Dawn Marie Alapisco Oral History Interview, February 28, 2024

Partial Transcript: Today is February 28th, 2024.

Segment Synopsis: In this segment Zoë says the date and where they are both at and Welcomes Dawn to the interview.

Partial Transcript: Do you want to start off by sharing a little bit about your upbringing and early experiences that shaped your connection to your community and heritage.

Segment Synopsis: Dawn shares about being biracial and coming from a mother who is an Irish Mormon from Oklahoma and Texas. The other side of her family is Hispanic. Dawn talks about how her grandmother did not teach her children Spanish until they were adults and wanted them to be as "white" as possible. Dawn says she grew up in a place of not belonging where she was not associated with either culture because of being mixed in heritage. She talks about how religion-wise her mom was Mormon and her dad was Catholic and how being so different made her an observer. She also talks about how being autistic amongst all of this makes it more difficult.

Partial Transcript: Can you share a bit about your upbringing and early experiences that shaped your connection to your community and heritage?

Segment Synopsis: As an Irish woman and a Hispanic/Indigenous, she raised her kids in a fae culture to teach kids about good and bad. She raised her children with the idea of everything being interconnected. She talks about bringing in several types of religion for the upbringing of her children. She figures out how her culture was by watching, observation, and mimicry.

Partial Transcript: What are some cherished memories or traditions from your childhood or family life that reflect your cultural identity? It sounds like you tied in aspects of all sides to create what was best for you.

Segment Synopsis: Dawn talks about how her grandmother would have a tamale assembly line and how she tried to show that to her kids. She talks about the struggles of trying to get her kids to help but they just want the results and not the work of making tamales. She talks about how she does all of the cooking and does not like it when people are in the way. She talks about how on Christmas Eve how they would skip midnight mass to open presents on Christmas Eve. She talks about how her family would go up the mountain to bring snow down to them. She talks about how her good memories come from her family in Delano. She talks about a brief three years of her life in New Jersey. She also talks about how her mother was huge on decorating for holidays and how now she only decorates for Valentine's Day or Halloween. Christmas Eve for her was Chilly, Cornbread, and Filling the Christmas Tree. She talks about how her mother has a high school diploma but not much beyond that.

Partial Transcript: How did you come to Oregon State University? What made you switch into the anthropology field? Which field(s) of anthropology interested you?

Segment Synopsis: Dawn talks about coming to Oregon in 2008. She originally wanted to be a nurse practitioner and was leaning toward OHSU. Then she took evolutionary medicine and decided to switch to an anthropology major in the Summer of 2008. She talks about her former experiences as a nurse and how she wants to change the system without being in the system. Because of how science-heavy she was she decided to go into Physical/Biological Anthropology. She talks about how originally the intro to archeology class was called "From Ape to Angel". She defines herself as a biocultural medical anthropolost with an applied background in archeology and funerary bioarcheology. She has a H.B.S in Physical Anthropology and Archeology. The year after she graduated Physical anthropology became Biological Anthropology.

Partial Transcript: What made you join the honors college?

Segment Synopsis: She claims she wanted to have that line on her resume and prove that people like her can be in that space. She was an older-than-average POC student when the honors college does not have a lot of women or people of color both now and at that time.

Partial Transcript: What are some cherished memories or traditions from your childhood or family life that reflect your cultural identity?

Segment Synopsis: Dawn describes a pilgrimage in which her father took her and her sibling on to Arizona to show her the indigenous way. She says her father was caught in a space where he had to decide if he was Indigenous or as "white" as he could make himself. She says that he is the reason that she is here today and he is the person who taught her to be herself. Her father taught her her love of music, reading, education, and so much more. His father left the church when the church refused to baptize Dawn because the church did not like how the mother was a different religion.

Partial Transcript: Which field(s) of anthropology interested you? Where there a lot of POC students in the honors college during your time there.

Segment Synopsis: She talks about how she considers herself an archeologist more than anything. Dawn talks about from her observations the honors college is predominantly white. She also talks about how the college as a whole is very predominantly white as well.

Partial Transcript: What was the process of writing your thesis like?

