Lafayette professor gives talk at Akwesasne Mohawk Nation

Anthropology and Sociology professor Andrea Lynn Smith gave a talk about her new book,
Memory Wars, Aug, 4 at the Akwesasne Cultural Center in Akwesasne (Hogansburg),
New York, a territory of the Mohawk Nation (Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe). Smith’s book
considers historical markers to the Sullivan Expedition, a Revolutionary War mission that
destroyed over 40 Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) settlements. There are hundreds of markers
celebrating this expedition in New York alone. Many Haudenosaunees, including some
members of the Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk Nation), were allied with the British during the conflict. An engaged discussion about land theft and hidden histories followed Smith’s presentation. Some audience remembered how Mohawk leaders used the historical markers to tell an oppositional story in a well-known traveling college. MORE

Submitted by: Andrea Smith