January 2020

Kari Smalkoski, Community Engagement Fellow

Minnesota Youth Story Squad

Kari Smalkoski is a postdoctoral associate and research scholar in the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. Her research and scholarship focus on masculinity, gender and identity, education, and political economy, as well as youth sports and social capital. Her current book project, American Dream Disrupted: Reframing Narratives on Asian American Youth, Gender, and Inequality in Schools, examines the impact of educational reform programs and community league soccer on Hmong youth in the Twin Cities. Dr.

IAS Thursdays | How Science Can and Can't Inform Environmental Policy and Decision Making

Environmental policies and management strategies are more effective when they are informed by science than when they are not. However, there are some questions that science is not well suited to address, such as, “What aspects of the environment should be protected and to what level?” or “What level of risk is acceptable?”. Using examples from chemical risk assessment under US and EU legislation, Forbes will explore how science can inform decision making and when involvement of other disciplines and stakeholders is needed.

IAS Thursdays | The Relentless Business of Treaties: How Indigenous Land Became U.S. Property

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The Relentless Business of Treaties is a book that explores the economic and political motivations of those who, on behalf of the United States, negotiated and signed treaties with Indigenous nations. A public panel discussion among Indigenous scholars and the author will offer perspectives on the historical experience of Native American nations to frame the book and raise questions for exploration in this event, and the reading groups that will follow for those who are interested in participating.

IAS Thursdays | Biocolonialism: Historical Roots and Contemporary Threats to Indigenous Knowledge, Lands, and Self-Determination

Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity is regarded as a vast untapped market waiting to be exploited by both private and government researchers.  The presenter will discuss the fundamental conflicts between Indigenous worldviews and rights, and the globalizing forces that seek to force nature and Indigenous knowledge systems into the global market.

IAS Thursdays | "The Finest Men We Have Ever Seen”: Hemispheric Thoughts on Jefferson, Humboldt, and the Osages

In the summer of 1804, a delegation of Osage men and boys traveled to Washington, DC to meet with President Thomas Jefferson, a meeting that turned out to be an important step toward the Osages signing their first treaty with the United States and dispossession from their vast homelands in what is now Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.