Clark University will celebrate Indigenous communities on October 16 in a special event showcasing the culture of the Ts’msyen people of the Pacific Northwest.
There are about 45,000 Ts’msyen people in the world, with approximately 10,000 registered in First Nations communities in Canada and in the Metlakatla Indian Community on the Annette Islands in Alaska.
The October 16 event will feature remarks by Athena Callender, a Worcester native member of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc tribe, followed by performances by The Pickle Jars — a group made up of Clark students — and Jeremy Pahl, known musically as Saltwater Hank.
Saltwater Hank is the stage name of Jeremy Pahl, a Ts’msyen musician based in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, who is dedicated to resisting the erasure of Indigenous culture and language.
Geography Professor Max Ritts, whose research explores the intersections of social power, sensory practice, and ecological transformation — with a particular focus on Indigenous community contexts — notes that Pahl is working to return a once-endangered dialect, Sm’algya̱x, to circulation among and across Ts’msyen Indigenous communities.
“He works with elders and youth, and his music forms the basis of a joyous and critical rethinking of how Indigenous peoples are using art and language to articulate political visions and restore community justice more generally,” Ritts explains.
This event is sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Graduate School of Geography, the Center for Community Engagement and Volunteering, the Alice Coonley Higgins Institute for Arts and Humanities, the Office of Identity, Student Engagement, and Access, and the Center for Gender, Race, and Area Studies.
