Tag Archives: icik

ICIK names 2017 Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Research Award winners

Penn State graduate students Lucy Harbor, Megan McDonie and Janet Purdy have been recognized with the 2017 Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Research Award to help fund their research pursuits. The award, now in its sixth year, is open to all full-time Penn State undergraduate and graduate students, and is funded by the Marjorie Grant Whiting Endowment for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledge, and supported by Penn State’s University Libraries and the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK).

Lucy Harbor

Harbor, from West Lafayette, Indiana, is a master’s degree candidate in Penn State’s Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management who plans investigating the ways that the market-driven capitalist enterprise of tourism influences knowledge, institutions and materiality in the Tz’utujil, Kaqchikel and K’iche villages surrounding Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.

 

Megan McDonie

McDonie, a doctoral candidate in Penn State’s Department of History, is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. McDonie’s research centers on the human-environmental interactions during Spain’s colonial project in Mesoamerica during the 16th through 18th centuries with a focus on volcanoes as sites of cultural and intellectual exchange among Nahuas, Kaqchikel Maya, and Spaniards.

Janet Purdy

A native of Bay Village, Ohio, and State College, Pennsylvania, Purdy is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History. Focusing on the role that symbols in woodcarvings and the definition of architectural space played in the lived experience of 19th-century Zanzibar in Tanzania, Purdy’s project examines the relationship between material objects and the formation of Swahili culture and identity.

Award applicants are evaluated based on their proposal’s intellectual merit; research potential; creativity; research design and evaluation; qualifications; and availability of resources to complete the work. Each recipient will present their research findings during the 2017-18 academic year and write an article highlighting the indigenous knowledge aspects of their projects for publication in Penn State’s open access indigenous knowledge journal IK: Other Ways of Knowing.

For more information about the Whiting Indigenous Knowledge Research Award or for details on how and when to submit an application for consideration for project funding for 2018, contact Mark Mattson, global partnerships and outreach librarian, at 814-863-2480 or mam1196@psu.edu .

Read the full Penn State News article on the 2017 winners online.

Lecture emphasizes importance of indigenous knowledge systems

man with black glasses and beard

Kyle Whyte, Timnick Chair in the Humanities at Michigan State University

A lecture by Kyle Whyte on the importance and opportunities for land-grant universities to collaborate with indigenous peoples and indigenous knowledge systems will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 6, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Whyte’s talk, sponsored by the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge, will also be available for public viewing at live.libraries.psu.edu.

Whyte, who holds the Timnick Chair in the Humanities at Michigan State University, will present “Why Indigenous Knowledge Systems Matter for U.S. Land-Grant Universities: Responsibilities and Challenges.”

Collaboration with indigenous communities presents important opportunities for university-based researchers to contribute to solving some of the hardest problems in the world. In the context of the United States, Whyte will discuss the potential, the responsibilities and challenges for land-grant universities creating programs and seeking greater engagement with indigenous peoples and indigenous knowledge systems, especially in states where no federally recognized tribes currently exist.

An 8.5×11 poster with information about the “Why Indigenous Knowledge Systems Matter for U.S. Land-Grant Universities: Responsibilities and Challenges” lecture is available as a downloadable PDF. The complete Penn State News article is available for reading online.

For more information on this event, or for questions about accommodations or the physical access provided, contact Mark Mattson, global partnerships and outreach librarian, at 814-863-2480 or mam1196@psu.edu in advance of your visit.

Penn State Women’s Studies Graduate Organization offers free conference Feb. 24-25

decorative capital initials W, S, G and O to represent Women's Studies Graduate OrganizationThe 16th-annual Penn State Women’s Studies Graduate Organization conference offers opportunities for academics, students and activists to gather and exchange ideas in feminist scholarship, collaboration, creativity and teaching across disciplines Friday-Saturday, Feb. 24-25. The two-day program, “Feminism, Race, and the Anthropocene,” is sponsored in part by the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) and includes a pre-conference lecture and reception on Friday, Feb. 24, in the Willard Building on Penn State’s University Park campus. The sessions on Saturday, Feb. 25 will be held at the Penn Stater Conference Center. Registration for the conference is free.

