PSU Anthropology Department

Normalizing edible landscapes in Seattle, Washington: Creating a new vision for sustainable urban forests

Presented by: Rebecca McLain, Institute for Culture and Ecology

Historically urban green spaces in the US have been managed under a “look but don’t touch” policy, an approach that reflects a world view in which humans are destroyers, rather than co-producers, of nature.

Rebecca McLain explores how these tensions are playing out in Seattle, Washington, where efforts are being made to normalize the production and use of edible landscapes. Can a vision of urban forests as providers of goods as well as services provide a more solid foundation for achieving urban sustainability than the current “hands off” approach to urban forest management?

Tuesday, June 5
4:00pm
Cramer Hall 41

The Center for Columbia River History, in partnership with the Chinook Indian Nation and the Pacific County Historical Society presents “Re-visioning Chinook Country on the World Wide Web”

WHAT:  An illustrated presentation of a newly created website and panel discussion about the importance of collaboration in presenting Chinook history

WHO:  Native and non-Native collaborators from the Chinook Indian Nation, Portland State University, and the Washington State Historical Society.

WHEN: June 6, 2012 – 5:30 p.m.

WHERE:  Faith Center Church, 404 Bay Center Road, Bay Center, Washington

COST: Free

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This program will present portions of the newly created Lower Columbia River Chinookan Communities Website for feedback. Native and non-Native collaborators will present a host of Chinookan materials, including video, photos, documents, and even digital images of the original 1851 Tansy Point treaties, available until now only at the National Archives.

Panel participants will talk about how partnerships can:

fill informational gaps;

correct historical inconsistencies;

make archival and personal resources widely available;

and reduce historical anonymity for the Chinook.

This program is presented by the Center for Columbia River History in partnership with the Chinook Indian Nation and the Pacific County Historical Society and with support from Humanities Washington and the James B. Castles Endowment

COLUMBIA COMMUNITIES WEBSITES

The Columbia Communities websites, http://www.ccrh.org/comm/index.php, are a series of eight Internet exhibits, originally funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant. The existing sites explore the histories of eight different Columbia River Basin communities since the building of major dams on the Columbia and its tributaries and include: Camas, WA; the Columbia Basin Native Fishery; Columbia Slough, OR; Moses Lake, WA; Sandpoint, ID; Umatilla, OR; and Crewport, WA. Each exhibit features extensive primary sources, including maps, oral history interviews, documents, newspapers, and photographs. Bibliographies contribute additional information about each community, and audio excerpts and curriculum questions enrich the exhibit tour.

The ninth exhibit, the Lower Columbia River Chinookan Communities Website invites its audience to re-imagine the historic Chinookan landscape through online multi-media materials. Re-Visioning This Place places a body of historical, archaeological, and audiovisual texts alongside the tools and methods for analyzing them. Short narratives guide exploration, connecting past and present. Searchable primary documents, images, video, maps, and contemporary interviews allow the viewer to construct and enrich existing narratives.

The Chinookan Communities Website has been funded through a variety of sources, including Oregon Humanities, Humanities Washington, and the James B. Castles Endowment with institutional support from Portland State University, the Washington State Historical Society, and Washington State University Vancouver. In kind support has come from numerous regional archives and the Chinook Indian Nation. To create this website, CCRH has worked with Native and non-Native scholars and experts to represent a variety of perspectives that respect multiple ways of understanding the past.

CHINOOK INDIAN NATION

The Chinook Indian Nation is composed of the Cathlamet, Clatsop, Lower Chinook, Wahkiakum, and Willapa Bands, with its tribal office in Bay Center, Washington.

HUMANITIES WASHINGTON

Humanities Washington honors and shares stories, ideas, and perspectives from across the state that connect Washingtonians from all backgrounds and communities, allowing us to understand our past and present as we work to shape the future. For information visit www.humanities.org.

JAMES B. CASTLES ENDOWMENT PROGRAMS

The Castles Programs are funded through a generous endowment from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, of which James B. Castles was a founding trustee and twenty-year board member. Born in Montana, Jim Castles pursued and promoted the art, culture, and heritage of the Columbia and the American West. He valued public, informal education that stimulated discussion about the history of the region he loved.

PACIFIC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Pacific County Historical Society is a private, not-for-profit, charitable organization devoted to preserving and presenting the history of Pacific County, Washington, USA.

The Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) website was created by a regional consortium that includes the Washington State Historical Society, Washington State University Vancouver, and Portland State University.

Deana Dartt-Newton, Ph.D.
Curator of Native American Art

Special Lecture: Sunday, May 20
2 P.M. – 3 P.M
FREE FOR STUDENTS WITH VALID I.D.

Multiple Goals, Common Purpose:
Indigenous Culture and Public Engagement

Dartt-Newton comes to the Museum from the University of Washington where she served as an Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies and the Curator of Native American Ethnology at the Burke Museum of Natural History. Deana’s research has focused on disrupting dominant museum narratives which leave Native peoples in the past. Her work explores ways to better interpret cultural materials through active engagement and collaborative goal-setting with Native communities themselves.

Free for members and students with valid ID or with Museum admission. Space is limited. Advance tickets are recommended and available online or on site. Explore Native American Art at portlandartmuseum.org