How do spiritual traditions shape the way the Blackfeet understand the natural world?
Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the traditional knowledge of plants used by Indigenous people. For Dr. Rosalyn LaPier (Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis), this means asking not only how plants are used, but also how traditions, communities, and deities come together in ecological knowledge.
Drawing on their background as both a scholar and an Indigenous practitioner, LaPier will explore how ecological understandings are sometimes embedded in religious practices. They will also describe ethnobotany among the Blackfeet in particular, arguing that the Blackfeet people's interaction with the "invisible reality" of the supernatural world is important for understanding their relationship with nature.
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Your Instructor
Dr. Rosalyn LaPier
Dr. Rosalyn LaPier is a Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and an award-winning historian and traditionally trained ethnobotanist. They are the author of two award-winning academic books: City Indian: Native American Activism in Chicago, 1893-1934, about American Indian men and women who migrated to Chicago from across America; and Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet, which explores the Blackfeet people’s relationship and mode of interaction with the “invisible reality” of the supernatural world. More of their writing can be found here.
Dr. LaPier researches and writes about Indigenous landscape management practices, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and Native American relationships with the natural world. They work nationally to strengthen public policy for Indigenous languages. They have produced two Blackfeet language lexicons and written dozens of articles. They are an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis.
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