Friday, April 18, 2025
1:20 – 2:25 pm
J. Baskin Aud 101
On Friday, April 18 at 1:20 pm, you are invited to join S&J affiliate and Associate Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Karen Miga’s BME 80G Bioethics course for a talk by Kim TallBear, Professor, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society.
A zoom option may be available for members of the campus community who cannot attend in person. Register for the Zoom link here (TBD).
From Feminist Science Studies to Native-Led Science for Land and Life
Indigenous peoples are often at the receiving end of the colonial gaze, including that of scientific researchers whose work has served US and Canadian national development. Kim TallBear is best known for her anthropological study of colonial narratives such as that of the “Vanishing Indian” that animate human population genetics research. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked with scientists and social scientists to channel feminist and Indigenous analyses of science into training Indigenous scientists in critical approaches to genomics. The resulting program, Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING), goes beyond critique to transform science to support Indigenous governance and life. SING Canada, founded in 2018, surpasses diversity and inclusion, and reaches toward decolonization by helping develop critical Indigenous genomics to support Indigenous governance and land back projects. This talk touches on both the disciplinary/theoretical underpinnings and programmatic details of such training.
Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society, Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. She is the author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. Dr. TallBear is a regular panelist on the Media Indigena podcast and a regular media commentator on topics including Indigenous peoples, science, and technology; self-indigenization in the US and Canada; and Indigenous sexualities. You can follow her Substack newsletter, Unsettle: Indigenous affairs, cultural politics & (de)colonization at https://kimtallbear.substack.com.
Co-hosted by the UCSC Department of Biomolecular Engineering, the Genomics Institute, and the Science & Justice Research Center.