People | Sheka named Miss Social Distance Powwow

RAPID CITY, S.D.

The Social Distance Powwow has awarded WynterRose Lillian Swan Sheka, Navajo/Zuni/Ho-Chunk, the Miss Social Distance Powwow Princess crown for 2022-23.

This is Sheka’s second year in a row serving as Miss Social Distance Powwow.

The Social Distance Powwow is an online Facebook group with almost 300,000 group members from over 100 countries around the world. It was created by co-founders Dan Simonds, Stephanie Hebert and Whitney Rencountre in March of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The powwow’s mission is to create a space for community and cultural preservation, retain cultural knowledge through song, dance and arts, and bring marginalized perspectives to the world for future generations.

In 2021 Sheka helped organize a coat drive with her family for children of her community of Tohatchi, New Mexico.

Sheka said, “If we take care of each other, help one another, the future generation will grow and experience life in a safe and healthy environment.”

Sheka was a student of Laberta Etsitty 10 years ago and wanted to give back to her community by gifting students a winter coat.

“I would like for everyone to ‘keep moving and dancing’ into 2022 and the years to come,” Sheka said. “My parents Lea and Matt have given me a beautiful life and I am so thankful for them for everything they do for me.

“I would like to thank my older and younger siblings for being there for me, all my maternal and paternal relatives who have been supportive and encouraging throughout my life especially my grandmothers Rose and Margaret.

“Please continue to take care of yourselves, be happy, healthy, and I will see you all at the next powwow,” she said.

She is a member of the sports teams of the Tohatchi High Lady Cougars. Her coaches are Tanisha Bitsoi, Daryl Bitsoi and Jonathan Gee.

Sheka also gives a special shout out to Helena Tsosie for making her the new pink outfit.

Lowe confirmed as chair of National Endowment for Humanities

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Feb. 2 voted to confirm Shelly C. Lowe, Diné, as the 12th chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Lowe, from Ganado, Arizona, said, “Having grown up in a small rural Navajo community in northeast Arizona, I have personally seen how the humanities can help sustain and strengthen individuals, communities, and institutions, yet I am alert to the fact that access to humanities resources remains unevenly distributed across our country.”

She said she looks forward to expanding opportunities for all Americans to participate in and benefit from humanities-centered research, education, and public programs.

Lowe grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado.

From 2015 to 2021, she served as a member of the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory body to NEH, an appointment she received from President Obama.

Lowe’s career in higher education has included roles as executive director of the Harvard University Native American Program, assistant dean in the Yale College dean’s office, and director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University.

Before these positions, she spent six years as the graduate education program facilitator for the American Indian Studies Programs at the University of Arizona.

Lowe has served in various leadership roles nationally, most recently as a member of the University of Arizona Alumni Association Governing Board and of the Challenge Leadership Group for the MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellowship.

She has served on the National Indian Education Association board and as a trustee on the board for the National Museum of the American Indian.

Lowe holds a bachelor’s in sociology, a master’s in American Indian studies, and has completed doctoral coursework in higher education from U of A.

Lawrence Bacow, president of Harvard, said, “It is no wonder that Shelly Lowe has been tapped to serve the public as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is an individual of extraordinary experience, insight, and wisdom, and she cares deeply about the humanities and the central role they play in all of our lives.”

Mach joins Peabody Museum as curator

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology on Feb. 2 announced that Stephanie Mach has accepted the position of curator of North American ethnographic collections and will be starting in early April 2022.

Mach, Diné, is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and an anthropologist.

She has a decade of professional museum experience and is currently pursuing a doctorate in museum anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.

She joins the Peabody Museum from the Penn Museum, where she served as the Penn Museum Diversity Committee co-chair.

Mach’s dissertation project interrogates museum practices of care, highlighting the responsibilities that result from museum stewardship of Native American cultural items.

Her research focuses on decolonizing museum care practices and their broader implications for both Indigenous communities and the transformation of museums.

“The Peabody is committed to seeking meaningful changes in its relationships with tribal nations and in support of Native American and Indigenous students, scholars, artists, and communities,” Mach said.

Senior Curator Diana Loren said, “Her deep expertise in relationship-building and experience in community-based collaborative research will be critical as we strive to be ethical stewards and address the complex history of relationships between Native American communities and museum anthropologists.”

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