Adams State University’s student lead organization, C.A.S.A. (Cultural Awareness Student Achievement) was recently awarded a cultural heritage grant from The Sangre De Cristo National Heritage Area that will focus on connecting students, faculty and community members to the rich and often ignored cultural history of the San Luis Valley.
From humble beginnings, C.A.S.A. has grown at Adams State, thanks to its unique vision which welcomes students to a “house that feels like home.” The cultural center, located on 101 Faculty Dr., serves as a hub for student engagement in academics, leadership, and community involvement. Cultural inclusion is paramount to the mission of C.A.S.A., “where strangers become friends and fiends become family.” C.A.S.A. director, Oneida Maestas, describes the grant as a way to include a myriad of different cultural perspectives by not only understanding the cultural heritage of the San Luis Valley, but in making connections between the common threads of cultural tradition.
“I want the grant to increase the cultural capital of the valley. This cultural capital can have drastic effects on how we view our own culture and others, it helps us honor and understand that cultural traditions are not stagnate, but lived through experience,” added Maestas.
C.A.S.A. has partnered with experts throughout the valley to create a multi-pronged educational and cultural experience that highlights the diverse Indigenous and Hispanic roots of the valley.
The projects include working with acequia farmers in San Luis to harvest and prepare traditional chicos; the traditional slaughter of a hog with the seventh generation Salazar family, the on campus building of a traditional horno used by the Pueblo peoples, and finally the creation of a traditional sheepherder’s museum in the form of a 1930’s era sheepherder trailer from the valley.
The four events and projects will be implemented starting in April 2014 through March 2014, with the chico harvest and preparation taking place the following school year. The traditional pig slaughter and the chico harvest are annual events and will focus on the importance of local traditional foods in the valley as well as the interplay between modern and communal agricultural. Imbedded in these two events are teachable moments regarding biology, agriculture science, and anatomy. ASU Professors from the science fields will be present at the events to give insight into these scholastic aspects, giving students first-hand experience that relate to their majors.
A traditional oven used by the Pueblo peoples, the horno, has a long been endemic to the San Luis Valley. With the help of grant participants, a traditional and fully functional hrono will be built by experienced employees of The Adobe Factory in Espanola, New Mexico.
The future hrono will be located at C.A.S.A. and used as a way to bring the campus and the community together through food while preserving a longstanding tradition of the San Luis Valley. In addition, the horno will be used to cook the hog and also to roast the locally harvested chicos.
As exact dates for the grant activities become known, C.A.S.A. will distribute announcements for events around Adams State Campus and the community. For more information, please contact the C.A.S.A. house at 719-587-7687 or e-mail Oneida Maestas at olmaestas@adams.edu.
What’s Been Said…