Past Event

Date: Wednesday, November 19th, 2025
Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Location: Dunton Tower Room 1811

About the Lecture
This lecture weaves together stories of my family members to explore how Lokono maintained connections to their ancestral homelands and built new kinship networks away from their ancestral lands in post- independence Guyana. In the latter part of the 20th century increased migration transformed Indigenous communities and Indigenous women played a key role in supporting their communities. I begin with my mother’s story and end with mine. In between are stories of family members whose lives were shaped by the Amerindian Acts and government development policies.

About the Speaker
Shenella (she/her) is a Lokono and Afro-Guyanese scholar. She is a lecturer in the Indigenous Studies Program at Carleton University where she teaches courses on Indigenous-Settler Encounters, Indigenous Relationalities, Kinships and Knowledges, and Indigenous Sovereignties. Her current research explores intersections between histories of Indigeneity and Blackness through discussion of the complex relations between Indigenous peoples, Afro- Guyanese, and Indo-Guyanese; Afro-Indigeneity; and the African diaspora-centered nationalism that emerged in the early decades of Guyana’s independence. Shenella is also a member of the Great Lakes Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures and has worked with Lokono, Kalina, and Garifuna communities and organizations in the Caribbean. Her work with Indigenous communities and organizations has helped to shape her approach to building global Indigenous solidarities through learning, teaching, and activism.