EVENT POSTPONED: INconversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer

Offered as part of Indiana Humanities’ Unearthed programming, a multiyear initiative encouraging Hoosiers to discover and discuss their relationships with the natural world, this special INconversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer will feature a reading followed by a moderated conversation with Felica Ahasteen-Bryant, Director of Purdue University’s Native American Educational and Cultural Center. The evening will wrap up with an audience Q&A and book signing opportunity. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

This program is presented by Natalie Clayton, co-founder & broker, Maywright Property Co. Support has also been provided by Eiteljorg Museum and the Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts Program of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute.

ASL interpretation will be provided.

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SCHEDULE (All times Eastern.)

6:30 p.m. – Doors open

7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – INconversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer moderated by Felica Ahasteen-Bryant

8:00 – 8:30 p.m. – Book sales and signing

This program will also be available to view via livestream. If you are unable to join in-person, but would like to receive the livestream link in your inbox when the event begins, click here to provide your email address.

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About Robin Will Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. She tours widely and has been featured on NPR’s On Being with Krista Tippett and in 2015 addressed the general assembly of the United Nations on the topic of “Healing Our Relationship with Nature.” Kimmerer lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both Indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability.

As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She holds a BS in Botany from SUNY ESF, an MS and PhD in botany from the University of Wisconsin, and is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge, and restoration ecology. She lives on an old farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild.

About Felica Ahasteen-Bryant Felica Ahasteen-Bryant is the Director of Purdue University’s Native American Educational and Cultural Center. She has worked in the field of education for over 20 years with emphasis in student engagement and leadership, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and recruitment and retention of students.

Since 2009, Ahasteen-Bryant provides leadership for campus-wide Native American initiatives at the NAECC and she works collaboratively to mentor students and foster an inclusive learning environment. Ahasteen-Bryant serves as co-Principal Investigator (PI) for the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership (SIGP) program and mentors Indigenous students. She was the recipient of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) national award, “Chapter Advisor of the Year” at the AISES 2013 National Conference and the “Outstanding Advisor of the Year” from the Purdue Office of the Dean of Students in 2015.

Ahasteen-Bryant has elevated the visibility of Native American initiatives through her community advocacy and engagement. She has held leadership positions with the American Indian Theatre Company of Indiana, the American Indian Center of Indiana, and served on committees with the Eiteljorg Museum and United Way of Central Indiana. In January 2019, Ahasteen-Bryant was appointed by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb to serve as a Commissioner with the Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission (INAIAC) and currently chairs the INAIAC Education Committee.

As a member of the Navajo (Diné) Nation, Ahasteen-Bryant was born and raised in New Mexico and she is from the Bear People, Towering House, Bitter Water, and Tobacco People clans. She received her bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University and master’s degree from Indiana University.