American Studies 215ir - Colloquium: Topics in Contemporary Native/Indigenous Studies-Indigenous Climate Resiliency
Colq:T-IndigenClimateResil
Spring
2025
01
4.00
Kaden Jelsing
M 3:05 PM - 4:20 PM; W 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Smith College
AMS-215ir-01-202503
kjelsing@smith.edu
It is often noted in mainstream news media that Indigenous peoples are “on the front lines” of the climate crisis, while providing little explanation as to why this is. Narratives of inherent Indigenous vulnerability obscure the ways in which Indigenous communities have mobilized to navigate environmental change, not only in the face of contemporary global warming, but historically, as settler colonial incursions radically transformed landscapes and constrained Indigenous knowledge practices that have provided tools for adaptation for thousands of years. This course considers how Indigenous climate vulnerability is largely a product of settler colonialism—not only a process and system, but also a particular way of understanding and relating to the nonhuman environment. Enrollment limited to 25. (E)