Coffee Break: Grounded in Indigenous Values – Preserving the Land

Watch or Listen to this Coffee Break Recording!

The native peoples of our Midwest region were well aware of their surroundings, the earth, the waterways, and the sky. The indigenous people who lived in the region that is now Missouri were much more sensitive to the needs of their environment. Over thousands of years they developed a sophisticated symbiotic relationship with their Mother, the Earth. And, as we move into cooler temperatures and watch our beautiful changing landscape, it’s good to know and thank the Indigenous stewards, our American Indian friends and relatives, of the Midwest region.

FEATURED GUESTS

• Carol Diaz-Granados, Ph.D., RPA, Research Associate Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis – Dr. Carol Diaz-Granádos, is a professional archaeologist and Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, where she has lectured for 39 years. Her major research focus is American Indian rock art, symbolism and iconography, and its associated oral traditions. Carol has written, edited, and co-edited five books and has chapters in various edited volumes and museum exhibition catalogs. Her 2004 volume, Rock-Art of Eastern North America won an Outstanding Academic Title award. Carol’s research interests include both prehistoric as well as historic archaeology. She has worked at Cahokia Mounds and also directed 13 summers of archaeological excavations in Forest Park on the site of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. She has lectured at the St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum, Missouri State Archives, University of Tennessee, and Ohio State University on Art and Anthropology.
• Jim Duncan served as Director of the Missouri State Museum, Exhibits Director for the Missouri Department of Conservation – James Duncan, archaeologist, educator, author, and Osage scholar, has served as Director of the Missouri State Museum, Exhibits Director for the Missouri Department of Conservation, and directed their 3-year statewide programming for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Jim has lectured at Washington University, the History Museum, and throughout the state while on the Missouri Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. He co-authored The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri, co-edited The Rock-Art of Eastern North America, and Picture Cave, as well as published a number of articles on the Osage. Duncan is an accomplished historic gunsmith specializing in 18th century American Indian trade guns and has contributed essays on the early Fur Trade era.