Native Studies Research Colloquium—Deepening Place Relationship: A Request for Feedback

Join Elisabeth McCumber for a discussion of her master’s thesis—a series of essays about a little valley in the Western Oregon Coast Range, and the relationships that people have with place. Drawing on archaeology, oral tradition, pioneer archives, and interviews with Native and Euroamerican participants, Elisabeth’s work calls on people not to take place for granted but to embrace it as home, reframing one's presence on the land as one among many human and other-than-human communities, and exploring our responsibility toward a shared future. Given the massive ecological and social changes we face, this work is timely for many communities and places. With plans to develop the project into a book, Elisabeth seeks feedback on ways in which it could be strengthened or expanded.

Biography: After working in creative services for a dozen years, Elisabeth McCumber earned a master’s of cultural anthropology with a minor in history from Oregon State University. Her research interests include mythology, oral tradition, narrative, multi-species ethnography, and place relationship. Connect with Elisabeth at https://linktr.ee/independentpen.