UPDATES on the Smithsonian Tree Banding
UPDATES on the Smithsonian Tree Banding were held prior to the conference sessions. Hear Josh Falk about the schools across the world joining Smithsonian researchers in this citizen science project.
American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges: Working for a Sustainable Future
This session took place online on July 13, 2011 and ran for about one hour. If you could not participate live, a recording is posted below for your enjoyment at any time.
What does “value the land” mean to American Indian peoples today? Throughout their long histories—and extending to today—American Indian peoples have thrived on, respected, and protected the environments that make up their homelands. In this session, you’ll learn about how four Native communities are combining traditional knowledge with 21st-century scientific expertise to find solutions to environmental problems that challenge their cultural and economic sustainability.
Virtual Graphic Facilitation:
This session was illustrated in real time. Click for an illustrated summary of this Shout event. Refer to the drawing as a memento of the session and to inspire continued exploration of this topic.
Genevieve Simermeyer (Osage Nation of Oklahoma) is School Programs Manager at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, where her responsibilities include the development of classroom resources. She is author of the book Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma, which won the 2010 American Indian Youth Literature Award from the American Indian Library. She has also published articles on education in Winds of Change, published by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and Social Education, published by the National Council for Social Studies.
Edwin Schupman, a Citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, produces educational materials for Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). In his many years as an educator, including his work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, his focus has been on improving education for and about American Indians across the United States. He is a contributor to the book Do All Indians Live in Tipis? Questions and Answers from the National Museum of the American Indian (Collins, 2007) and is currently the content manager of the website “American Indian Responses to Environmental Challenges.”
Community Narratives: Citizens Recording History
This session took place online on July 13, 2011 and ran for about one hour. If you could not participate live, a recording is posted below for your enjoyment at any time.
The availability of low-cost recording equipment—from computers and digital cameras to mobile devices—has made it possible to gather the stories and personal points of view from a wider range of people than ever before. We invite the Shout community to seek out people who “value the land” and record their stories. Today’s three presenters will share their expertise and perspectives on the protocols and strategies for conducting an oral history project. They’ll show you how to identify a great interview subject, how to prepare for the interview, and what to do during the interview to make sure you capture great material. Join this session to experience the importance of looking for narratives and cultural histories close to home.
Virtual Graphic Facilitation:
This session was illustrated in real time. Click for an illustrated summary of this Shout event. Refer to the drawing as a memento of the session and to inspire continued exploration of this topic.
James I. Deutsch is a Curator and Editor at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, where he has helped to develop programs and exhibitions on such various subjects as the U.S. Forest Service, the Peace Corps, the Apollo Theater, the Mekong River, World War II, and the Silk Road. In addition, he teaches courses on film history as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University and has taught American Studies classes at universities in Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Poland, and Turkey.
Alex Griswold is Executive Producer of the Science Media Group of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. He studied film and “visual anthropology” as an undergraduate at Harvard College and went on to freelance work for PBS, NBC, ABC, and feature-film productions and to produce television documentaries on migration and cultural assimilation. At the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, he has produced and directed numerous programs addressing challenges in science education. The recent The Habitable Planet was recognized with an AAAS Spore prize for online science education resources.
Joshua Bell is Curator of Globalization in the Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with research in museums and archives, he focuses on what cultural artifacts can tell us about the changing relationships between people and their environment. Since joining the Smithsonian in 2008, he has taken a leading role in the Smithsonian initiative “Recovering Voices,” which helps to connect communities around the world with their cultural and natural heritage and with local and global efforts to sustain and revitalize them. For more than a decade, he has been working in the ecologically diverse Purari Delta of Papua New Guinea.
Stories of the Forest: Human Impacts of Deforestation
This session took place online on July 13, 2011 and ran for about one hour. If you could not participate live, a recording is posted below for your enjoyment at any time.
How can we understand the impact of deforestation if we don’t experience it ourselves? Joshua Bell has witnessed deforestation first-hand and collected stories of forest loss from the people who live with it. Oral histories of the people of the coastal forests of Papua New Guinea reveal the human consequences when cultural traditions collide with the desire for economic development and resources. Bell will discuss his research methods, what he learned, and its implications for all of us.
Virtual Graphic Facilitation:
This session was illustrated in real time. Click for an illustrated summary of this Shout event. Refer to the drawing as a memento of the session and to inspire continued exploration of this topic.
Joshua Bell is Curator of Globalization in the Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with research in museums and archives, he focuses on what cultural artifacts can tell us about the changing relationships between people and their environment. Since joining the Smithsonian in 2008, he has taken a leading role in the Smithsonian initiative “Recovering Voices,” which helps to connect communities around the world with their cultural and natural heritage and with local and global efforts to sustain and revitalize them. For more than a decade, he has been working in the ecologically diverse Purari Delta of Papua New Guinea.
