Public Lecture: Miléna Santoro (Georgetown University)

This presentation will explore Innu author Naomi Fontaine’s focus on teaching as part of a broader imperative to share knowledge of and cultivate respect for Indigenous experience and identity, through the lens of her community and heritage. Santoro explores how Fontaine’s writing offers a powerful counterpoint to narratives of insufficiency and loss by focusing on “teachable moments” or situations of shared learning. These enabling narratives of transmission and teaching function as investments in cross-cultural understanding, justice, and community.

This talk is being held both in person in 122 Folwell Hall and online at z.umn.edu/IndigenousPeoplesDay