This year’s conference focuses on feminism’s role in understanding and critically investigating the new geological age called the Anthropocene in an interdisciplinary and transnational context, giving special attention to questions of indigeneity and highlighting the contributions that academics and activists have made in understanding the intersectionality of injustice in relation to global climate change.

Keynote speaker, Zoe Todd, assistant professor of anthropology at Carleton University in Ottawa, conducts innovative research on feminism, indigeneity, and decolonialism in relationship to the Anthropocene.

Research presentations and projects from graduate and advanced undergraduate students in a variety of disciplines will be featured onsite at the conference venue.

The 2017 conference is sponsored by several departments and entities connected to Penn State, including the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK).

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit the conference website.

More information about the conference and the full list of sponsors is available in the Penn State News article.

ICIK lecture focuses on sustainability and indigenous resource management

man in hat with camera sits behind large lizard

Renowned anthropologist and Stanford University professor Bill Durham has conducted more than 40 trips to the Galapagos Islands.

Just as scientist Charles Darwin’s visit to the Galapagos Islands brought substantial insight into the processes of natural selection and evolution, the Galapagos Islands of today continue to offer lessons about the social and cultural changes necessary for humanity to coexist with the natural resources of the planet.

Addressing these topics, Stanford University anthropology professor Bill Durham will present his lecture, “The Galapagos Challenge: Stewardship in an Evolving Socio-ecological System,” at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, on Penn State’s University Park campus. The lecture will also be available worldwide on Mediasite Live.

Durham, a MacArthur Fellow who has taught human biology and anthropology at Stanford since 1977, has conducted approximately 40 trips to the Galapagos. His lecture will focus on the evolution of a novel co-management system for the sea cucumber and lobster fisheries of Galapagos, which could become a stewardship example for the archipelago — and possibly the world.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge; the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC); the Travel and Tourism Graduate Student Association; Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment; Latin American Studies; and Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Seminar Series.

The full Penn State News article about this upcoming lecture is available online.

ICIK lecture to discuss representation for indigenous peoples of Mexico

woman with glasses standing in front of colorful background

María Muñoz’s research led her to examine the events that led to the first national congress of indigenous peoples and the developments after the assembly.

The efforts of the National Council of Indigenous Peoples (CNPI) will be the topic of a lecture by María Muñoz at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Muñoz’s lecture, “The Politics of Struggle: The National Council of Indigenous Peoples (1970-1987),” is sponsored by Penn State’s Latin American Studies program, Department of History, and the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge.

Muñoz, an associate professor of history, associate director of the honors program, and a Winifred and Gustave Weber Fellow in humanities at Susquehanna University, will discuss how the leaders of CNPI struggled to bring to fruition a national organization that would safeguard the interests of a diverse national indigenous population within the Mexican state. Formed in 1975, the CNPI faced numerous challenges, but helped define the contours of the possible as well as the dreams for what might be.

The Penn State News article on this ICIK lecture includes more information on the topic and Muñoz.

 

Researcher examines how Ukrainian immigrants adapt to US life

“Using Indigenous Knowledge-Based Narratives to Facilitate Ukrainian Immigrants’ Adaptation to Life in the United States” will be presented by Svitlana Iarmolenko on March 26, at noon, in Foster Auditorium, first floor, Paterno Library. This is the latest seminar in a series on indigenous knowledge that examines ways of knowing passed down orally from generation to generation. Following the presentation, a small reception will be held in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, sponsored by the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management. The event is free and open to the public and can also be viewed live online.

icik

Iarmolenko conducting archival research

Iarmolenko is a PhD candidate in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management. Her scholarly inquiry is grounded in the fusion of American academic tradition and Eastern European traditional indigenous knowledge. Her research project, supported in part by a 2013 Marjorie Grant Whiting Student Indigenous Knowledge Research Award, was aimed at finding ways to help Ukrainian immigrants to the United States cope with immigration-related stress. In a description of her research, she says, “Different ethnic groups have unique histories of immigration which impact their ability to acculturate into the host country. However, adjustment programs provided for immigrants often fail to address the need for social and economic assistance.”

