Author Archives: Majel Peters

Bio—Majel

Majel Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag communication designer with 20 years of experience working in marketing and design, and a first-year student in the Digital Humanities MA program at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her passion lies in the art and practice of communication in its many forms, with a special interest in visual design, public history and collective memory. Majel’s work has included the development of strategy, messaging, and creative direction of for- and non-profit brand identities and campaigns. Her past clients have included The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Carnegie Hall, Brooks Running, Digital Peace Now, Ted Turner Reserves, Supermajority, Committee to Project Journalists, and Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Majel is research lead and co-project manager of More Than Surviving, a public history project she conceived that focuses on resurfacing and celebrating expressions of Wampanoag political agency in antebellum United States.

More Than Surviving: Week 3 Update

This week we’ve taken some important steps in creating shape to our process.

  • Elizabeth did some preliminary investigations into the project management tool, Notion, and steered us into another direction she felt would serve us better. Moving forward we’ll be working with Asana. We’ve worked out a philosophy for using our in class and extra meeting times that feels productive. This includes using class days as makers of completion and non-class meeting days as opportunities to collaborate and check in. We’ve also baked into our plan an imperative to celebrate in person! There are a few milestones that feel particularly good matches for that: Finishing research, finishing the timeline and map, and finalizing Q/A.
  • We refined our team roles, this time with a bit more information regarding the timeline. We’ll all be wearing 2 or more hats that come on and off as the project progresses. Elizabeth and I worked out a basic timeline that we did our best to ensure anticipates bottlenecks and contingencies. We expect the timeline will shift as we discover unforeseen steps or snags (or speed!!), but there’s enough wiggle in the system at the moment for that.
  • Estefany helped us get organized using Doodle—we were able to quickly pin down our second weekly meeting time. She also came to the conversation with a flexibility that will come in very useful as we shift between different roles. 
  • Zelda offered their research regarding a tech platform and interactive tools. They are finalizing a recommendation based on the imperative that it be easy to use (for them and future admins) and that they will be able to easily complete the work given the restricted timeframe. As a team we are also considering the best options for where to house the site to ensure it lives on long after the semester ends and can support continued updating. At the moment we are leaning towards Mapbox, leaflet, and opensource maps embedded into a Flask platform. (It all sounds a bit fancy to me, and I look forward to better understanding how all the technical bits fit together.)
  • In the meantime, I’ve been finalizing the 3rd iteration of the project proposal. It feels a bit funny to revisit the original text again—editing down oneself can be a bit tricky when your brain carried the original flow. I have, however, succeeded in  cutting many a word  to make the suggested word count in the guide.
  • This Wednesday I plan on bringing some basic site architecture and data guidelines to help push us into our next phase which will include diving into research and setting up the interactive components of the site.

To close, I will just say that as the person who proposed the project I am trying my best to balance having a vision for the project with a strong desire to make sure everyone is included and feels a sense of ownership. In an effort not to box anyone in or minimize other people’s participation in the class, I tried to disperse some of the steering. I recognize now that this can make the boat go in a slow circle. I’m making adjustments to ensure everyone feels excited and can see the path forward. I also recognize that skills posts are quite peculiar in that — yes there is a list of wha everyone is able to do— but no that doesn’t totally make it visible or real. Zelda had the excellent idea to have a team building session which we are trying to get on the books, and during that time I would like to make space for folks to, among other things, share work they are proud of so they feel seen and we can all take away a richer understanding of their talents.

Kicking Off More Than Surviving

Kicking off More Than Surviving brings up a lot of feelings for me. While fighting back the sensation that there will never be enough time to know all the things I need and want to know, I also feel the excitement of poking around and investigating what I can know. 

This project emerged as an expression of my complicated relationship with history. I’ve always prided myself with knowing exactly where I come from —The Wampanoag Nation. This “knowing” is embodied. There are many different ways to understand where you come from—what traditions your community/your family hold (the songs, the foods, the stories), the land you are connected to (the smell and shape of the trees, sound of the water), and then there is the other way—the facts, dates, historic events….data. So much of my culture that is empowering and has shaped my Indigenous identity is not held in data. The data always meant pain. The year our land was illegally incorporated, the year we went into war, the names of distant lands we were sent off to as slaves. I once had a history student demand upon finding out that I am Indigenous, “Do you know your history! You HAVE to know your history!” He said it with the assumption that I must know it because it is my responsibility to educate others. He said it without ever considering that he ought to know this history as well. As a non-Indigenous person I found it to be intrusive and oppressive—so many reactions arose in me: Who are you to demand that I know a history that has been intentionally erased from sight, yet you don’t acknowledge that erasure or the pain it carries? Who are you to demand that I know a history that you are surely only defining as data, or want me to translate for you into data? When I tried to share some small bit of our culture to shift him away from the fixation on data, he spoke over me… because that’s not the history he meant. 

This project is a kind of making peace and bringing together what I understand to be my people’s history and what I see the outside world insists is my people’s history. It’s bringing two sides together—the sensation of my belonging to a long line of self-determined people who know where they are from and what it means to be respectfully part of a larger world brought together with the data that somehow makes us real to the outside world. It’s also for members of my own community who may not have had the opportunity to touch on these pieces of our past. There’s no shame in this—intentionally oppressed communities have so much weight as it is to simply continue.  I chose to focus on our activism, because I believe such data points will contain the essence of what I’ve known to be true through my own understanding and experience of my culture—we are a loving people and we move with intention even through pain. 

