WOLAKOTA 2024
Martedì 17/09 - ore 18:30
Alessandro Martire & the Wambli Gleska Cultural Association, in collaboration with Giunti Odeon, present Wolakota 2024.
From Tuesday, September 17th to Sunday, September 29th, a new edition of Wolakota will take place, an annual event that brings together Italian institutions and members of the Lakota and Dakota Nations from South Dakota. The event is organized by the Wambli Gleska Cultural Association.
For the occasion, Giunti Odeon will host an ethnographic exhibition featuring the private collection of Alessandro Martire, which includes artifacts from Native American peoples. Additionally, on September 17th, the opening day of the exhibition, there will be a presentation of Alessandro Martire's new book, published by Giunti, titled Il pensiero dei Nativi americani. La via Lakota all’equilibrio at 6:30 PM. During the presentation, the author will converse with journalist Mario Tenerani. The day will conclude with a screening of the cult film Dances with Wolves directed by and starring Kevin Costner at 9:00 PM.
The Book:
On that hill, I realized that being Lakota does not mean having braids or smoking the ca’nunpa; becoming Lakota means staying constantly connected with the sacredness of life, embracing the responsibility of living this existence in a respectful way and in harmony with the gifts of creation and with every sacred form of life that was created before us. Among all the creatures in the universe, only man, by losing his connection with nature and consequently with himself, has condemned himself to live in an indifferent and competitive society, insensitive to the harmony of creation: this is one of the main thoughts of the Lakota Sioux. In the early 1980s, Alessandro Martire embarked on a journey to North America: through a path that, starting from the Rosebud Reservation and Buffalo Jump, passes through Bear Butte, the Badlands, Zuni Heaven, and the Black Hills, up to Pipe Stone Quarry and Mato Pila (mistakenly called “Devil’s Tower”), he will learn to live and think like Native Americans. Accompanied by an exceptional guide, Grandma Leola One Feather, a member of the Lakota Women's Society Council, the author discovers and shares with readers the secrets of a culture deeply rooted in the union with nature, the spirit of brotherhood among all living beings, and the importance of taking the right time for everything. Like the Native Americans, we too must learn not to worry about the natural passage of time and to give back to the earth everything we have received but continue to plunder. Only then will we be able to learn the most important lesson: finally finding a balance with all forms of creation. Because, as Leola teaches, “the first step is learning to give.”
The Exhibition:
Alessandro Martire will lead the public on a guided tour of the exhibition. The exhibit includes artifacts from one of the richest collections in Europe, featuring a remarkable array of objects of high-quality craftsmanship and historical-anthropological interest. The exhibition takes place in the Hall of Mirrors at Giunti Odeon and is open to the public until September 29th, with free admission, every day from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. For groups or guided tours, contact: alex@alessandromartire.it.
The Author:
Born in Florence, Alessandro Martire is the last living descendant of Pietro Martire D’Anghiera, a 16th-century historian and author of the treatise De Orbe Novo, in which he denounced the massacres committed by the Spanish against the Native American peoples. After a period at Columbia University, he came into contact with the Lakota Sioux Nation of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations and participated in sacred ceremonies, including the Sun Dance. After returning to Italy in 1990, he became an associate professor of Cultural Anthropology and International Law at the University of Florence and collaborated with the University of Pisa and Alma Mater of Bologna. In 2009, the Italian Senate thanked Alessandro Martire for his legal work over more than twenty-six years and officially recognized the international legal acts promoted and adopted by the Italian government in favor of the Lakota Sioux. He is currently the delegate in Italy and at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for the Lakota Sioux Nation, Honorary Member of the Lakota Sicangu Nation of Rosebud, Sun Dancer, and Sacred Pipe Carrier.
For more information about the Wolakota 2024 event:
www.wolakota.it
Wambli Gleska Cultural Association: www.wambligleska.org