PULLMAN – Native American oral traditions and how they shape perspectives on traditional foods will be discussed by Josiah Blackeagle Pinkham, cultural expert for the Nez Perce Tribe, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Smith CUE 203.
“Josiah is responsible for the cultural research and documentation for the Nez Perce Tribe, and his work has taken him across the country and to Europe,” said Karen Weathermon, co-director of the Common Reading program at WSU Pullman, the sponsor of Pinkham’s lecture. The Common Reading book is “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” by Michael Pollan.
“’Food for Thought’ is the theme of this year’s Common Reading program, and Josiah’s knowledge of his tribe’s food traditions will give the students unique insights into the lives of both ancient and modern Native American communities,” Weathermon said.
Pinkham will discuss such aspects as: What was the local landscape like before it was covered in wheat and lentils? What plants and animals were part of the Nez Perce diet, and how were they integrated into native traditions and life? How does this information lend a new perspective to “The Omnivore’s Dilemma?” He will bring material objects as well as his experience and research to share.
Pinkham resides on the Nez Perce Reservation near the seat of the tribal government in Lapwai, Idaho, about 30 miles southeast of Pullman. He graduated with honors from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, where he majored in Native American dtudies and psychology.
He previously worked in the National Park Service as a museum technician at Nez Perce National Historical Park, served an internship with the Nez Perce Tribe Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Department dealing with issues surrounding Hanford Nuclear Reservation Cleanup and also as a tribal traditions technician there, and interned with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian for a summer in New York.
As his tribe’s ethnographer, he said that much of his time is spent interacting with various agencies, interviewing elders, educating the public and traveling to meetings.
The Common Reading program for 2009-10 spans fall and spring semesters. It exists so students, teachers and the community can engage in academically centered critical thinking, communication, research and learning around a body of shared information, as provided in a common text. More than 3,500 copies of “Omnivore’s Dilemma” were distributed to freshmen and other students for use in more than 90 courses this fall.
For more information on the Common Reading at Pullman, visit https://commonreading.wsu.edu.
