Native American & Indigenous Issues Symposium
ABOUT
The HUNAP Native American & Indigenous Issues Symposium showcases examples of Academic and Native Nations collaboration and envisions future partnerships. The symposium also highlights the important history and impact of King Phillip’s War/Metacom’s Rebellion in honor of the 350th anniversary of the start of this conflict. Registration has closed. This program is made possible with the generous support from the Harvard & The Legacy of Slavery Initiative, Harvard Library, Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development, the Office for Academic Culture and Community, and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
Symposium Day 1 (In person only)
Date: April 1, 2026
Location: The David Rubenstein Treehouse, 20 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02134
Schedule (Eastern Time):
- 5:30–6:00 PM: Opening Remarks
- 6:00–7:00 PM: Keynote Address — Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag)
- 7:00–9:30 PM: Opening Reception (immediately following the keynote)
Symposium Day 2 (In person only)
Date: April 2, 2026
Location: The David Rubenstein Treehouse, 20 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02134
Schedule (Eastern Time):
- 8:15–9:00 AM: Breakfast
- 9:00–9:15 AM: Opening Remarks
- 9:15–10:15 AM: Keynote Address — Christine DeLucia, Associate Professor of History, Williams College
- 10:15 AM: BREAK
- 10:25–11:35 AM: Panel 1: Braided Histories + Archive Access: Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard Library
- 11:50 AM–1:00 PM: Panel 2: Community Health Action Research at the Tribe (CHART): Reimagining American Indian Behavioral Health Services through a Tribal-Academic Partnership
- 1:00–2:00 PM: Lunch
- 2:00–3:15 PM: Panel 3: Indigenous Perspectives: Best Practices for Collaboration
- 3:15–3:30 PM: Closing Remarks
Keynote Addresses
No 50 Years of Peace: Events Leading to King Philip's War
Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag) is an author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, and lives in the Wampanoag Community of Mashpee on Cape Cod, MA. Coombs began her museum career in an internship at the Boston Children’s Museum and later worked there in the Native American Program. She and her colleague Paulla Dove Jennings (Narragansett) wrote children’s books for a museum series highlighting aspects of southern New England tribal cultures. Coombs also worked for 30 years in the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) of Plimoth Plantation, including 15 years as WIP’s Associate Director and 9 years at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Presently she does independent museum consulting and cultural presentations.
Always Remembering: Resistance and Reclamation in the Native Northeast
Christine DeLucia is Associate Professor of History at Williams College, and previously was Associate Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. She received her undergraduate degree in History and Literature at Harvard College in 2006, an M.Litt. in Environmental History at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2007, and her Ph.D. in American Studies at Yale University in 2012. She is the author of Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast, published in 2018 by Yale University Press in the Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity. In 2019 the book received the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians book award and the Honorable Mention from the National Council on Public History. She has also written for The Journal of American History, William and Mary Quarterly, Early American Studies, Los Angeles Review of Books, and others. She held a fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago to work on her second book, a study of Native American, African American, and colonial relationships in the Northeast in the era before, during, and after the American Revolution.
Panel 1: Braided Histories + Archive Access: Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard Library
April 2, 2026 at 10:25 AM
This panel will explore the relationship between Harvard University and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Focused on two projects, the Braided Histories Course taught in the Harvard Divinity School and an Archival Research Project through the Harvard Library. Braided Histories is a co-lead course with Professor Ann Braude and Majel Peters, exploring the connection between Harvard University and The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. The Archival Research Project began by focusing on fishing and hunting rights for The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and has expanded its focus. The goal of the project is to make accessible archival material related to the Tribe.
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Moderated by Tiya Miles, Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Panelists:
- David Weeden, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
- Majel Peters, Chair, Mashpee Tribal Historic Preservation Commission; Mashpee Project Lead, Tribal Archives Preservation and University Access Project (TAPUA), Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
- Saffron Sener, PhD candidate, Harvard Department of History
- Sarah Martin, Harvard Library Associate University Archivist for Community Engagement
Sarah Martin
Sarah Martin (she/her) is the Associate University Archivist for Community Engagement at the Harvard University Archives (HUA) and project manager for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe–Harvard Library partnership. In her current role, Sarah leads the planning...
Tiya Miles
Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is a public historian, academic historian, and creative writer whose work primarily explores the...
Majel Peters
Majel Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag communications professional with 20 years of experience working in marketing and design, and a Master's candidate in the Digital Humanities program at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her passion lies in the art and practice...
