A Symposium Uniting Indigenous Perspectives on Resilience and Revitalization of the Ryukyus
0:00 Welcome and Prayer | Mariko Middleton & Riku Akamine
2:19 Opening Song | Riku Akamine
4:29 Tinsagu nu Hana | Riku Akamine & Victor Kinjo
7:50 History | Alexyss McClellan-Ufugusuku
27:19 Revitalization of endangered Ryukyuan languages ｜Shinako Oyakawa
44:25 Nuchi nu Miji Clip + Song | Victor Kinjo
1:00:34 Hajichi | Co Lewis & Mariko Middleton
1:23:00 Identity | Riku Akamine
1:38:40 Diaspora and intercultural collaboration | Victor Kinjo
2:01:20 Kachashi
2:05:50 Closing & Thank you
Join us for a thought-provoking and enlightening symposium hosted by ACSILs and Ichariba Choodee Podcast where we delve into the diversity of Ryukyuan culture, the pressing issues facing the Indigenous communities, and how activists are engaging in meaningful movement work. This event is a side event to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).
The event will begin with an opening cultural performance featuring music and song by Brazilian-Ryukyuan artist, Victor Kinjo. Following the performance, we will delve into a short screening that will share the current state of water quality in Okinawa and the PFOs/PFAs (forever chemicals). We will then shift into a series of updates from the UNPFII attendees & friends who will share insights and updates within their areas of expertise: Lex McClellan-Ufugusuku (Citizenship, Status, and Ryukyuans: A (very) Brief History), Shinako Oyakawa (Revitalization of endangered Ryukyuan languages), Mariko Middleton and guest Co Lewis (Hajichi Revitalization within Ryukyuan Diaspora).
This event promises to be an enlightening and thought-provoking experience, providing a platform for dialogue and action on issues pertinent to Okinawan indigenous communities. Please join us!
About the Presenters:
Victor Kinjo | Victor Kinjo is an Okinawan-Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, researcher and producer born in São Paulo. He is a visiting scholar at New York University Tisch School of the Arts (Performance Studies) and a post-doc researcher at the University of São Paulo Institute of Advanced Studies, with a project about arts, diversity and river regeneration. A PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Campinas, he released two albums, KINJO (2017) and TERRÁQUEOS (2022), and was the first Asian-Brazilian to be nominated as Best Singer at Brazilian Music Awards (2018) and POC Awards (2022), a prize for prominent LGBTQIA+ artists.
Shinako Oyakawa | Shinako is a native Okinawan mother, activist, writer, director after school programs, and co-director of Association of Comprehensive Studies for Independence of the Lew Chewans (ACSILs) and part time lecturer of Okinawa University. Shinako specializes in language revitalization, de-militarization and de-colonization of the Ryukyu islands. Shinako has attended UN Permanet Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) to report colonized situation of the Ryukyu islands. In her free time, Shinako likes to go to beach, study Okinawan language and explore beauty of Okinawan nature with her family and friends.
Alexyss McClellan-Ufugusuku | Lex is assistant coach for the Pacific Collegiate School boys’ lacrosse team and Head Coach of the University of California Santa Cruz Women’s Lacrosse team, where she is also a PhD candidate in History and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies. Lex’s dissertation interrogates the unusual nature of Ryukyuan political status during the USCAR period, and the effects that that ambiguity still has on explaining Ryukyuan identity in the present. Lex has spoken on Ryukyuan issues at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, and the International Conference on Chemicals Management 5 in Bonn, Germany.
Mariko Middleton | Mariko is a proud mixed-race Ryukyan-American woman who is deeply interested in intersections of Indigenous identity, cultural reclamation, decolonization, and revitalization. She is a child born of a US military father and an Okinawan mother, and grew up stationed mostly on the East Coast of the US, and Okinawa for 3 years, before settling in Vermont where she resides currently. She is an interspiritual practitioner of earth-based spirituality, practicing hand-poke hajichaa, and co-founder of the Ichariba Choodee: Okinawan Voices & Stories Podcast.
Co Lewis | Co (she/they) is a mixed-Okinawan hajichaa (hajichi tattooer) based out of New York City, where she attends medical school at Touro University. Her work aims to bring Hajichi resources and information to the diaspora through a decolonized lense. She exclusively tattoos hand-poke Hajichi, with a forward-looking approach that honors the silenced history of Ryukyus indigenous tattoos. She can be found online @shimanchuhajichi