Preserving Our Place: The Interplay of Culture, Climate and Migration

Join us for Preserving Our Place: The Interplay of Culture, Climate and Migration lecture at Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture on June 20th, from 6- 7:30 p.m.

PMRCAA is hosting a lecture, short- film screening and exhibition on June 20th featuring Indigenous artists from Louisiana and Alaska talking about communities in the two states facing displacement due to climate change.

Both the community of Isle de Jean Charles and of Shishmaref face displacement due to the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. Chantel Comardelle and Dennis Davis will present stories, photographs and a film illustrating the contrasts between cultural beauty and the impacts of the climate crisis in their communities.

This event will be moderated by OSU professor Dr Elizabeth Marino.

Doors will open at 5.30pm so people have time to see the exhibition prior to the lecture and the screening.

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited so registration is required.

More about the Speakers:

Dennis Davis is a self-taught Inupiat photographer that has been taking pictures and videos of the western coastline of Alaska for over 20 years. He uses an Inupiat vision of the connections between land, animals, and people to create new forms of photography and video, offering a glimpse into the subsistence lifestyle. Dennis’ goal is to show others what his culture, highlight the risks that Arctic peoples face with the advent of climate change, and give a voice to his people.

Chantel 'Dolphin Lady' Comardelle has a deep passion for her community and culture. Research and photography has always been a passion of Chantel's. As Tribal Secretary of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation, she serves the Tribal Council and citizens with vigor. Chantel has held this role since 2000, acting as a Tribal Representative while simultaneously juggling Tribal communications, archival and historical research, and grant writing responsibilities.

Chantel is a first-generation college graduate with a Bachelor of General Studies from Nicholls State University. In 2016, she began pursuing a Certificate of Museum Studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts to acquire new archival and conservation skills to help the Tribe preserve their culture in light of their current environmental crisis. Chantel is now in her second year as a Master Student at IAIA in Cultural Administration. It is her hope the knowledge gained will propel Tribe through the Federal Recognition process and finally reach their collective goal of acceptance.

Beth Marino is the associate dean for academic affairs and an associate professor of anthropology and sustainability at Oregon State University - Cascades. She is interested in the relationships among climate change, vulnerability, slow and rapid onset disasters, human migration, and sense of place. Her research focuses on how historically and socially constructed vulnerabilities interact with climate change and disasters – including disaster policy, biophysical outcomes of disasters and climate change, and disaster discourses. She is also interested in how people make sense and meaning out of changing environmental and social conditions; and how people interpret risk. Elizabeth is an author on the forthcoming National Climate Assessment, has worked with the Humboldt Forum in Berlin on representations of climate change and disasters, and has worked with the Emmet Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law on issues of environmental refugees and displaced peoples. She has also worked with the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) on migration, climate change and humanitarian crisis issues. Her book "Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground: an Ethnography of Climate Change" was released in 2015.

Host or Publisher Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts & Agriculture