Indigenous storytellers Darlene Kascak, Kinsale Hueston, and Anne Jennison share stories of tradition and Indigenous culture during Native American Heritage Month.
After Dinner Stories: Indigenous Knowledge Keepers
Darlene Kascak
Schaghticoke Tribal Nation
Darlene Kascak (Schaghticoke Tribal Nation) is the Education Coordinator at The Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, Connecticut. Her experience as an educator, tour guide, museum assistant and Traditional Native American Storyteller has taught her the importance of educating both young and old about the many misconceptions and stereotypes about her ancestors. Her style of teaching from a Native American’s point of view allows children and adults the opportunity to have a new understanding of Connecticut’s Indigenous Peoples lives both in the past and in the present.
Kinsale Hueston
Navajo Nation
Kinsale Hueston is a 2017-2018 National Student Poet and a student at Yale University. An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, Kinsale’s work centers on personal histories, Diné stories, and contemporary issues affecting her tribe— particularly violence against Native women and settler-colonial violence, resource extraction, and land/body relationships. She began her career at the age of 15 as a theater artist in Los Angeles, with roles in Urban Rez by Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota) and Fairly Traceable by Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee). She has since appeared in Running Shadow (The American Film Institute, 2018), ACKIA (Lenape Arts Center, 2018), numerous staged readings for the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program, and narrated Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Rick Riordan Presents, 2019)
Anne Jennison
Abenaki
Anne Jennison is a traditional Native American storyteller with both European and Abenaki heritage. Anne's storytelling skills have been polished by more than 30 years of experience sharing Indigenous lesson stories with audiences of all kinds. With Master Degrees in both Storytelling and History, Anne also brings a wealth of cultural and historical knowledge to enrich her retelling of timeless Northeast Woodlands Native American stories. Anne is listed on the New Hampshire Traditional Artists Roster as a traditional Abenaki storyteller & craftsperson, as well as on the Touring Artist Roster and the Teaching Artist Roster for the New England Foundation for the Arts (https://www.creativeground.org/search). Anne is also a member of both the NH Commission on Native American Affairs and the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective. Additionally, Anne is an affiliate faculty member for the University of New Hampshire Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Minor and a co-creator of the "People of the Dawnland" interpretive exhibit about the Abenaki/Wabanaki peoples at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH. For more info: https://www.annejennison.com or jennison.anne@gmail.com