Tracing Toxicity: Navajo Politics of Permeability

Environmental anthropologist Teresa Montoya will discuss her current research on jurisdiction, sovereignty, and environmental toxicity on the Navajo Nation. She has a M.A. in Museum Anthropology from the University of Denver (2011) and a certificate in Culture and Media from NYU (2015). She produced her first documentary film titled Doing the Sheep Good in 2013, which traces the return of iconic Navajo-made films, produced in the 1960s visual anthropology experiment Through Navajo Eyes, to their community of origin. Currently, she is working on her second short film, The Day Our River Ran Yellow/ Tó Łitso, a Diné centered visual meditation on the land and waterscapes affected by the Gold King Mine spill in August 2015. Her research has been generously supported by funding from New York University, the Ford Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the National Science Foundation.

Lunch will be provided