Conference: centering the humanities in environmental inquiry

Since 1998, the Environmental Joint Campus Conference (JCC) has been an annual event that brings together graduate students and faculty from three programs: the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Oregon (UO), the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program at Oregon State University (OSU), and the Environmental Sciences and Management Program at Portland State University (PSU). The JCC provides an opportunity for graduate students and faculty from the three programs to present their diverse research. Presentations and posters given at the JCC generate discussions that span the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. 

This year’s JCC, cosponsored by the OHC’s Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, on the theme of “Celebrating Environmental Knowledges” will be held at the UO on May 18, 2023 in partnership with Environmental Studies, UO’s Environment Initiative, UO Outdoors, the College of Arts and Sciences, and Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS). Indigenous scholar Dina Gilio-Whitaker will give a keynote titled “Identifying Challenges and Celebrating Impact in California Indian Coastal Conservation Spaces.” Her talk will be livestreamed to PNW Tribal Climate Change Network members. Later that day, Gilio-Whitaker will attend NAIS’s Culture and Community Night at the UO’s Many Nations Longhouse, providing her with dedicated time with NAIS faculty, staff, and students.    

Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University, San Marcos. She teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, Native women’s activism, and decolonization. Dina is co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of “All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans (2016). Her most recent book, As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock was published in 2019.  

According to organizer Sarah Wald, “Hosting Gilio-Whitaker for the JCC communicates the centrality of environmental justice and Indigenous voices to the core work of environmental studies at UO at an event with regional visibility. We believe this is one of the most exciting and distinctive aspects of Environmental Studies work at UO. One of our goals for the keynote and inclusion of UO environmental studies graduate students is to express the importance of centering the humanities in environmental inquiry. Additionally, we are excited for the ways this collaboration will continue to strengthen the relationship between Environmental Studies and Native American and Indigenous Studies at UO.” Wald is an associate professor of Environmental Studies and English.