In a follow-up to his presentation The Life and Legacy of Nicholas Black Elk, Damian Costello will discuss the ways in which indigenous knowledge is vital to the work of changing our relationship to the world and the future.
Lakota holy man Black Elk passed on his vision in the famous book Black Elk Speaks, which has become an important vehicle for modern people to begin re-indigenizing our relationship with the natural world. This presentation will explore how Black Elk’s understanding of Lakota spirituality philosophy can help us to see the natural world as a unified whole of which we are a small part, the different species as spiritual beings with whom we form ongoing relationships, and how the life of hope Black Elk lived in the midst of great tragedy can inform how we approach the crises of our age.
Costello received his Ph.D. in theological studies from the University of Dayton and specializes in the intersection of Catholic theology, Indigenous spiritual traditions, and colonial history. He is an international expert on the life and legacy of Nicholas Black Elk and the author of Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism.
Costello was born and raised in Vermont and his work is informed by five years of ethnographic work on the Navajo Nation.
This program uses the application Zoom. Register here: https://forms.gle/ZwnngzcNrLmHRmN66