This week has been an interesting balance of considering the practical pieces of producing a project like More Than Surviving, and having the tremendous feeling that comes when you are about to start a great wandering—one that you know will bring you even closer to your home. In truth, the practical pieces will be a great aid in keeping the full rush of information from overwhelming me, as I know I will discover a great many new things about myself and my ancestors in this process. I am extraordinarily thankful for Estefany, Elizabeth and Zelda who have come together to help build this, I know through them I will also learn so much about what is possible and gain even more balance by understanding their perspectives.

Proposal: More Than Surviving

More Than Surviving Wampanoag Political Agency, Ingenuity, and Persistence in the Antebellum Era (1830–1850)


INTRO
The general vein of American history often presents northeastern Indigenous peoples romantically stereotyped as “noble savages,” whose struggles were quaint, futile, and relegated to the distant past. Their relationship to arriving European’s is portrayed as shifting from threat to ward before history goes silent on their existence (Vuilleumier). Despite at first being addressed as sovereign peoples by the newcomers, the general understanding is they were killed, “civilized,” assimilated or sequestered onto reservations—while the nation moved on to other important issues shaping its future. In reality, despite incomprehensible hardships related to war, disease, enslavement and economic and social opression, Indigenous peoples of the Northeast sustained cultural traditions, advocated for their rights, and remained connected to their homelands. As part of their survival, they adapted to the ways of the new nation that rose around them. While continuing to maintain traditional governmental structures that predate the arrival of colonists, tribes engaged in political activities that had implications beyond their own communities (Scott), contributing to many of the causes tied to social and political reform movements of the antebellum period including anti-slavery, racial equality, and the fight for women’s and, of course, Indigenous rights.

This project seeks to specifically expand national historical awareness of the Wampanoag Nation of Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, by creating an online archive showcasing their continuous political activism during the antebellum period. With a focus on 1830–1850, a particularly eventful period of political activity nationally, the online resource will identify and map Wampanoag activists and political activity. Drawing from a range of resources this project will link Wampanoag activism to widely documented political and social issues, highlighting not just continuous presence and vital contributions to the political fabric of the United States, but the sustained Indigenous expressions of agency, ingenuity, and persistence in the face of systematic oppression.

OUTCOME
Interactive map showcasing 3-5 instances of political activity by specific Wampanoag communities and individuals. Political and social issues may include desegregation of schools and transportation, Indigenous rights, and abolition.

The site currently to include:

  • Home page that contextualizes the content of the map/project
  • Clickable Map (for proof of concept it may include filters by location and issue even if data points are not available)
  • Landing pages or views that provide additional context including images and short descriptions (Time permitting these may mention relevant national and state legislation or events)
  • Cross-referencing to related instances (location, individual, issue) where relevant

NOTES
Many of you know this is a project of great personal interest, however please be assured that I am not looking to boil the ocean this semester. My goal is to immerse myself in the process of team building required to create this type of DH project and developing a prototype of what may evolve after this semester into a more involved project. This means that site functionality will be prioritized over populating the map with endless data points—read: research will be finite, not open ended. I am very conscious of the time constraints, and will look to keep goals concrete and attainable—and will look to the team to help determine what that means.

I am excited to partner with teammates who enjoy collaborating and bringing new insight and ideas around how to shape this into something we can all be excited about.

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WORKS CITED

  1. Marion Vuilleumier. Indians on Olde Cape Cod (1970)
  2. Alina Scott. NOT EVEN PAST; Cynthia Attaquin and a Wampanoag Network of Petitioners https://notevenpast.org/cynthia-attaquin-and-a-wampanoag-network-of-petitioners/

Majel Skillset

Hello potential teammates,

Below is an overview of my general skill set in the suggested categories. Most of my skills have been honed over many years working in design and marketing — both inhouse and for agencies. I started as a graphic designer but along the way shifted into a strategy/design hybrid. I love developing concepts and bringing them to life and that has put me in the position of creating brands and campaigns from the ground up for both non- and for- profit clients. 

Project manager
My most recent roles as Design Director and Creative Director at communication and design agencies required that I effectively perform project management duties. I like to have a clear roadmap, open communication, and easy to access tools. Reviewing progress, next steps, and leaving space for investigation are important to me—when folks feel well oriented they can worry less about falling behind or feeling lost and more about creativity, exploration, and progress. 

Developer
I have basic HTML skills. I have worked with wysiwg and feel confident in this area (ie. Squarespace, Wix, MailChimp etc.) I specifically am hoping to improve my developing skills this semester and beyond.

Design/UX
My degree is in communication design, and I have expert level experience with the Adobe Creative Suite and some video editing experience. Past projects have included print, brand development, digital (web and social), and video. I also have extensive experience in strategy—brand, campaign, and content. Having worked on several public facing campaigns and branding projects, user experience is a bit of a fixation for me. Making sure users who interact with the project (back end and front end) feel oriented and capable of successfully navigating the experience makes or breaks the final product.

Outreach/social media
My experience with marketing has required the ability to extend brand and campaign strategy to cohesive social content that take into account audience, platform, and messaging. In the past I’ve helped both clients and employers grow their audiences and put in place content strategy frameworks. 

Documentation
I have performed copywriter duties in my past roles. Past work has included writing blog posts, pitches, brand books and messaging, scripts, and social media captions. This is an area I feel comfortable in, both as a writer and editor.

Research 
This is another area I would like to beef up. Although I pride myself on doing desktop research and my tremendous curiosity—there are types of scholarly research that I would like to dig into more (archives). I do have experience with focus groups—in person and online.