Juan De Oñate: Conquistador or Criminal?,  Trauma and Resiliency, and the Food Depot

Jon Ghahate, Lee Swanson and Jill Dixon

$10 general admission/ $5 members

Please consider bringing a donation of canned goods and non-perishable items for The Food Depot.

History and ancestors of Spain’s Last Conquistador portray Oñate as an adventurer, a military leader, a Spanish noble and bringer of Western Civilization to savages. However, that is only one segment of the spectrum of the narrative of who this person was. Absent has been–and still is–the narrative of those who were on the receiving end of Spanish expansionism, colonization and genocide. Jon Ghahate (Laguna/Zuni Pueblos), Cultural Educator for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, will present a Pueblo narrative of this recorded contested history.



As a licensed marriage and family therapist, Lee Swanson (LMFT) will present a general discussion of trauma and its effects, informed by his work most recently within the criminal justice system in New Mexico. Swanson will address how trauma is defined and measured, referencing the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Questionnaire and its history. He will offer some broad statistics regarding trauma and criminal justice involvement and will also discuss a more recent questionnaire developed as a way to assess factors of resiliency.



With light appetizers inspired by common fare distributed by The Food Depot’s Mobile Food Pantry direct service program.