IN PERSON

RSVP

Schedule*

12:30–1 PM – Curator-led walk-through of Fire Kinship

1:30–2 PM – Screening of the extended trailer for MAATHAAW

2:15–4 PM – Panel conversation in Lenart Auditorium

4:30–6:30PM – CIBA demonstration and open workshop on the Terrace

*Schedule is subject to change.

Join us for a special screening and conversation centered on MAATHAAW: The Fire Within Us, an Indigenous-led documentary exploring the cultural, emotional, and scientific relationships Southern California Tribes have with the gift of fire. Featured in the exhibition Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology & Art, the film highlights the enduring resilience of Indigenous communities and the vibrancy of traditional ecological knowledge. As the greater Southwest faces intensifying wildfires and the escalating impacts of climate change, MAATHAAW foregrounds Indigenous leadership in climate adaptation, land stewardship, and cultural revitalization.

Following the screening of the extended trailer, director and producer Andrew Pittman will be joined by Indigenous experts Wes Ruise, William Madrigal, and Joelene Tamm for a panel conversation on traditional fire stewardship in Southern California, moderated by Daisy Ocampo Diaz and Lina Tejeda. Panelists will discuss cultural burning practices, tribal approaches to vegetation management, and how longstanding fire knowledge can inform contemporary strategies for resilience and ecological care.

The afternoon concludes with a demonstration and open workshop led by the California Indian Basketweaving Association (CIBA), exploring the relationship between fire, ecology, and traditional basketweaving.

Dr. Daisy Ocampo Diaz (Caxcan) is an Associate Professor of History at CSU San Bernardino. Her research in Native and Public History informs her work with museum exhibits, historical preservation projects, and community-based archives. Her book Where We Belong dispels the harmful myth that Native people are unfit stewards of their sacred places. This work establishes Indigenous preservation practices as sustaining approaches to the caretaking of the land that embody ecological sustainability, spiritual landscapes, and community well-being.

William Madrigal (Cahuilla and Luiseño) is the Tribal Capacities and Partnerships Program Manager at Climate Science Alliance. He works with Southern California Tribal Nations to advance Tribally-led climate resilience projects. Will is a Native educator, language teacher, and cultural resource manager with extensive experience in tribal government and intertribal programs. His scholarship centers on California Indian history, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and decolonial perspectives, emphasizing the preservation and transmission of Indigenous knowledge and culture.

Andrew James Pittman (Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno; Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel) is a video producer and co-owner of Condor Visual Media, a family-run production company with over a decade of experience. He and his wife, Lisset Valencia-Pittman, documents and amplifies Indigenous voices and stories through visual media, supporting the preservation and sharing of tribal history, culture, and contemporary creativity.

Wesley G. Ruise Jr. (Luiseño, Digueño, Mojave) is the Chairman of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, a third-generation wildland firefighter, fire chief of the La Jolla Reservation Fire Department, and Indigenous Forestry and Fuels Crew Advisor with the Climate Science Alliance. With nearly 40 years of fire and emergency service experience, he supports Tribal fire management, cultural burning initiatives, and climate resilience projects while training and mentoring the next generation of Tribal fire stewards.

Joelene Tamm (Squaxin Island Tribal Member) is a researcher and community leader recognized with the 2023 Climate Leadership Award. She is the Director of Natural Resources for the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, and spends her time researching oak mortality in Southern California. She focuses on forest health, invasive species mitigation, and cultural fire practices, building capacity and resilience within Tribal communities. Joelene is a founding member of the Southern California Fire, Fuels, and Forestry Cadre and works to integrate Indigenous knowledge with climate adaptation strategies.

Lina Tejeda is Pomo from her tribal homelands in Northern California and of Mexican heritage from Nayarit. She holds a Master’s degree in History from California State University, San Bernardino with a focus on California Indian studies, museum studies, and public history. Tejeda is deeply committed to advocating for the return of sacred cultural items to the tribal nations from which they originate and to telling the true histories of California Indian peoples within institutional settings. In her spare time, she is a traditional Pomo dancer and actively engages in learning and performing such cultural practices as basket weaving, materials gathering, regalia making, singing, and preserving Indigenous ecological knowledge.

California Indian Basketweavers Association (CIBA) is dedicated to preserving, promoting, and perpetuating California Indian basketweaving traditions. Rekindling Culture and Fire is CIBA’s new initiative that promotes the reintroduction and increase of cultural burns to promote safe and healthy traditional gathering areas on public, tribal, and private lands in collaboration with California Indian basketweavers. CIBA supports basketweavers by providing opportunities to study traditional techniques, showcase their work, and access essential cultural resources. The organization fosters a healthy physical, social, spiritual, and economic environment for weavers, encourages sustainable gathering practices, raises awareness of Native basketry artistry, and strengthens communication and solidarity among Native American and other indigenous traditional artists.

This program is presented in partnership with Condor Visual Media and the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA

Image courtesy of Condor Visual Media