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Indigenous knowledge seminar on women as healers

“Wild Onion Nurse: Women as Healers in Traditional and Contemporary Societies,” a presentation, will be held on February 19, from noon to 1 pm, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The presentation, which is sponsored by the Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge and the University Libraries, is free and open to the public, and can also be viewed online at http://tinyurl.com/wildonionnurse.

wild onion nurse bookSpeaker Judy Schaefer, a registered nurse and poet, will read from her 2010 Radcliffe publication, “Wild Onion Nurse,” highlighting a journey that follows the tradition of women as healers; sometimes ancient and sometimes contemporary, while reflecting upon the “indigenous self.” In a description of her talk, Schaefer notes, “In the most recent past, the image of the professional nurse was starched and crystal white. Traditionally, the nursing student was taught to be a ‘catalyst’ and to bring about clinical change without experiencing self-change. ‘Do not get overly close to your patient on a personal basis,’ as is commonly said. But this logically and intuitively turns out to be false on both sides; the nurse and the patient are both changed in the clinical process. The connection is soft and yet strong, like a spider’s web brought forth from the earth. To move from the traditional perspective is complex. We’ve had more experience than we consciously know. Human beings are ancient. We’ve been connected to the earth for a long time.”

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Call for proposals: Indigenous Knowledge research awards

Penn State University Libraries and the Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) announce a call for proposals for the 2nd annual Student Indigenous Knowledge Research Awards. The application deadline is March 1, 2014. Two awards of up to $2000 will be presented. All full-time Penn State students, undergraduate and graduate at any Penn State campus, including Penn State World Campus, are eligible to apply. Research, to be conducted between April 2014 and January 2015, must be related to approved undergraduate coursework (e.g. capstone courses) or honors, masters or doctoral thesis topics. This is a competitive award process and proposal requirements are available at icik.psu.edu/psul/icik/IKGrants.html.

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Student Indigenous Knowledge Research Awards—call for proposals

Penn State University Libraries and the Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge (ICIK) announce a call for proposals for the 2nd annual Student Indigenous Knowledge Research Awards. Application deadline is March 1, 2014. Two awards of up to $2000 will be presented. All full-time Penn State students, undergraduate and graduate at any Penn State campus, including Penn State World Campus, are eligible to apply. Research, to be conducted between April 2014 and January 2015, must be related to approved undergraduate coursework (e.g. capstone courses) or honors, masters or doctoral thesis topics. This is a competitive award process and proposal requirements are available at icik.psu.edu/psul/icik/IKGrants.html.

The awards are funded by the University Libraries’ Marjorie Grant Whiting Endowment for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledge. The endowment was created in 2008 with a gift from the California-based Marjorie Grant Whiting Center for Humanity, Arts and the Environment, established after Whiting’s death in 1995 as a way of preserving the scientific and humanistic legacy of a woman whose long and successful career as a nutritional anthropologist contributed to an understanding of the cultural interface between diet and health among people around the world.

For more information, please contact Helen Sheehy, head of the Social Sciences and Maps Libraries, at hms2@psu.edu or 814-863-1347 and Amy Paster, head of the Life Sciences Library, at alp4@psu.edu or 814-865-3708.

Nutritional expert highlights use of soybeans in Ugandan culinary practices

Nutritional sciences expert Dorothy Blair will present “Using indigenous foodways to encourage the consumption and continued use of soybeans as a rotational crop for maize in Uganda,” on Wednesday, December 4, from noon to 1 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Blair is a former assistant professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State who was recently assigned to the CNFA Farmer to Farmer volunteer program. This initiative enables the transfer of knowledge from U.S. experts to farmers and small agribusinesses around the globe. Continue reading →

Film and discussion examine Oglala Lakota culture and way of life

The University Libraries will screen “Bridge the Gap to Pine Ridge,” on Wednesday, November 13, at 6 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The film, hosted by Chris Bashinelli, explores the life of Oglala Lakota Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and will be followed by commentary presented by Jerry (Dean) Red Wing, a registered Oglala Sioux tribal member and male elder of the Red Wing family. The film and commentary will be followed by refreshments and discussion in Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library. The event is free and open to the public.

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Info night for indigenous knowledge course and field study

An information night for the spring semester course “Exploring Indigenous Ways of Knowing in the North American Context” and Maymester field study (CED 497B and 497C) will be held on Thursday, November 7, at 5:30 p.m., in 113 Thomas Building. This program offers students an opportunity to learn about the history, culture and ways of life of the Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth Ojibwe Nations in northern Minnesota through an unforgettable, immersive field study experience.

