Marguerite Arai Cantu, senior instructor emerita for the department of Communication, shared her experiences, traditions and values at the Native American Heritage Month Munch and Learn on Nov. 14.  
 
Cantu is Southern Ute, Chiracaua, Apache, Eastern Cherokee and the granddaughter of the last traditional Chief of the Southern Utes. At UCCS, she served as the Course Director for Interpersonal and Intercultural Communication, Director of Student Multicultural Affairs and Faculty Advisor to the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Native American Student Association. 
 
“We all live in a very interesting, diverse kind of society and many different worlds, and some things are very similar across cultures and some things are not always easily understood,” Cantu said, explaining her reasoning for speaking at the event. 
 
In the 1980s, Cantu worked at an afterschool program for Native American children in New York City. She faced the challenge of helping kids from many different cultural groups try to engage in their culture. “We couldn’t do specific cultures, specific tribal nation groups. We had over 50 different groups there, but they learned to make all kinds of things that they could wear, sing, drum, dance, books, movies, a lot of things like that,” Cantu said. 
 
With this group, Cantu was invited to go to a small town and perform a Pow Wow for small town. Afterward, she said a town newsletter praising their performance was surprised that “they changed out of their costumes and that they had jean and T-shirts and they ate hot dogs and French fries and drank sodas with the rest of us.” 

When a new museum opened in New York, Cantu was invited to dress in traditional garb and act as one of the two hostesses of the museum. “A little girl came up and said: ‘Are you a real Indian?’ and before I could respond, her mother said: ‘Of course not — they’re all gone.’ This is not an unusual one, either. Here in Colorado, we have a somewhat of a presence, so we don’t get that very much, but it’s amazing how many people actually think we truly are no longer living here [in the United States],” Cantu said. 
 
Cantu addressed some of the communications issues that can occur across cultures, especially for kids that live on a Reservation but attend school off it. “Eye contact this a really big one. Traditionally, especially on reservations, the children are raised that to make eye contact with someone is saying that I am on the same level as you. So, they’re raised not to make eye contact with parents, grandparents, elders, teachers, police [or] anybody in a position of authority,” Cantu said. 

Children attending school outside of the Reservation had to adjust to new cultural expectations and be careful not to bring those habits back home. “To be successful in this this culture, they had to learn to do that, no matter how uncomfortable it was and how long it took,” Cantu said. 
 

Cantu shared some of the traditional values of her culture, noting that not every Native American will follow the same beliefs or values. Among these values are humility, balance and gratitude. “Being in balance is so important, we say when you’re out of balance, that’s when you do harmful things — to yourself, others, the environment, animals, nature, all those kinds of things,” Cantu said. 

Another practice Cantu shared is the use of a medicine wheel, specifically from the Cheyenne Nation which partially resides in Southern Colorado. The medicine wheel focuses on balance between the four aspects of life- Knowledge (Mental), Overview (Spiritual), Close (Physical) and Introspection (Emotional).  

Cantu encourages everyone, whether Indigenous or not, to utilize the medicine wheel. “As I said, it’s really important because when we’re out of balance, we even do harmful things. And in living in this world, in this life, we’re going to constantly be caught off balance. So, you got to know how to get better,” Cantu said. 

For more information on Native American Heritage Month or year-round engagement, the Division of Inclusive Culture and Belonging has more resources available.   

Graphic courtesy of the Division of Inclusive Culture and Belonging.