The Oceti Sakowin (Seven Councils Fires) is comprised of seven bands of Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Indigenous peoples, who traditionally lived across in the Northern plains of the United States. Women’s knowledge and leadership, always central to the Oceti Sakowin, has been brought again to the forefront as part of the Standing Rock, Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) resistance movement. Ihanktonwan Nakota elder, Faith Spotted Eagle, has been a key voice in opposition to the pipeline, and has also taken ceaseless action to support Oceti Sakowin women through the Brave Heart Society, which is helping resprout many traditional women’s teachings and ceremonies which were fragmented over generations of colonization, displacement and extractive violence. Photo credit: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