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Speaker to reflect on culture and student engagement in Nicaragua

“Yo soy #Nicaragüense…How do university students in Central America perceive their indigenous culture?,” a presentation by Nicole Webster, will be held on October 23, from noon to 1:00 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The event is free and open to the public and can also be viewed live online.

Webster is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education. This past spring, she was awarded a Fulbright grant to investigate how young people engage in formal and informal contexts, and how these experiences influence their understanding and use of social capital.

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Presenters to describe course on Ojibwe culture and related field experience

** Note: This course is available to students at all campuses and University Park. **

Students are invited to learn more about the spring 2014 course  “Exploring Indigenous Ways of Knowing in a North American Context” and related field experience in northern Minnesota (CED497B and 497C), on Friday, September 27, 2013, from noon to 1:30 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The presentation can also be viewed live online. The course is available to students at the campuses as well as at University Park.

Instructors Dr. Bruce Martin, Danna Jayne Seballos and Nonny Scholtzhauer will talk about the course and past students will share how the course has affected their worldviews and values.

Martin has led Penn State seminars in Ojibwe country for 10 years and has an intimate understanding of the people and the culture, having grown up in the northernmost point of the Red Lake Nation on Lake of the Woods, Angle Inlet, in Minnesota. Co-presenter Seballos is assistant director of the Penn State World in Conversation Project and Schlotzhauer is social sciences librarian and subject specialist for anthropology and psychology.

CED 497B is a 2.5 credit course designed to prepare students for an intensive engagement with Ojibwe culture. Students will meet weekly face-to-face or on Skype to discuss assigned readings. A field trip will be held in March to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania to highlight the process of assimilation that was imposed upon American Indian youth. Students will be introduced to library resources in indigenous knowledge, including primary source materials on Native American culture and history.

The variable credit (0.5-3.0) CED 497C field experience offers intensive cultural engagement with Ojibwe communities. After traveling by van on the route taken by the Ojibwe to reach the lakes of Minnesota, students will learn about Ojibwe culture and ways of knowing from tribal elders, leaders and those living on the reservations. They will take an active part in celebrations and ceremonies that are not generally open to visitors and spend time in the homes of families on the closed Red Lake Reservation. Students will have the opportunity to reflect orally and in writing on their experiences.

If you anticipate needing any kind of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided please contact Helen Sheehy at hms2@psu.edu or 814-863-1347, in advance of your visit. For more information, please visit icik.psu.edu.

Click here to download a flyer of the event: IndigenousWaysofKnowing

Indigenous Geography workshop

doug hermanAn 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.

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Feed the Future fellows from Africa to share indigenous knowledge perspectives

Ten women scientists from five African countries will share their perspectives on indigenous knowledge at a presentation on April 24 in the University Libraries. “Bringing Indigenous Knowledge of the People of Rural Africa into the Academy: A Presentation” will be held in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The presenters are visiting Penn State after being selected to take part in the USDA–Borlaug Global Food Security program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to expand the pool of food security professionals in Africa.

Feed the Future Fellows group picture

The scientists will share their indigenous knowledge perspectives

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Seminar explores grassroots entrepreneurship in rural communities

“Local Knowledge Systems for Grassroots Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Lessons from Rural Communities in Australia and the U.S.” will be presented on Wednesday, April 10, from noon to 1:00 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. This seminar is the latest event in an ongoing speaker series sponsored by the Interinstitutional Consortium for Indigenous Knowledge and the Social Sciences Library. Presenter Michael Fortunato is a post-doctoral research associate and lecturer in the Center for Economic and Community Development at Penn State.

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Seminar to explore medicinal properties of Ethiopian mushrooms

Penn State Food Science visiting scholar Ashagrie Zewdu will present “Laetiporus Sulphureus: a Medicinal Mushroom from Ethiopia” on Wednesday, March 13, from noon to 1:00 p.m., in Foster Auditorium, first floor, Paterno Library. Zewdu, a PhD candidate in the Center for Food Science and Nutrition, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, will describe a study conducted by the Huck Institute of Life Sciences at Penn State, which examined the properties of Laetiporus sulphureus.

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