24 Jan 2017 00:00

Nexus and Indigenous Societies // Wiring Gaia at the Water-Energy Nexus: Indigenous Water Guardians and Decolonizing Water Science

As emblematized by the ongoing protests at Standing Rock, water is a foundational element — biophysical, epistemological, and spiritual — in indigenous societies and lifeways. Dr. Karen Bakker discusses how this crucial life source has come under increased threat due to the claimed necessity of extractivist development projects which impact the lives of all relations: human and more-than-human.

Panel Discussions

Joining her in the conversation will be S&J Faculty Affiliates Ben Crow (Professor of Sociology) and Kristina Lyons (Assistant Professor of Feminist Science Studies).

Where and when

University of California / Santa Cruz
Rachel Carson College 301 (Sociology)
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
USA January 24, 2017
11:40-1:15 PM

About Karen Bakker

Karen Bakker is Professor, Canada Research Chair, and Director of the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia www.watergovernance.ca. She is currently the midwife (aka Principal Investigator) to a research collective of Indigenous community members, academics, artists, activists who are striving to decolonize water in both theory and practice (www.decolonizingwater.ca). A Rhodes Scholar with a PhD from Oxford, Karen is trained in both the natural and social sciences. She currently works at the intersection of political economy and political ecology, and publishes on a wide range of environmental issues (water, hydropower, food, energy). Source: Science and Justice Research Center website