Permeable Jurisdictions: Navigating Toxic Exposure in the Navajo Nation on Sept. 8th, 2022
Thursday, September 8th, 2022
5:00-6:15賾
185 Benson Earth Sciences
University of ֱ Boulder
Dr. Teresa Montoya, Asst. Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, will be giving the University ofֱ Boulder’s Environmental Justice Graduate Certificate Annual Lecture on Thursday, September 8, from 5:00-6:15pm in 185 Benson Earth Sciences building. Her talk, "PermeableJurisdictions:
NavigatingToxic Exposure in the Navajo Nation," is open to the campuscommunity. We look forward to seeing you there!
Talk description: Inthe 20thcentury, the Navajo Nation was the site of the largestproduction of domestic uranium ore to fuel the burgeoning military-industrialcomplex inthe United States. As a consequence of this violent development,there remain over 500 abandoned uranium mines within the Navajo Nation. ThoughtheNavajo Nation has since issued a moratorium on uranium mining on itssovereign lands, the legacy of these extractive practices remains in the formoftoxic contamination of its land and water. The ability of the Navajo Nationto protect its citizens from continued exposure, however, is limited by itslack ofjurisdiction across discontinuous non-Native land parcels that existwithin the geographic boundaries of the reservation. Large areas of the NavajoNationare so-called “checkerboard” lands, owing to disastrous19th-century federal land allotment programs. This talk interrogateshistoric settler colonial landpolicy through the analytic of “permeability” totheorize the ongoing challenges—and possibilities—for environmentalregulation and political mobilizationon Indigenous lands today.
Those unable to join us in person can observe through Zoom:Passcode 664463
This talk is co-sponsored by the following units: Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, Environmental Center, Department of Anthropology, Department of Environmental Studies, Department of Ethnic Studies, Department of Geography, Department of History, and Department of Sociology. Many sincere thanks to these units at ֱ for helping to make this visit happen.