September 11-15, 2016
Go to Official Website: SustainableWisdomAtND.com
NOTE: Videos of conference talks are also available at YouTube. Search for them there.
Book with conference speaker contributions available from Peter Lang.com:
Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First Nation Knowhow for Global Flourishing
How can we integrate the best of modern technology and capacities with the wisdom of first nations? The conference presents the mindsets, practices and wisdom of first nation peoples across multiple disciplines. The goals of the conference are to (a) Increase understanding of “first” ways; (b) Demonstrate how indigenous cultures foster wisdom, morality and flourishing; (c) Find commonalities among different indigenous societies in fostering these outcomes; (d) Develop synergistic approaches to shifting human imagination towards “first ways.” We expect that the symposium will help us envision ways to move toward integrating helpful modern advances with first ways into a new encompassing viewpoint where the greater community of life (diverse human and nonhuman entities) are included in conceptions of wellbeing and practices that lead to flourishing.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
3:00-4:00 Tour of Notre Dame campus native sites and murals (meet in lobby of conference center)
4:00-5:00 History of the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi by John Low
5:30-8:30 Celebration and opening reception (Lake; Remick Commons and courtyard)
Talking circle regarding need and hopes for conference (Remick Commons and courtyard)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
8:15 Welcome and introduction to the symposium
UNDERSTANDING HISTORY
8:30-9:30 Pokagon culture by Marcus Winchester
9:30-10:30 “Preserving Indigenous Ethnohistory and Ecological Knowledge” by Christopher Ball
10:30-11:30 “Boarding Schools and Education” by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert
WAYS OF KNOWING AND LEARNING
11:30-12:30 “Mother Earth vs. Mother Lode: Native Environmental Ethos, Sustainability, and Human Survival” by Bruce Johansen
12:30-1:30 Lunch provided (McKenna Dining Room on lower level)
1:30-2:30 “Spirit of the Salmon: Indigenous Spirituality and Sustainability in the Columbia Basin” by Andrew H. Fisher
2:30-3:30 “Modern (Intellectual) Shamans and Wisdom for Sustainability” by Sandra Waddock
3:30-4:30 Talking circle discussion
4:30-5:30 Poster session and art display (room)
5:30-6:15 Tour of campus native sites and murals
6:00 Buffet dinner (McKenna Dining Room on lower level)
7:30 Native film night (OPEN TO PUBLIC)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
WAYS OF BEING AND WAYS OF BECOMING A VIRTUOUS PERSON
9:00-10:00 “Indigenous Spirituality: A Matter of Significance” by Four Arrows (Wahinkpe Topa), aka Dr. Don Trent Jacobs
10:00-11:00 “Spiritual Connections, Obligations and Outcomes: The Foundation of Tlingit Existence” by Steve Langdon
11:00-12:00 “Regenerating the Roots of Indigeneity: Resurgence and Resilience in Troubling Times” by Waziyatawin
12:00-1:00 Lunch provided (McKenna Dining Room on lower level)
Talk: “The Indigenous Worldview: Original Practices for Being and Becoming Human” by Darcia Narvaez
WAYS OF HEALING AND SPIRITUALITY
1:00-2:00 “‘Woman Is the Mother of All’: Rising from the Earth” by Barbara Mann
2:00-3:00 “Orality, Literacy, and the Animate Earth” by David Abram
3:00-4:00 “Guidance from the Trembling Aspen” by White Standing Buffalo
4:00-5:00 Talking circle discussion
5:30-7:00 Dinner on own
7:00-8:00 “Native Voices” exhibition (Hesburgh Library) OPEN TO PUBLIC
8:00 Winona Laduke: “Daughters of Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Native American Women” (Hesburgh Library auditorium) OPEN TO PUBLIC
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
WAYS OF DOING SCIENCE AND RELATING TO NATURE
9:00-10:00 “Nature Sense to Innate Wisdom: Effective Connection Modeling & Regenerating Human Beings” by Jon Young
10:00-11:00 “Indigenous science” by Greg Cajete
11:00-12:00 “Magic and the Machine; Reflections on Animism and Technology in an Age of Ecological Wipe-out,” by David Abram
12:00-1:00 Lunch provided (McKenna Dining Room on lower level)
WAYS OF LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNAL LIFE
1:00-2:00 "The Fortress, the River and the Garden: New metaphors for knowledge symbiosis” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2:00-3:00 “ENOUGHNESS: Indigenous Economics 101” by Rebecca Adamson
3:00-5:00 Talking circle discussion including next steps
5:00, 5:30 Bus to Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture
6:00-8:00 Dinner reception and celebration at Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture, OPEN TO PUBLIC (presentation of poem and art by artists in residence)
7:30, 8:00 Bus returns to Notre Dame campus
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
ART, WISDOM AND TRANSFORMATION
9:00-10:00 ‘Aki-gikendamowin (Learning from the Land): Indigenous Art, Ecology, and Aesthetics’ by Dylan Miner
10:00-11:00 “Ancient Light: Picto-Poems and Ekphrastic Poetry”by Kim Blaeser
11:00-12:00 Closing ceremony
Program Chairs
Brian Collier, Interim Director of Native Initiatives and Graduate Faculty, Institute for Educational Initiatives
Darcia Narvaez, Professor of Psychology
Organizing Committee
Campus planning committee members:
Elaine Debassige-D’Amato
Georges Enderle
David Everson
Eugene Halton
Rachel Novick
Thomas Tweed
External planning committee:
Four Arrows, Cherokee Nation
David Abram, Alliance for Wild Ethics
Marcus Winchester, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
We thank our sponsors:
Notre Dame Sponsors
Henkels Lecture Series of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts
Center for Arts and Cultures
Center for Social Concerns
College of Science, Nieuwland Lecture Series
Department of American Studies
Department of Anthropology
Department of Art, Art History and Design
Department of English
Department of History
Department of Psychology
Department of Sociology
Department of Theology
Eck Institute for Global Health
Environmental Change Initiative
First Year Studies
Gender Studies
The Graduate School
Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Educational Initiatives
John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology & Values
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
The Law School
Native American Alumni
Native American Initiatives
Native American Student Association of Notre Dame
Office of Research
Poverty Studies
Shaw Center for Children and Families
Snite Museum
Sustainability Minor
External sponsors
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi