Events
History & Theory

A Conversation on Wildfire Ecologies

History & Theory
01 Mar, 2021

A Conversation on Wildfire Ecologies

Presented in partnership with Berkeley Arts + Design as part of Arts + Design Mondays.

with

Margo Robbins, Co-founder and President of the Cultural Fire Management Council

Valentin Lopez, Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the President of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust

Moderated by Alexii Signona. Hosted by Indigenous Technologies Coordinator Marcelo Garzo Montalvo.

Register for Zoom Link here. [link no longer available]

Or stream via YouTube at https://youtu.be/drepTzJNXuM

Video and Transcript Now Online

Click here to watch the recorded lecture. [link no longer available]

Click here to view the transcript. [link no longer available]

With California wildfires becoming a seasonal inevitability, we turn our Indigenous Technologies series to the question of fire ecologies. Join us for a conversation on indigenous fire management and land practices with two indigenous ecologists. We’ll hear from Margo Robbins, co-founder and president of the Cultural Fire Management Council and Valentin Lopez, Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the President of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust.

About Valentin Lopez

Valentin Lopez has served as Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band since 2003, and the President of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust since its inception. Valentin is a Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President on issues related to repatriation. He is also a Native American Advisor to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Valentin is actively involved in efforts to restore tribal indigenous knowledge and ensure our history is accurately told.

About Margo Robbins

Margo Robbins is the co-founder and president of the Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC). She is one of the key planners and organizers of the Cultural Burn Training Exchange(TREX) that takes place on the Yurok Reservation twice a year. She is also a co-lead and advisor for the Indigenous People’s Burn Network.Margo comes from the traditional Yurok village of Morek, and is an enrolled member of the Yurok Tribe. She gathers and prepares traditional food and medicine, is a basket weaver and regalia maker. She is the Indian Education Director for the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School district, a mom, and a grandma.

About Indigenous Technologies

Indigenous Technologies is a program of the Berkeley Center for New Media that engages questions of technology and new media in relation to global structures of indigeneity, settler colonialism and genocide in the 21st century. Our Indigenous Tech events and ongoing conversations with Indigenous scholars and communities aim to critically envision and reimagine what a more just and sustainable technological future can look like. We will highlight Indigenous engagements with robotics, computer science, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, social media, online activism, video games, and more.

Read a full description of the program and find more resources here. [link no longer available]

About the History and Theory of New Media Lecture Series

The History and Theory of New Media Lecture Series brings to campus leading humanities scholars working on issues of media transition and technological emergence. The series promotes new, interdisciplinary approaches to questions about the uses, meanings, causes, and effects of rapid or dramatic shifts in techno-infrastructure, information management, and forms of mediated expression. Presented by the Berkeley Center for New Media, these events are free and open to the public. This year, our events will all take place online via Zoom.

Fall 2020 - Spring 2021 Series Theme: Indigenous Technology

2020

09/10 | 5 — 6:30 PM | A Conversation with the Sogorea Te' Land Trust
Corrina Gould, Lisjan Ohlone leader and co-founder of the Sogorea Te' Land Trust
Moderated by Marcelo Garzo Montalvo
Register here. [link no longer available]

POSTPONED | Advancing Hollow Bone Narratives through Media Platform Connectedness
Ruth Hopkins, Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer

11/5 | 5 — 6:30 PM | World Re-Building: Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures
Skawennati, Artist & Co-Director of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and Skins Workshops in Aboriginal Storytelling in Digital Media
Co-sponsored by the Department of Art Practice
Register here. [link no longer available]

2021

2/3 | 5:00-6:30 PM | Indigenous Cyber-relationality: Discerning the Limits and Potential for Connective Action
Marisa Duarte, Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
Co-sponsored by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, the School of Information, and the Center for Race and Gender Studies.
Register here. [link no longer available]

4/22 | 5:00-6:30 PM | Indigenous Games
Elizabeth LaPensée, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
Co-sponsored by the Department of Art Practice
Register here. [link no longer available]

About Berkeley Arts + Design

Arts + Design Mondays is organized and sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Arts + Design Initiative. The series is co-curated by the African American Student Development Office; Berkeley Art Museum + Pacific Film Archive; Berkeley Center for New Media and the History and Theory of New Media Lecture Series; College of Environmental Design, the Arcus Endowment Diversity Platform Committee and the Arcus Chair in Gender, Sexuality, and the Built Environment; Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies; Future Histories Lab, a project of UC Berkeley Global Urban Humanities Initiative; Graduate School of Journalism; California Humanities and Villa San Francisco. Technical support and presentation offered by UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science, Division of Arts & Humanities.


The 2021 series of Arts + Design Mondays is made possible thanks to the generous financial support of Nancy Olson and Buzz Wiesenfeld. In-kind support provided by BAMPFA.

Accessibility

BCNM events are free and open to the public. All of our events for the 2020-2021 academic year will be held on Zoom in English, in Pacific Standard Time (PST). We provide live-captioning in Zoom and offer a separate Streamtext window for live-captioning with options to customize text size and display. We strive to meet any additional access and accommodation needs. Please contact info.bcnm [at] berkeley.edu with requests or questions.

BCNM is proud to make conversations with leading scholars, artists, and technologists freely available to the public. Please help us continue this tradition by making a tax-deductible donation today. If you are in the position to support the program, we suggest $5 per event, or $100 a year.

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