We are excited to resume the Kelp Kulture speaker series this winter focusing on the cultural importance of kelp forests.
Sea Otters In Oregon, Road to Return
February 7th, 6-7 p.m. PST
Bob Bailey, President of Elakha Alliance
Explore the history of sea otters in Oregon, their ecological and cultural importance, and the prospects for their return and recovery. This talk will touch on the mission of the Elakha Alliance, an Oregon non-profit organization devoted to sea otter conservation.
How Kelp Works: The Social Life of Underwater Forests
March 2nd, 1-2 p.m. PST
David Stentiford is a doctoral candidate in the Program in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford University. His dissertation historicizes the domestication of the Earth’s oceans in the twentieth century by examining the intellectual history of “marine farms” after World War II and their experimental development in the 1970s. At the core of his archival work is a case study on open-ocean kelp farming experiments in California in the 70s and 80s for food, energy, and the mitigation of global warming. The farms sank but the ideas float on.
Yake Hintil Ma’a Kaieeholo (taqhohai) and Toon’o:
Food Sovereignty: We Still Gather Our Indian Foods of Kelp and Seaweed
March 20th, 1- 2 p.m. PST
Lori Laiwa Thomas, (Enrolled Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, Descendant of Coast Miwok and Huchnom), Native American Studies Instructor-Tenure Track, Santa Rosa Junior College Department of Ethnic Studies, Laiwa Thomas is a traditional food expert indigenous to the coastal region of the North Central California coast.
This lecture/discussion will center on the importance of traditional foods within California, especially the Boya Pomo coastal community where she was raised on her father’s reservation located three miles from the Pacific Ocean. Laiwa Thomas will discuss food sovereignty, challenges and limitations to gathering/harvesting, future plans for harvesting kelp and seaweed, and share stories which connect current day Boya/Pdahau people with specific places along the north central coast.
April 2023
tbd.
kelpkulture.com 