The American Studies Department
and the Environmental Studies Department
at Macalester College present the

7th Annual
American Studies Conference
February 24 & 25, 2006

Art by: Ricardo Levins Morales
Northland Poster Collective

Keynote Address by:
David Naguib Pellow
"The Movement for Global Environmental Justice and Human Rights: Confronting Racism and Ecocide from the Grassroots "

Friday, February 24, 2006
Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel,
Macalester College
7:00 pm

Summary
This presentation introduces the audience to the problem of environmental injustice/racism and links it to the issues of human rights abuses and ecological destruction around the globe. After laying out in some detail the contours of these problems, the presentation then considers the various ways that social activists are tackling the problems of ecocide and environmental racism. Examples may include: New Orleans neighborhoods left wounded by Hurricane Katrina; communities in the Caribbean and Pacific Islands battling the US military and various corporations’ environmentally and socially unjust polluting practices; and the efforts of Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe to address environmental racism and human rights abuses in that part of the world. The main points are 1) to challenge our common wisdom about racism by connecting race to ecological destruction and human rights; and 2) to demonstrate the comparative and interrelated nature of environmental justice movements across racial, ethnic, and national boundaries.

		DR. DAVID N. PELLOW is an activist-scholar who has published widely on environmental justice issues in communities of color. He is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego where he teaches courses on social movements, race and ethnicity, environmental justice, immigration, and globalization.
His books include: The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy (with Lisa Sun-Hee Park, New York University Press 2002); Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago (MIT Press, 2002), Urban Recycling and the Search For Sustainable Community Development (with Adam Weinberg and Allan Schnaiberg, Princeton University Press, 2000), and Power, Justice, the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement (editor, with Robert J. Brulle, MIT Press 2005). Pellow is also the Director of the California Cultures in Comparative Perspective?an international research initiative based at UCSD. He has served on the Boards of Directors of several community-based organizations that are dedicated to improving the living and working environments for people of color, immigrants, and low-income persons. He also recently served on the President's Council on Sustainable Development. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University in 1998. He earned his B.A. in Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Saturday, February 25 Events:

                                             10:30 a.m.-Noon
                                  Macalester Student Roundtable

Featuring the following presentations by Macalester students:

Kathryn Sachs, Hydropower on aboriginal lands in Canada and the resulting ecological and social damages.

Julia Eagles, "Nemagón: La marcha sin retorno (Nemagón: The March Without Return)"- a presentation about transnational environmental injustice and racism, agricultural justice and social movements in Nicaragua which will include a video by Giorgio Trucchi, an Italian journalist concerned with supporting victims of pesticide use.

Seth Schlotterbeck, The historical relationship between conservation and social justice in South Africa: A look at the history of colonialism, white supremacy, and the environmental movement in South Africa

Nicholas Reynolds, Macalester Hurricane Katrina relief trip;
discussing what the Macalester group did on the trip and observations regarding issues of race, cleanup progress, privilege and disaster-tourism.
Dameun Strange, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, will assist Nicholas Reynolds with the presentation.

John B. Davis Lecture Hall, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center

Noon-1:30 p.m.
Luncheon
Featured Speaker: State Representative Keith Ellison
Weyerhaeuser Board Room and Lounge

2-3:30 p.m.
Presentation and Discussion
Community Environmental Acivist, Dr. Cecilia R. Martinez
John B. Davis Lecture Hall, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center

3:30-4:30 p.m. 
Many Voices Roundtable from the Playwrights’ Center
A creative response from 8 writers of color in the Twin Cities
Presented by Macalester students:
Alexander Galick
Lucas Gerstner
Carmen Phillips
Mandi Masden
Kafui Attoh
David Jacobs
Shantee Rosado
John B. Davis Lecture Hall, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center