The Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability Event Series (IKS) is a multi-day event tied around traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) shared from the perspectives of Native American tribal peoples. The conference focuses on the complex and intersectional relationships between people, animals, and the land we all share. IKS events are a combined effort between multiple St. Louis regional organizations and people at the Center for Spirituality and Sustainabilty at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville, Saint Louis Zoo, Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at University of Missouri–St. Louis. The next IKS Event Series will take place October 2024. Please check back for more information and schedules.
In 2021, the IKS Conference was held virtually and featured a series of speakers focusing on food. This informative and insightful event was made possible through several organizations partnering together across the Saint Louis region. Check out these recordings by clicking the "View Session" links below.
To see the recording of each session, click the link "View session."
Cultural Food Initiatives in the St. Louis Region
sponsored by Missouri Botanical Garden
Representatives of diverse St. Louis cultural groups speak about their local foodways initiatives. A series of filmed interviews show local innovators sharing the importance of tradition at their sites of significance.
Celebrate the universality of food!
Date: Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Format: Virtual - ZoomView session - Cultural Food Initiatives in the St. Louis Region
Native Women Changing Policy in Land Stewardship
Pari In Perpetuity: Peeling Back the Layers of Agricultural Policy in a Prayerful Way
sponsored by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University in Saint Louis
Electa Hare-Redcorn, MSW (Pawnee)
Buder Center Alumna 2009; Ph.D. candidate, University of Arkansas
Electa will share how Native women are changing policy in land stewardship by acknowledging and implementing just transitions in agricultural development.
Pari in Perpetuity: Peeling Back the Layers of Agricultural Policy in a Prayerful Way
Date: Thursday, October 7, 2021
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Format: Virtual - ZoomView session - Pari In Perpetuity: Peeling Back The Layers Of Agricultural Policy In A Prayerful Way
Please visit the Buder Center's Web Page for more information!
Indigenous Models of Sustainability | The Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center Conservation Forum
sponsored by the Whitney R. Harris Center at the University of Missouri - St. Louis and the Saint Louis Zoo
Each year, the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center organizes and co-sponsors the Whitney and Anna Harris Conservation Forum in partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the Academy of Science St. Louis. The forum provides an opportunity for interaction between conservation organizations and the general public. The forum hosts 3-4 speakers with a panel discussion following. This event is meant to promote learning, discussion, and new viewpoints.
In October 2021, the Harris World Ecology Center joins with six other regional institutions to sponsor a virtual conference on Indigenous Knowledge & Sustainability.
Tiffanie Hardbarger, Ph.D. (Cherokee Nation)
Assistant Professor, Cherokee and Indigenous Studies
Northeastern State University - Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Remembrance: The Roots of Relationship to the Land
In this talk, Dr. Harbarger will share the philosophical roots of the EuroAmerican relationship to land and "sustainability" ethic in the United States using historiography, and how it has shifted in modern times. Examples of specific indigenous models and concepts will be shared as a way to examine how such relationships are remembered from an indigenous viewpoint.
Robin Kimmerer, Ph.D. (Citizen Potawatomi)
SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - Syracuse, New York
Restoration and Reciprocity: Renewing Relationships with the Land
Sustainability of indigenous cultural landscapes is based on the philosophy and practice of reciprocal relationships between land and people. Conservation of biodiversity remnants alone is insufficient for the urgency of the times. Among the most powerful acts of reciprocity we can undertake, is restoration, healing the damage we have inflicted on land and our more-than-human relatives. However, repairing ecosystem structure and function must be complemented by restoration of reciprocal relationship to land. Synergy between indigenous and scientific knowledges, can guide the process of healing both land and relationship, through biocultural approaches, leading to reciprocal restoration and justice for the land.
Dr. Robin Kimmerer's Biography
Kyle Whyte, Ph.D. (Citizen Potawatomi)
George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
Sustainability is a Matter of Kinship
Kinship traditions of ethics are needed more than ever if there will be progress toward sustainability. They are systematic, and demonstrate how norms of consent, reciprocity, trust, and accountability are entwined with ecological understandings of climate change and biodiversity conservation. Kinship is especially important as sustainable solutions, including renewable energy, turn out to pose threats to Indigenous peoples and other groups globally.