Segment Synopsis: She talks about how looking back her Honors college thesis was a "cakewalk". She talks about her thesis is about the Odd Fellows Skeleton. She does ethnographic research on this skeleton from the Odd Fellows cemetery. She found he had tuberculosis in his arms and other medical findings she found that made her believe he was a laborer. The Odd Fellows were a group that helped with burying the dead, and they had to confront the dead by looking into the eyes of a skeleton. She is really happy with the ability to have that research and the ethnographic research behind it. She says she tried to answer all the questions one person might have. She talks about how her first thesis was based on Early Modern Witchcraft in European culture, but that project fell apart due to her Advisor not knowing what needed to be fully done. Then she went on to work with Melissa Cheyney.

Partial Transcript: Have you noticed any changes in the honors college over time? What was the most impactful class you took during your time as a student here?

Segment Synopsis: She talks about not many big changes other than natural shifts in academia. She says her favorite class was osteology. She goes a little bit into her time as a master's student here. She was hired on as a NAGPRA coordinator so she makes her thesis more focused on ethical curation as opposed to her original work that required destructive analysis. She makes sure her research is in no way disrespectful to the ancestors.

Partial Transcript: How did you become involved in NAPGRA?

Segment Synopsis: She started getting involved in NAGPRA in 2008/9 by starting counting artifacts. As her skills grew she became more valuable to the team as experience grew. She was hired during her graduate years to be the physical anthropologist for NAPGRA. It started from counting charcoal into being a human osteologist for this program. They needed a NAPGRA coordinator so she became that. She worked with NAGPRA for 8-9 years before being officially hired on.

Partial Transcript: What is NAPGRA? What does your role as a NAGPRA Coordinator at OSU entail? What are some of the primary challenges you face in your role?

Segment Synopsis: She describes NAPGRA. She sees NAGPRA as human rights and civil rights law. She says some people see it as regulatory and compliance-based or even superfluous. She talks about how she is a professional faculty not an academic. She works out of the president's office. She talks about how it is impossible to avoid being political in this job and how she sees herself as a politician more than anything. She also describes her job as taking care of the ancestors. She talks about how this needs to be a tribally led process and how when it was an institution only a little more than half of the ancestors got repatriated. She talks about how this job has to many faces.

Partial Transcript: What are some of the primary challenges you face in your role? Can you share a memorable experience or story from your work with NAGPRA?

Segment Synopsis: She talks about the biggest challenge being a lack of understanding from all sides. Students who think that she is deliberately withholding ancestors and faculty who are reluctant to give up specimens. She talks about how intense the job is and how she has days where people cry tears of joy and grief as they take their ancestors home for a final disposition. Repatriation is a very long process that would take about 1-2 years if nothing goes wrong. She talks about how in the movie Inside Out how Joy realizes that she needs Sadness to experience life to the fullest. She compares it to a child being kidnapped and coming home. She talks about how long the process is and how it upsets nearly everyone involved.

Partial Transcript: How do you see the future of NAGPRA evolving, both at OSU and nationally? How many people work for NAGPRA? What does indigenizing academia mean to you?

Segment Synopsis: She talks about how the future of NAGPRA is to be a tribally-led process that is culturally competent and as respectful as possible. She talks about being the only person who works at NAGPRA and then having one grad student helping. She talks about how indigenizing academia means different things for different populations. They need to acknowledge that Westernized academia does not involve indigenous knowledge. She talks about how the system changes with every population to respect indigenous populations more and more. My cat Raya makes an appearance.

Partial Transcript: How does OSU incorporate Indigenous knowledge and traditional ecological practices into disciplines such as environmental science and natural resource management?How does OSU address the legacy of colonialism in its institutional policies and practices, particularly in areas such as land acknowledgment and cultural protocols?

Segment Synopsis: Dawn talks about how this is not her specialty but answers what she knows about the topics. She talks about how the school is slowly bringing in more indigenous representatives and how they are spreading all over to different cultures of the school. She talks about how each school is having change happening in both the Micro and Major levels. She talks about the land acknowledgment policies and how they are only good if we back them up with action.

Partial Transcript: Looking back on our conversation today, is there anything else you would like to add or share that we haven't covered?

Segment Synopsis: Dawn closes by talking about how OSU is moving in amazing directions, a lot she cannot discuss. She thinks we are moving in great directions. She talks about how there are places for voices to be heard. She pulls up a quote from from the song "New Dress" by Depeche Mode and how she will do things that eventually lead to change.