Four Talks on Indigenous Studies: Sonya Atalay

Four Talks on Indigenous Studies: Feb. 14, Sonya Atalay | Feb 21, David Heska Wanbli Weiden | Feb 28, Kyle Mays | March 6, Eli Nelson

Braiding New Research Worlds: Reclaiming, Storywork, and Indigenous Wellbeing

Sonya Atalay, Provost Professor in Anthropology University of Massachusetts Amherst, presents her work on a series of land-based projects with Indigenous communities.

Centering Anishinaabe epistemologies and concepts of well-being, Atalay explores how reclaiming traditional knowledge, ancestral remains, Indigenous language, and sacred cultural places can contribute to well-being and healing from historical trauma. Indigenous arts-based research and knowledge mobilization methods are foundational to this research.

Atalay details the use of collaborative comics, storybaskets and counter mapping, and virtual reality applications as part of Indigenous storywork, demonstrating how lessons drawn from reclaiming tangible and intangible heritage provide a model for imagining and collaboratively establishing decolonized research futures.

Part of a series of talks on interdisciplinary Indigenous scholarship from MIT SHASS.  Attend any or all of the presentations, and enjoy refreshments and conversation with the scholars after the talk.

MIT SHASS is committed to making this presentation accessible for all community members.  Please reach out to Tracie Jones-Barrett, jonestd@mit.edu, with accessibility requests.