SciCafe: The Reclamation of the Indigenous Woolly Dog
Presented by: The American Museum of Natural History
Date and time: Wednesday, November 6th at 7pm, doors open at 6:30 pm.
Location: American Museum of Natural History. The event will be located in the Hall of the Universe. Please enter the museum through the 81st street entrance.
Accessibility: ASL interpretation is provided and reserved seats for Deaf guests.
Tickets: Free, RSVP required. Drinks available for purchase. This is a 21+ event.
About the event: Woolly dogs are a traditional breed of domestic dog maintained by the Coast Salish people and prized for their long, thick hair that was used by high-ranking women to spin into yarn and weave into woven textiles. Western histories explaining the reasons for the loss and extinction of the Indigenous woolly dog has often excluded the Indigenous perspective.
Today, there is a growing movement of community-centered scientific research, where community engagement methods are integrated into the research process from the beginning. This model of cross-cultural collaboration had contributed greatly to our understanding of the history of woolly dogs, providing important context for their unique genetics, which are the direct result of thousands of years of specialized breeding practices by the Coast Salish.
Join Audrey Lin, Gerstner Postdoctoral Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and Eliot White-Hill Kwulasultun, Snuneymuxw artist, as they discuss the invaluable role of Indigenous knowledge in the genetic study of woolly dogs and their extinction. They will highlight the essential contributions of Indigenous perspectives to science, illustrated through the historical journey of the woolly dog.
Link to the program: https://www.amnh.org/calendar/indigenous-knowledge-storytelling
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