petroglyphs (symbols carved or pecked on rocks) and pictographs (rock paintings) are claimed by some to be forms of writing for which meanings are known. But are such claims supported by archaeology or by Native Americans? Archaeologist Allen Dart illustrates how petroglyph and pictograph styles changed through time and over different parts […]
Farming has always been the way of life for the Tohono O’odham community in San Xavier, located just south of Tucson. Their way of life depended on access to the land and to the water, namely the Santa Cruz River, which nourished agriculture in the area for generations. But a history of division sown through […]
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