Maize: Archives of Culture, Ecosystems & Resistance

While corn husks are often overlooked as a byproduct waste, corn husks hold within them archives of culture, ecosystems, and resistance. Drawing connections between Marie Watt's intimate corn husk studies and the broader political ecology of corn, join us for a public lecture by Professor Hailey Maria Salazar that will explore how this popular crop embodies both wisdom and the contemporary struggles over food sovereignty, cultural preservation, and survival.

Hailey Maria Salazar (Yoeme) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies department at Portland State University. Hailey Maria is grounded in research and education as a process of reclamation, revitalization, and regeneration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Her areas of interest include Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK), ethnobotany, ethnomusicology, archives, liberative praxis, and data sovereignty. Hailey Maria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Native American and Indigenous Studies with a focus on Indigenous medicine and music from The Evergreen State College, and a Master of Arts in Indigenous Education from Arizona State University.