Saffron Senner
Saffron Hooper Sener (she/her) is a feminist scholar of Great Lakes environmental history in her third-year at Harvard. She focuses on histories of gender, sexuality, and the body as they intersect with the unique ecologies of the region and the American...
David Weeden
David Weeden is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. He also served on the Tribal Council for his Nation and co-leads the Historic Preservation Commission. Councilman Weeden is also on the Select Board for the Town of...
Panel 2: Community Health Action Research at the Tribe (CHART): Reimagining American Indian Behavioral Health Services through a Tribal-Academic Partnership
April 2, 2026 at 11:45 AM
This panel will focus on research done in collaboration between Professor Joseph Gone and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. The research focuses on behavioral health services and mental health access. The panel will discuss both the process of their work, the collaborative process, and results so far.
Moderated by Sahir Iqbal, Fellow in Anthropology, Harvard University
Panelists:
- Joseph Gone, Harvard University Native American Program Faculty Director; Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (Anthropology); Faculty of Medicine (Global Health and Social Medicine), Aaniiih-Gros Ventre
- Rachel Wilbur, Assistant Research Professor in the College of Medicine at Washington State University
- Michele Scott, Tribal Councilor, Mashantucket Pequot Nation
- Shaquanna Sebastian, Digital Communications Manager, Mashantucket Pequot Nation
Joseph Gone
Joseph P. Gone (Aaniiih-Gros Ventre) is an international expert in the psychology and mental health of American Indians and other Indigenous peoples. A professor at Harvard University, he has collaborated with tribal communities for 30 years to critique...
Sahir Iqbal
Sahir Iqbal, MPH, is a public health researcher and filmmaker whose work focuses on community-led approaches to Indigenous health and well-being. Trained in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, his work sits at...
Michele Scott
Michele Scott is a Tribal Councilor for the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation. She is the Chairwoman for the Tribe’s Health & Human Services Committee and Economic Development Committee. Prior to being elected to the Tribal Council in 2022, she...
Shaquanna Sebastian
Shaquanna Sebastian is a dedicated member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, currently serving as the Digital Communications Manager for the Mashantucket Pequot Communications Department. She is actively involved in various community initiatives...
Rachel Wilbur
Rachel E. Wilbur, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Research Professor with IREACH in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. She is descendant Tolowa and Chetco and grew up in northern California and western Washington state. Her research focus is on the role of...
Panel 3: Indigenous Perspectives: Best Practices for Collaboration
April 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM
This panel will explore best practices of Academic and Native Community partnerships from an Indigenous perspective. It will focus on trust and relationship building, defining mutually beneficial partnerships, challenges and barriers, examples of success stories, etc.
Moderated by Meredith Vasta, Collections Steward, Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians
Panelists:
- Mary Amanda McNeil, Mellon Assistant Professor, Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, Tufts University and Curator, Aquinnah Cultural Center, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
- Kimberly Toney, Coordinating Curator of Native American and Indigenous Collections, Brown University, Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc
- Loren Spears, Executive Director of Tomaquag Museum. Narragansett Tribal Nation
- Paula Peters, Public Relations and New Media Pundit, SmokeSygnals, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
Mary McNeil
Mary Amanda McNeil is a Mashpee Wampanoag scholar with deep kinship ties to the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah. She is Mellon Assistant Professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University and Curator and...
Paula Peters
Paula Peters is a politically, socially, and culturally active member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and owner of SmokeSygnals Communications. As an independent scholar and writer of Native, and particularly Wampanoag history, she is a producer of the...
Loren Spears
Lorén M. Spears, enrolled Narragansett Tribal Nation citizen and Executive Director of Tomaquag Museum, holds a master’s in education and received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa in 2017, from the University of Rhode Island and Doctor of...
Kimberly Toney
Kimberly Toney is an enrolled member of the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmuc and is the Inaugural Coordinating Curator of Native American and Indigenous Collections, jointly appointed to the John Carter Brown and John Hay Libraries at Brown University. Kim has...
Meredith Vasta
Meredith Vasta is a Collections Steward at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Currently, as a Collections Steward she focuses on the museum’s...
Parking Information
Hotel Accommodations
Atlas Hotel
40 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02134
Double Tree
400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, Massachusetts, 02134
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street Cambridge, MA 02138
A special thanks to
Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative
Harvard Library
Office for Academic Culture and Community
Harvard Kennedy School Project on Indigenous Governance and Development
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
