Hubbard Lecture

Curtis Quam is a member of the A:shiwi (Zuni) Tribe and leads the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center where he has worked for over 20 years. He is a member of the Zuni Cultural Resource Advisory Team and has collaborated with museums across the United States and internationally. His work focuses on educating the Zuni community, particularly the youth, about their rich cultural history, traditions, and beliefs through various media. Quam is deeply involved in efforts to preserve and share A:shiwi language and culture, including their oral histories, art, and agricultural practices. In addition to this work on behalf of his community, Quam also serves on various advisory boards for cultural heritage organizations including Archaeology Southwest and the Chamiza Foundation.

Alex Seowtewa is an A:shiwi (Zuni) elder and religious leader, as well as a US Navy Veteran. During his military service he was part of the iconic Blue Angels, the flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy. Seowtewa is a certified cultural monitor and a member of the Zuni Cultural Resource Advisory Team (ZCRAT). Through this work he collaborates with Federal and state agencies, as well as museums and industry partners, to consult and protect A:shiwi cultural heritage. Seowtewa is also a dedicated mentor and farmer. He coaches and referees Zuni youth sports and works to keep traditional agricultural practices alive. His father, the late Dr. Alex Seowtewa Sr, was a famous Zuni painter who spent decades completing life-size kachina murals in the restored old mission church at Zuni Pueblo. Seowtewa serves on the Board dedicated to protecting these murals.

Octavius Seowtewa is an A:shiwi (Zuni) scholar, elder and religious leader. He supervises the Zuni Cultural Resources Advisory Team where he provides guidance on Zuni ancestral lands and cultural objects. Mr. Seowtewa is also a master silversmith specializing in needlepoint jewelry. Over the last 40 years he has been involved in numerous cultural preservation projects in the Southwest and around the world, including the Bears Ears National Monument Inter-Tribal Coalition. He has written and contributed to various books, journals, magazines, films and multi-media works focused on A:shiwi history and cultural preservation. Mr. Seowtewa is also the Community Lead for the Zuni (Re)Connections Through Time project.

Karen Charley is a member of the Hopi Tribe (Butterfly/Badger Clans) and is the Community Lead for Hopi (Re)Connections Through Time project. She was raised in Sichomovi, a village on First Mesa, where she learned traditional pottery techniques from her mother, Marcella Kahe, a renowned potter herself. Her pottery reflects traditional Hopi designs, often inspired by ancient pottery from villages such as Sikyatki and Awatovi. She is known for creating beautiful hand-coiled pieces like canteens, seed pots, and wedding vases, adorned with intricate red and black designs. Her works have been featured at prestigious events such as the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Museum of Northern Arizona's Hopi Show. Charley has won several awards for her art, including Best of Show and Best Traditional Pottery. Her pottery is also part of the permanent collections at notable institutions like the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Karen is dedicated to preserving Hopi artistic knowledge, language and traditions and has helped lead initiatives such as the Hopi Pottery Oral History Project.

Emmaline Naha is a member of the Hopi Tribe (Roadrunner Clan) and a renowned pottery artist from First Mesa. She has been making traditional Hopi pottery since the 1970s, having first learned from her grandmother Annette Silas and her mother Gertrude Adams as well as her aunt, Marcella Kahe. Naha is known for her traditional pottery which often incorporates designs inspired by the ancient Sikyatki style. Her creations include small seed jars, rattles, wedding vases, and canteens, which often feature classic Hopi motifs like parrots and bird tail patterns. Naha is known for using native Hopi clay and natural pigments such as beeweed for black designs, and her work is traditionally fired outdoors.

Daniel Byers is the founder and Director of Skyship Films. As a filmmaker focused on wildlife, climate, and indigenous rights, Daniel has worked in over 60 countries - from tracking cartels along the rivers of Honduras to chasing snow leopards through the mountains of Afghanistan. His award-winning films and photographs have been featured in hundreds of film festivals and publications around the world, including the Smithsonian, UK Guardian, BBC, and National Geographic. Daniel also writes and directs fiction. His first feature film, Eradication, was released in 2022, with his second in the works for next year. He completed his MFA at Columbia School of the Arts in 2022.

Carrie Heitman is an Associate Professor of anthropology and the Associate Director of the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at UNL. She is a globally engaged anthropologist, Southwestern archaeologist, and digital humanist, with a professional mission is to share inclusive pasts to build inclusive futures. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Virginia (2011) and, among other topics, her research explores how new technologies can support scholarly communication and facilitate responsible and inclusive digital access to cultural heritage information. Dr. Heitman has helped lead various collaborative, open-access digital cultural heritage projects including the Chaco Research Archive and the Salmon Pueblo Archaeological Research Collection. In addition to her digital scholarship, she has published various books and articles and has received two national anthropology awards. She is the project director for the (Re)Connections Through Time project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This project is a partnership with The Hopi Tribe, the Pueblo of Zuni, the National Museum of Natural History, the American Museum of Natural History, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.