The “Unraveling the Anthropocene: Race, Environment, and Pandemic” project and podcast series features intellectual, activist, artistic, and community work happening around the contemporary crises of race, environment, and the pandemic. On Monday, March 29th, 2021, from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m., we held a roundtable discussion of these themes on Zoom, in collaboration with the Comparative Literature Luncheon Speaker Series.
Our Speakers
Laura Anderson Barbata
Artist, Writer, Educator, working on social justice performance and textile art
Laura Anderson Barbata will be discussing her project: “Ocean Calling,” a cross-disciplinary intervention and sculptural work created in collaboration with artists from the Caribbean diaspora and from Mexico. In her words, “Based on firsthand experiences, research and ancient wisdom, ‘Ocean Calling’ charts the physical and emotional relationship maintained with the life of our oceans and the urgent need for collective transformation.”
Melissa Leaym-Fernandez
Doctoral Candidate in Art Education, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Penn State University
Melissa Leaym-Fernandez discusses the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on bodies, intergenerational impacts, the need for stronger creative practices to strengthen resilience, and brain plasticity. Though not a cure, she believes art-making, creativity, and sustained engagement with the processes involved in making are methods to assist with thriving after ACEs.
Darren Ranco
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Coordinator of Native American Research, University of Maine
Dr. Darren Ranco will be presenting his work entitled “Wabanaki Climate Change Adaptation, Diplomacy, and Indigenous Science,” where he will discuss his collaborative work related to helping establish a climate change adaptation baseline and priorities with the Wabanaki Tribal Nations (Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet, and Micmac) in what is now Maine. He will show how critical it is to include indigenous science and diplomatic traditions in this kind of research and knowledge mobilization.
Event Schedule
| 12:00 – 12:15 p.m. |
Introductions |
| 12:15 – 1:30 p.m. |
Presentations from Barbata, Leaym-Fernandez, and Ranco |
| 1:30 – 2:00 p.m. |
Q&A session with moderator Merve Tabur |
| 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. |
Open coffee hour for Penn State students and faculty with Barbata, Leaym-Fernandez, and Ranco |
Thank you to our sponsors!
Department of Comparative Literature
University Park Allocation Committee
Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese
The Rock Ethics Institute
Humanities Institute
Center for Global Studies