Catawba College’s Equity, Diversity, Justice, and Inclusion Task Force (EDJI) in partnership with the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program Committee, the Center for the Environment, and Department of Environment and Sustainability at Catawba College will host the internationally-renowned scholar, Winona LaDuke, on February 22, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. in the Peeler Crystal Lounge, Robertson College-Community Center on Catawba’s campus.
The plenary session is centered on Indigeneity, Intersectionality, and inspiration. Indigeneity through traditional ecological knowledge, Intersectionality by celebrating the spirit of positive social change, and Inspiration garnered from alternative political-economic approaches.
“We are so incredibly fortunate to host Winona LaDuke,” states Dr. Mercedes Quesada-Embid, founder and co-chair of EDJI, Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Advocacy, and Chair of the NAACP’s ECJP. “LaDuke is an authentic leader and an extraordinary exemplar of many of the facets of applied sustainability. She understands so clearly the interwoven nature of the social, ecological, and economic.”
Winona LaDuke is a gifted author, orator, economist, hemp and heirloom seed farmer, renewable energy innovator, and persistent advocate for human rights. Much of her work has emphasized water protection, Native American land recovery and resilience, and the interwoven ways in which cultural practices are tied to environmental and climate justice. She is a graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities and lives and works on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. LaDuke is a member of the Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) and an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg.
“Everyone in attendance will walk away intrigued, informed, impacted, and inspired,” continued Quesada-Embid. “Her insights about the nature of the challenges we face are exactly what we all need to hear, in order to help bring solutions to the complex issues of our time.”
The plenary session will be immediately followed by a Book Signing. LaDuke has authored several titles, including, Recovering the Sacred, All My Relations, and The Militarization of Indian Country. The book available for purchase at the event will be her most recent title, To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, but attendees are welcome to bring other currently-owned titles for signing as well.
For more information, contact Dr. Mercedes Quesada-Embid at mquesada19@catawba.edu.
The event is free and open to the public. Register online at: shorturl.at/twHRZ
