Stories from On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice
with Ryan E. Emanuel, Ph.D.
Welcome to Science by the Slice! We're excited to host this hybrid event. We'll meet in in-person at 700 Park Offices Drive, (behind the Boxyard) to hear this month's speaker while we enjoy pizza, but space is limited. You can also join live remotely via Sigma Xi's Facebook page if you're unable to make it in person. A zoom link will also be sent out to registered attendees.
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About the talk
Despite centuries of settler colonialism, Lumbee people and their Indigenous neighbors still occupy parts of their ancestral homelands among forested swamps, sandy plains, and blackwater streams of present-day North Carolina. Here, Indigenous communities have adapted to a radically transformed world while preserving cultures and connections to place. In recent decades, however, pollution, unsustainable development, and climate change quicken the transformation of Indigenous homelands and threaten Indigenous life-ways on the Coastal Plain. In this presentation, Emanuel shares stories from his book, On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice, about Indigenous survival, adaptation, and resurgence in the face of radical environmental transformation in eastern North Carolina. He also shares broader lessons about environmental justice and Indigenous rights in the 21st century.
Speaker Bio
Ryan Emanuel is a hydrologist and community-engaged scholar from North Carolina. He studies hydrology, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights at Duke University, where he is an associate professor of hydrology and program chair for Community Engagement and Environmental Justice in the Nicholas School of the Environment. Emanuel’s research group conducts field experiments and computational analyses while often partnering with Native American communities and tribal governments to understand environmental change through the lenses of environmental justice and Indigenous rights. Their collective work aims to amplify voices of Indigenous peoples and marginalized groups who shoulder heavy environmental burdens. Emanuel has published more than sixty peer reviewed research articles on topics ranging from hydrology, climate science, and ecology to environmental history. His book, On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice, was published in 2024 by the University of North Carolina Press. Emanuel is an enrolled citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
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Virtual attendees:
Use the following URL to join Science by the Slice live on Facebook :
www.facebook.com/SigmaXi/
W e will also provide a zoom link to view the event to registered attendees.
Please RSVP only once. RSVP to either join in person or virtually.
We hope you'll join us remotely or in person for a great hour of science!
Science by the Slice is free and open to any interested members of the public, as well as science journalists and science communicators of all stripes. Feel free to extend this invitation to anyone who might want to attend.
Did you miss past Science by the Slice events? Check out our videos and podcasts of previous speakers: http://www.americanscientist.org/science/
Talks are co-organized with Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC). The RTP chapter of Sigma Xi is a co-organizer and co-sponsor, and encourages any interested scientists to get involved with the chapter and its upcoming events.
