LEAD BY
Santee Smith, Dr. Rodney Haring and Roberta Hill
Healing from Intergenerational Traumas: A poignant dialogue with artist Santee Smith, Dr. Rodney Haring, and Residential School Survivor Roberta Hill. Insights into three perspectives and processes of healing.
Rodney C. Haring, PhD, MSW
Dr. Haring is research faculty at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, Department of Cancer Prevention and Control. He is also a research professor at the Native American Research and Training Center, Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona and held fellowships at the National Congress of American Indians and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Haring (Beaver Clan) is an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians and resides on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation (NY). He holds a doctoral degree in social work with over 15 years of social work practice and is currently an at-large member of the US Department of Health and Human Services American Indian/Alaska Native Health Research Advisory Council. He is also the lead delegate for the historic MoU between Rowell Park and Indian Health Services with the common mission of addressing health burdens in Indigenous communities. He served as an expert panel member to the United States Department of Education, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy—Executive Office to the President. In 2017 he was awarded an Impact Award by the National Indian Health Board. His research interests intersect eliminating disparities and encouraging resiliencies within First Nations and Indigenous societies.
Santee Smith
Santee is from the Kahnyen’kehàka (Mohawk) Nation, Turtle Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. She is a mother, a multi-disciplinary artist, an award-winning producer, and choreographer. She holds performance in a sacred space, as all life is sacred. Santee maintains an Onkwehon:we understanding of performance, the body and role of artist: music and dance are celebrations of life; the body is a vessel to house our spirit during our earth walk and the artist as a storyteller, transformer and medicine person. From this perspective, her work speaks about identity and humanity in relation to the creative universe.
Roberta Hill
Roberta was sent to the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in 1957 to 1961. From there she was sent to foster care until 1969 a total of 12 years being away from her family at Six Nations. Adjustment outside of residential school and foster care was difficult but she managed to pursue a professional career as a Registered Nurse for 32 years. Currently, Roberta is the Chair for the Mohawk Village Memorial Park project, a memorial park to honor the children of the Mohawk Institute.