Duke Kunshan Seminar Series on Environment and History

Co-sponsored by the Environment Research Center and the Center for the Study of Contemporary China

Talk Title: Contemporary Crises and Unsettling Histories of Glen Canyon Dam

Date and time:  Thursday, May 11, 9:00 PM, China time/ 9:00 AM EST

Zoom ID: 967 7974 0076

Speaker: Erika Bsumek, Associate Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin

Talk Abstract: Glen Canyon Dam sits on more than its physical foundation; it rests on layers of social and political decisions and developments, including a foundation of settler colonialism and Indigenous dispossession. Dr. Erika Bsumek, author of “The Foundations of Glen Canyon Dam: Infrastructures of Dispossession on the Colorado Plateau,” will take an in-depth look at the historical, political, and social context of the controversial structure. Bsumek will address the intertwined histories of the region’s Native peoples and the dam’s construction and assess the dam’s legacy for a region facing an uncertain future regarding its water and power supplies.