This day-long workshop provides a space for collaborative learning about ethnic, gendered, and cultural practices that define our collective history and present reality. Led by Dianne Honoré, one of NOMA’s Creative Assembly Cohort members, program participants will explore local histories, cultures, and approaches to interpreting history and culture through talks, performances, and healing rituals.

The series promotes healing through safe, engaging, and respectful dialogue and activities among participants. Participants will adopt a traditional view of healing that emphasizes the power of narrative to promote well-being, balance, and harmony. 

Indigenous elders believe that health is connected to understanding the story of our lives, summed up in four questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? It is important to explore these questions as a collective to heal historical trauma within and between our communities.

This event is free and open to the public. 

Program Schedule

Land Acknowledgment 

Scierra LeGarde, member of the Bayou Lacombe Band of Choctaw and People of the Sacred Medicine Trail

Introduction

Dianne Honoré

Talk and Q&A |  Historical Trauma and Healing Practices 

Heather Goltz, Professor of Social Work, University of Houston

Healing Dance  

Scierra LeGarde and the Bayou Lacombe Band of Choctaw

Talk and Q+A | A Place Called Desire: Researching and Documenting Your History as a Healing Journey

Leonard Smith III, producer and director of the documentary A Place Called Desire

Ancestor Acknowledgement Poem Accompanied by Creole Chant 

Poem written by Laurita Marie, Iyanifa, Mambo Asogwe, Nuisettes Noir Baby Doll. Original Louisiana Creole chant, Vyé paran-yé, written by Dianne Honoré.

Reflection on Acting as a Healing Modality

Leslie Nipkow, actor and writer

Talk and Q&A | A City without Care: 300 Years of Racism, Health Disparities, and Health Care Activism in New Orleans 

Dr. Kevin McQueeney, Assistant Professor of History at Nicholls State University

Auricular Acupuncture Demo: Healing and Releasing Energy

Bianca San Martin and Eva Hurst, acupuncturists 

African Drumming and Chanting and Discussion on the Mbongi Circles

Papa Titos Sompa, musician and cultural activist

Black Keywords for Louisiana

Dr. Jessica M. Johnson, Associate Professor in the Department of History at Johns Hopkins University

Discussion | Healing through Passing on Tradition

Master Plasterer Jeff Poree’ and Big Chief Darryl Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters Black Masking Indian Tribe

Closing Performance and Reception