Schlichting's YouTube series captures history of Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska

LAWRENCE – Rebekka Schlichting, assistant professor of the practice and filmmaker, released the YouTube series “Baxoje Basics” this past month. Her episode “In Honor of Pete Fee” captured the last interview with a revered elder of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, who passed on Nov. 3.

Over the summer, Schlichting interviewed and filmed many members of her tribe—the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. The living history she captured celebrates the tribe’s culture, resilience and history and serves as an archive for future generations.

New episodes of Baxoje Basics are released weekly and include videos of elders reflecting on what it was like growing up on the reservation, cultural practices, language and ways of thinking. It shows how the Iowa continue to live in their identity with pride through entrepreneurial ventures and community initiatives.

Schlichting is a member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska Woshka cultural committee, which received a grant through the National Endowment of the Arts to complete this series.

“Capturing my tribe’s history and culture to share with the world is profoundly important to me,” Schlichting said. “It’s creating awareness about our people who are often left out of history books. It’s creating compassion and empathy for our people and the intergenerational trauma we endure.

“And it’s creating a sense of pride in knowing who we are that will trickle down to future generations and inspire more tribal members to come home in either the physical or cultural sense.”