Knowledge Share Description
Dr. Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her research focuses on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations gardened large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans. Contrary to popular belief, Indigenous Nations were active agents within the ecosystem and sculptured entire bio regions into edible landscapes. Whether it's periodically burning grassland ecosystems with low severity fires to maintain habitat for deer, buffalo, antelope, etc, or building intertidal rock walls that catch sediment and warmer waters to expand clam habitat, native people have a number of innovative strategies for scaling habitat for edible plants and animals whom they often view as relatives. Her work translates this poorly understood history to the Western world and highlights the connection between Indigenous land ethics, decolonial narratives, biodiversity augmentation, anthropogenic habitat expansion, and regional ecosystems design. The success of the systems is believed to be due to their underlying value system of respect, reverence, responsibility and reciprocity.
We will explore:
A deeper understanding of Indigenous thousands of years of historical ecology on Turtle Island
A toolset of ethics/principles that are common to many Indigenous food and land management systems
Cost
$35 - low income
$50 - standard
$75 - pay-it-forward (if you have financial abundance, this is our pay-it-forward option to fund our full tuition scholarships)
For more information on sliding scale please check out this amazing work!
The zoom link will be sent upon registration. Recording will be available for 30 days.
Please apply here for a scholarship.
Accessibility Information
Virtual Gathering
*ASR (automated) captioning provided
The knowledge share zoom link will be sent out immediately upon purchase, along with any other necessary information.
Wednesday April 24, 2024
5:00pm - 7:00pm Eastern Standard Time
Class will be recorded and available for 30 days.
Facilitator
Dr. Lyla June Johnston (aka Lyla June) is an Indigenous musician, author, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans.