SGA:T DEWĘ̱ʼNYAWʼE: OHĘ:DǪ:
SGA:T DEWĘ̱ʼNYAWʼE: OHĘ:DǪ:
Heather Georges is Executive Director at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Six Nations of the Grand River, specialist of the history of Hodinohsho:ni museum practices
Sga:t dewę̱ʼnyawʼe: ohę:dǫ: means « 100 ahead » in the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) language, one of the six languages of the Hodinohsho:ni Confederacy. 100 years ago, Deskaheh (Levi General) a Cayuga Chief, travelled from Six Nations of the Grand River (one of the 17 remaining territories in North America) to Geneva to assert Hodinohsho:ni sovereignty. Deskaheh was blocked from speaking at the League of Nations, but is recognized as inspiring the global movement to assert Indigenous rights within international law.
His message from a small nation resonated globally, thanks to the support from the citizens and city of Geneva. In 2023, the Hodinohsho:ni External Relations Committee, the City of Geneva, and community members united to commemorate the significance of Deskaheh’s work. The return of ceremonial belongings (artifacts) from the MEG is one of the ways this sovereignty is being acknowledged. Today Hodinohsho:ni continue to fight for recognition as a nation at the United Nations.
Heather George
Heather George
Heather George is a mother, gardener, beader, and curator. Heather is Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Akwesasne on her father’s side and Euro-Canadian on her mother’s side. In March 2023, she was hired as the Executive Director at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Six Nations of the Grand River. She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo, where she is researching the history of Hodinohsho:ni museum practices.
©Woodland Cultural Centre
©Woodland Cultural Centre
Deskaheh Levi General
Levi General was born on March 15th, 1873, to Mary Styres and James Hess. In 1917, Levi General was appointed as a Chief of the Cayuga Nation by the Clanmother of the Small Bear Clan, Louise Miller, and was given the title Deskaheh.
In March of 1922, he met with the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. A. van Karnebeck, who was also the President of the Assembly of the League of Nations, in Washington D.C. He requested that his petition be sent first to the International Court of Justice at The Hague and then to the League of Nations. In response, the Canadian government accused the Netherlands of meddling in a domestic issue with the intention of causing them embarrassment.
In July 1923, Deskaheh set sail from New York City and arrived in Geneva in September, where he took up residence at the Hôtel des Familles. He stayed in Europe for 18 months. During this time, he delivered lectures to audiences in Geneva, Bern, Lausanne, Lucerne, Winterthur, Zürich, and Paris.
Heather George
Since Deskaheh’s time, Indigenous delegations from all over the world have come to the UN in Geneva from the North America, Central, South America and the Caribbean, Arctic, Pacific, Asia, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe, Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia.
In Geneva, Docip – the Indigenous Peoples’ Centre for Documentation, Research and Information – holds thousands of documents produced in the context of UN conferences. This collection is listed on UNESCO’s international “World Memory” register.
Pierrette Birraux, Sara Petrella
The Hodinohsho:ni Confederacy
The Hodinohsho:ni Confederacy comprises the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations. The political system is based on Gayane̱hsraˀgó:wah (the Great Law of Peace), which established principles for treaties with all other nations. Women are the heart of this governance; 49 Clan Mothers select 49 Chiefs and one Chief, Tadodaho, is selected by all of the Chiefs; only Clan Mothers have the authority to depose a Chief. Hodinohsho:ni endured intense persecution following the American Revolution. As recognition of the treaty relationship between the Hodinohsho:ni and the British Crown, Governor Haldimand issued on October 25th 1784, a proclamation recognizing Hodinohsho:ni rights to 900 thousand acres of land in what is now called Canada, Ontario.
Canada’s encroachments on Hodinohsho:ni governance, land dispossession, and erosion of the rights of Indigenous women and children escalated from 1860 to 1924. The Confederacy Council appointed Deskaheh, to solicit assistance from other nations.
Heather George
Mythe fondateur des Haudenosaunee
Production PBS
Financé par Partnership with Native Americans
Durée : 5’52’’
Chief Deskaheh
From the Indians and Western Historical Scenes series
Photographer not documented. Ca. 1915-1925. Exhibition print
©bpk/The Metropolitan Museum of Art, W417
Photographer not documented. Ca. 1915-1925. Exhibition print
©bpk/The Metropolitan Museum of Art, W417
One of the challenges Indigenous people grapple with is confronting many stereotypes about identity, actions, speech, and attire. European authors and scholars, including Karl May and Joseph-François Lafitau, shaped the perceptions non-Indigenous people held about Indigenous communities.
Deskaheh likely encountered this, and it may explain why in many of his photographs he is seen wearing a War Bonnet, even though it isn’t a Hodinohsho:ni headdress. H. George
Deskaheh likely encountered this, and it may explain why in many of his photographs he is seen wearing a War Bonnet, even though it isn’t a Hodinohsho:ni headdress. H. George
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
Adopted in 2007
Printed by the High Commission for Human Rights. 2008. Colour brochure
Docip, Documentation Center
Despite geographical remoteness, defective means of communication, a lack of financing and bureaucratic obstacles, Indigenous delegations came to Geneva every year and negotiated the text point by point, comma by comma, thus obtaining a document which reflects the main elements of their aspirations.
Rare are the international tools elaborated as democratically as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) adopted in 2007 by the General Assembly. P. Birraux
Article 12
1. Indigenous Peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains.
2. States shall seek to enable the access and/or repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains in their possession through fair, transparent and effective mechanisms developed in conjunction with [the] Indigenous Peoples concerned. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Hadui Mask and Turtle Rattle
For the Hodinohsho:ni and many other Indigenous Nations, the concept of sovereignty extends beyond the political realm to control over our relationship to land, language, culture and heritage. This can include repatriation of belongings (artifacts) from museum collections, especially when these items are used in ceremonies or sacred activities.
Globally museums are coming to understand their role in the colonization, dispossession, and continued oppression of Indigenous Peoples. These two outlines represent a ceremonial mask called a Hadui and a Turtle Rattle both of which are used by medicine societies. Following the return of these belongings they are being used once again in ceremonies.
Repatriation is an important action towards supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which deals with repatriation explicitly in article 12.
Heather George
Testimony - Brennen Ferguson
Brennen Ferguson on the importance of restitutions.
Interviewed on 7 February 2023
Directed by Roberta Colombo-Dougoud & Johnathan Watts
Post-production & subtitles by Face-C