On the Swamp: Talk with Ryan Emanuel on Indigenous Environmental Justice

Join Massy Books, University of North Carolina Press, and Ryan Emanuel for a book talk on Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice at 7 pm, Tuesday, August 19th at Massy Books!

Registration is required for this event.

Venue:

The event will be hosted at Massy Books, 229 E. Georgia St., Vancouver, BC.

The venue is wheelchair accessible and a gender-neutral washroom is on-site.

Please refrain from wearing scents or heavy perfumes.

Covid Protocols: Masks keep our community safe and are recommended. We ask if you are showing symptoms, that you stay home. Thank you kindly.

Books will be for sale at the event, with a signing to follow.

About the :

Despite centuries of colonialism, Indigenous peoples still occupy parts of their ancestral homelands in what is now Eastern North Carolina—a patchwork quilt of forested swamps, sandy plains, and blackwater streams that spreads across the Coastal Plain between the Fall Line and the Atlantic Ocean. In these backwaters, Lumbees and other American Indians have adapted to a radically transformed world while maintaining vibrant cultures and powerful connections to land and water. Like many Indigenous communities worldwide,they continue to assert their rights to self-determination by resisting legacies of colonialism and the continued transformation of their homelands through pollution, unsustainable development, and climate change.Environmental scientist Ryan E. Emanuel, a member of the Lumbee tribe, shares stories from North Carolina about Indigenous survival and resilience in the face of radical environmental changes. Addressing issues from the loss of wetlands to the arrival of gas pipelines, these stories connect the dots between historic patterns of Indigenous oppression and present-day efforts to promote environmental justice and Indigenous rights on the swamp. Emanuel’s scientific insight and deeply personal connections to his home blend together in a book that is both a heartfelt and an analytical call to acknowledge and protect sacred places.

About the Author:

Ryan Emanuel is a hydrologist and community-engaged scholar from North Carolina. He studies ecohydrology, biogeosciences, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights. Emanuel leads a group of researchers and scholars who study water and watery places in North Carolina and beyond. His group also partners with Native American Tribes and other communities to understand environmental change through the lenses of environmental justice and Indigenous rights. Their work involves research, education, and relationship-building. Emanuel aims to amplify voices of Indigenous and other marginalized communities who shoulder disproportionate environmental burdens.

Also check out other Arts events in Vancouver, Literary Art events in Vancouver.