Indigenous Models of Sustainability
Date: Thursday, October 7, 2021
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Format: Virtual - Zoom
Free of charge, discussion follows.View session - Harris Conservation Forum: Indigenous Models Of Sustainability
Native Foods, Native PeopleS, Native PollinatorS
sponsored by the Native American Studies Program, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
and the Center for Spirituality & Sustainability at SIUE
Ed Spevak, Ph.D.
Curator of Invertebrates, Saint Louis Zoo
Director, Center for Native Pollinator Conservation
Ed Spevak, Ph.D., of the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Center for Native Pollinator Conservation will speak about the initiative Native Foods, Native Peoples, Native Pollinators. The initiative focuses on the intersection of wild and cultivated foods, cultural traditions and food sovereignty, the health of environments, and people and nature.
Native Foods, Native Peoples, Native Pollinators
Date: Friday, October 8, 2021
Time: 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Format: Virtual - Zoom
Free of charge, discussion follows.View session - Native Foods, Native Peoples, Native Pollinators
FARMING, GARDENING, AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
sponsored by Missouri Botanical Garden.
Devon A. Mihesuah, PhD, a member of the Choctaw Nation, is Cora Lee Beers Price Professor in International Cultural Understanding at the University of Kansas.
Elizabeth Hoover, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California Berkeley.
Farming, Gardening, and Food Sovereignty in Native American Communities
Mihesuah and Hoover co-edited Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019).
Date: Saturday, October 9, 2021
Time: 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Format: Virtual - Zoom
Free of chargeView session - Farming, Gardening And Food Sovereignty In Native American Communities
Indigenous Foods & Sustainability
sponsored by the Native American Studies Program, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and the Center for Spirituality & Sustainability at SIUe
Tiffanie Hardbarger, PhD (Cherokee Nation), Assistant Professor of Cherokee and Indigenous Studies at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK.
Elizabeth Hoover, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy &Management at University of California-Berkeley.
Specialists in indigenous food systems, Native sovereignty, and related fields will speak about their research and projects, and their ideas about ways that indigenous perspective and practices can support sustainability in food production and food justice - for Native people and everyone. Dialogue to follow.
Indigenous Foods & Sustainability
Date: Sunday, October 10, 2021
Time: 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Format: Virtual - Zoom
Free of charge, discussion follows.
View session - Indigenous Foods & Sustainability
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Honoring Indigenous people of our region, nation, and the world.
Mon. October 11
No conference events on Indigenous Peoples Day: Monday, October 11.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY VIGIL
sponsored by the Buder Center for American Indian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis
Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021Time: 7:00PMFormat: Live. This event is held outdoors. A self-screening form is required for all visitors of the University.Free of charge.
Read/listen - Scholars look to Indigenous knowledge and practices in fight against climate change
Article and audio interview with Dr. Kyle Whyte (Citizen Potawatomi), George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability at University of Michigan, and Kellie Thompson, MSW (Seneca), director of the Buder Center for American Indian Studies, Washington University in St. Louis. St. Louis Public Radio (Oct. 4, 2021).
Read - Harris Conservation Forum highlights Indigenous knowledge and its lessons for sustainability, UMSL Daily (Oct. 11, 2021).
Read – Free Virtual Conference Highlights Work of Native Scholars, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis (Sept. 13, 2021).
Read - Indigenous knowledge, sustainability focus of SIUE event, Edwardsville Intelligencer (Sept. 30, 2021).
Read - Indigenous Knowledge & Sustainability Virtual Conference to Advance Research and Education, SIUE News (Sept. 21, 2021).
Read - Indigenous Knowledge Conference Emphasizes Climate Change, Native Pollinators and Food, SIUE Alestle (Oct. 12, 2021).
Sponsored by Missouri Botanical Garden, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Kathryn M. Buder American Indian Studies Center at Washington University in St. Louis, the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Native American Studies Program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the Center for Spirituality & Sustainability at SIUE, and SIUE's College of Arts &Sciences.
For readings and resources, visit the SIUE site Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainability
For information, contact Professor Greg Fields at gfields@siue.edu or call (618)650-3246.
