On December 12, 2017, The Roddenberry Foundation announced winners of the inaugural 2018 Roddenberry Fellowship. Souta Calling Last (Blackfeet/Blood), who is Founder and Executive Director of Indigenous Vision (IV), has been chosen as one of the 20 Roddenberry Fellows to join the fellowship’s first ever cohort, which begins in January 2018. The twenty fellows were selected based on their commitment to their community, the boldness of their ideas, and the potential for immediate and sustainable impact in their work. The cohort will work on initiatives designed for lasting impact in the areas of civil rights, climate change, immigration, LGBTQ and women’s rights, and civic engagement.
Souta stood out among nearly 3,000 applicants during a competitive two round application process. As a fellow, Souta and her nonprofit will receive a $50,000 grant and tailored support to build and scale the IV Interactive Map & App. Focusing on Environmental Justice and Climate Change, the online interactive map & smartphone application is centered on empowering the Indigenous identity through the virtual reclamation of traditional territories and asserting the Indigenous right and benefit of environmental stewardship. Indigenous Geography and map making technology will be used to create virtual reality experiences that include audio, video, photo, and narrative of Indigenous Peoples and our landscape knowledge. Language, culture, and land will be at the highlight to empower leaders, community members, and activists with an educational tool grounded in Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and reinforced by western science. The IV Interactive Map & App is a revolutionary networking resource that provides a platform to learn about history, culture, environmental science, and efforts of protection. The project will allow for a large network of native and non-native alike to educate and assist in the protection of land and water.
“This project is a game changer for the way Indigenous history and importance of the landscape is taught. It will also support those in our communities working to preserve our sacred and significant sites and provides a powerful science and traditions backed tool for Leaders and educators.“
Over the course of 2018, Souta and her team will travel across the country to work with 84 sovereign American Indian Tribes, Nations, Villages, Pueblos, and Rancherias and off-reservation inter-tribal organizations and education centers. Community gatherings will be coordinated and held at various significant places to bring people together to reclaim our landscape narrative and protect significant sites. 500 significant places will be uploaded onto the map which includes research and documenting the cultural importance to local Indigenous People and environmental threats. Souta will visit 50 significant places to record the location, picture, tribal narrative, and produce new audio/video teaching traditional place name, cultural importance and actions to protect. New mapping layers will increase interaction and display of information to offer navigation, self-guided historical tours, traditional food systems, and connect land protection efforts. With the smartphone app people can travel and learn about significant places on the go with what Souta calls “An Elder in Your Pocket”. Souta is also working to turn this project into classroom curriculum so that Indigenous landscape narrative and history is taught from a tribal perspective. She says, “This project is a game changer for the way Indigenous history and importance of the landscape is taught. It will also support those in our communities working to preserve our sacred and significant sites and provides a powerful science and traditions backed tool for Leaders and educators.” Please join us in congratulating Souta! Mother Earth is excited.
#BodlyBetter #FellowsAssemble #KeepTraditionsAlive #indigenousbeauty #ReclaimOurNarrative #IVMedia
Please check out phase 1 of the IV Interactive Map here.
Please keep your eyes on Souta and the other fellows at https://roddenberryfellowship.org/fellows/ and on Facebook @TheRoddenberryFoundation
The Roddenberry Fellowship is a new 12-month program that supports establishing and emerging activist and funds projects that will make the U.S. more inclusive and equitable in a time of increasing unrest and intolerance. Learn more at www.roddenberryfellowship.org
