A Event

Embodying Ecological Futures: Health, Happiness and Identity

About

What can we learn about building healthy global futures from the traditional relationships indigenous communities practice with their ecological systems? In this talk, Baines shares what she has learned from indigenous Maya and Garifuna communities from Belize during her 15 years of anthropological research, focusing on how embodying ecological practices are linked to healthy communities and healthy lives. In the context of change (temporal, environmental, geological, climate), she takes a sensory approach to highlighting relationships with the land, the forest, and wild and domesticated plants and animals, and the links between relational practices and health, broadly defined. She defines heritage as a fluid and changing set of practices and, as such, is critical in our consideration of ecological future-making and building cultures of care.

Kristina Baines is a sociocultural anthropologist with an applied medical/environmental focus. Her research interests include indigenous ecologies, health, and heritage in the context of global change, particularly in Belize, New York City and Los Angeles, in addition to publicly engaged research and dissemination practices. She is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the City University of New York, Guttman Community College, Affiliated Faculty at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and the Director of Anthropology for Cool Anthropology.