An Indigenous Geography Workshop, led by Dr. Douglas Herman, will be held Monday, September 16, 1:00–4:00 p.m., in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library. Herman, a senior geographer at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, will introduce participants to a novel grid he developed to document, through the voices of local residents, the important elements of life in an indigenous community. He created the grid during his research in the Pacific, described at www.pacificworlds.com, and he has used it with classes he teaches at Towson University. In the workshop, Herman will illustrate how the indigenous geographic technique can be employed to compare and contrast communities in different regions of the world.

The workshop is free and open to the public, but advanced registration at icik.psu.edu/psul/icik/indigenousgeography.html is required to ensure seating. It is co-sponsored by Penn State’s ICIK (the Interinstitutional Consortium on Indigenous Knowledge), University Libraries and the Department of Geography and the Smithsonian Institution.

Indigenous Geography is the first of a series of educational opportunities that will be provided through an indigenous-knowledge collaboration between Penn State and the Smithsonian Institution. The workshop is part of an ongoing series highlighting the importance of indigenous knowledge. For more information on ICIK, go to icik.psu.edu.

For more information, contact Audrey Maretzki at anm1@psu.edu or 814-863-4751 for additional information. If you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please call Helen Sheehy, at hms2@psu.edu or 814-863-1347.