Wutahkeemun: Best Practices for Working With Indigenous Content, Citizens and Communities

The Vineyard Haven Public Library is pleased to welcome Wôpanâak educator Brad Lopes for a workshop on best practices for approaching Indigenous content, working with Native communities, and building relationships with sovereign Tribal Nations. The workshop is designed for educators, but non-educators are also welcome to attend. Free and open to the public. No registration required. 

This program will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, April 14th at the Tisbury EMS Facility, located at 215 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven. Attendees may park in the rear of the building and enter through the back entrance.

For many Native students and staff, school can be challenging. With roots in settler colonialism, schools today often fail to reflect the traditional pedagogies and methodologies Native people have employed for thousands of years. Join Aquinnah Wôpanâak educator Brad Lopes as he introduces an array of best practices for approaching Indigenous content, working with Native communities, and building relationships with sovereign Tribal Nations. Participants will learn about and discuss multiple pedagogies and methodologies grounded in Indigenous practices and traditions. Exploring epistemologies thousands of years old, this workshop aims to prepare participants to best support Wampanoag and other Native students, staff, and community members.

Brad Lopes is an Aquinnah Wampanoag citizen and life-long educator currently working within the traditional homelands of his people, the Wampanoag Nation. He currently serves as the Education Manager for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Education Department (TED) and as the Education and Public Programs Manager for the Aquinnah Cultural Center, an Aquinnah Wampanoag museum located on Nôepe (Martha's Vineyard). Prior to this, Brad went to the University of Maine Farmington, located in Wabanaki Homelands, and graduated with a degree in Secondary Education before spending five years teaching Social Studies to students in 7 - 12 grade. In his time in education, Brad has sought to decolonize the pedagogies, content, and ways of understanding education, including the ways in which public education can reinforce stereotypes and harmful understandings of Indigenous people.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.