Dartmouth Events

Smith's work traces the ways that power and inequality are felt across the human and more-than-human molecular ecologies of the Americas. Merging approaches from genomics, epigenomics, and queer, feminist, and Indigenous science studies, this talk will take up three case studies from Smith's research with both ancient and contemporary Indigenous communities. First, drawing upon emerging methods in ancient DNA analysis, Smith will trace the epigenetic effects of sociopolitical change across the reign and decline of Wari imperialism in the ancient Andes. Second, Smith will evaluate the ongoing genetic and epigenetic effects of settler colonialism and Indian Removal policies among Indigenous peoples of North America. Smith will also chart the ways in which scientific knowledge production among non-Indigenous genome scientists and the advent of genetic ancestry testing has provided infrastructures for the misappropriation of Indigenous belonging in North America. Finally, following the spread of the plantation system across Texas, Smith will share new work that is beginning to travel the effects of settler colonialism across the molecular ecologies of the southwest.