MDP student attends the 2022 NCAIS Graduate Spring Workshop

Fri. Apr. 29, 2022

First year MDP student, Molly Damiani, had the opportunity to attend the 2022 Center for American Indian Studies Programs (NCAIS) Graduate Spring Workshop in Research Methods titled Extractivism: Environment and Epistemologies March 17-19, 2022. Over the course of three days, Molly and 17 other graduate students from across North America congregated in Flagstaff, Arizona to discuss scholarship on environmental justice and environmental racism, carry out archival research at the Cline Library, and present takeaways and learnings. Key themes engaged were enclosure and resource extraction, limitations of the conservation movement for Indigenous populations, Indigenous data sovereignty, and appropriations of Indigenous material culture. 

For Molly, the highlight was a dialogue with Jim Enote, Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Plateau Foundation, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Grand Canyon Trust and former director of the Zuni A:shiwi A:wan Museum.

She states: "He spoke about Indigenous land-based approaches to conservation and care and critiqued what it means to meaningfully incorporate Indigenous Knowledge. He emphasized the necessity of clarity and collaboration in this work – a message I carry with me moving forward in the MDP program."