Paul DeMain (Skabewis)

This event features Paul DeMain (Skabewis), who is Oneida and Ojibwe from the Lac Coutre Oreilles reservation in Northern Wisconsin. He is the former editor of News from Indian Country (published from 1986-2019), a producer for IndianCountryTV.com, and currently the Board Chair for the Minnesota environmental advocacy organization, Honor the Earth. Participants will have the opportunity to engage DeMain’s unique, decades-informed insights on the importance of controlling your own narrative and why stories from the margins are so vital to our contemporary conversations.

Paul DeMain’s visit to the University of Kansas supports the Lied Center’s Mellon Foundation grant, “Utilizing the Performing Arts to Enhance DEI Initiatives.” The project will consist of the creation, implementation and assessment of a new curriculum at KU that will explore issues of diversity, equity and inclusion through the performing arts. The DEI curriculum will have an interdisciplinary approach and will feature Lied Center guest performing artists who represent and uplift marginalized identities and voices through their work.

This project is a collaboration across the KU campus and the community which includes members from the Lied Center of Kansas, University Honors Program, Center for Teaching Excellence, Center for Undergraduate Research, Department of American Studies, Native American Initiatives, and the Indigenous Consultant, Jancita Warrington (Menominee, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk Nations).

This event is made possible by the support of the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, with support from the Lied Center, the department of English, and The Commons.