A native American man in a blue t-shirt sits atop a rocky desert outcrop and sings. A cloudy blue sky is behind him.

 

MATTHEW LEIVAS, SR., CHEMEHUEVI ELDER AND SALT SONG SINGER, Old Woman Mountains Preserve, CA. (2019) KIM STRINGFELLOW

 

Mar. 17, 2022

Announcing the 2022 Mojave Project Webinar Series!

 

The Mojave Desert is undergoing profound physical transformation due to human activity. The Mojave Project illuminates how human activities affect wildlife habitat, ecosystems, and our quality of life throughout this arid bioregion. Understanding what is at stake is crucial to transition to a sustainable future for all living organisms. To do so, we must delve into the history of regional land use, including that of the Mojave’s Indigenous Peoples and others previously underrepresented.

The four scheduled webinars coincide with The Mojave Project exhibition at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and bring together a variety of voices and perspectives, including Indigenous culture bearers, scholars, researchers, artists and activists from the Mojave Desert bioregion spanning California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. This free-to-the-public webinar series educates audiences by generating impactful conversation. Please join us by registering below. Note that you will need to register for each webinar program separately.

This program is supported by a Humanities for All Quick Grant through California Humanities. and hosted by the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art UNLV.

Each panel discussion focuses on a Mojave Project theme to prompt dialog and conversation.

Webinar Schedule:
 
The Legacy of the Nevada Test Site
April 7, 2022, 7 – 8:30 pm
The first panel discussion, centered on the Sacrifice and Exploitation theme, will explore the history of atomic weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), and its long-term environmental impacts on the desert ecosystem, including the legacy atomic testing has had on the Downwinder population. The discussion will place particular emphasis on the Western Shoshone’s continued struggle to protect ancestral lands illegally seized by the federal government for the siting of the NTS during the mid-twentieth century. This panel will be held as a Zoom webinar hosted by UNLV on Thursday, April 7, 2022, from 7 – 8:30 pm. CLICK HERE to register for this free online event.

 

Panel participants include:

Big Desert Solar & Wind—But At What Cost?
May 19, 2022, 7 – 8:30 pm

The second Sacrifice and Exploitation panel discussion features artists, writers, and activists responding to the onslaught of industrial-scale renewable energy projects currently active or slated for construction in the previously undeveloped desert habitats of eastern California and southern Nevada’s Mojave Desert bioregion. This panel will be held as a Zoom webinar hosted by UNLV on Thursday, May 19, 2022, from 7 – 8:30 pm. CLICK HERE to register for this free online event.

Panel participants include:

  • Kim Garrison Means, artist, educator and director of the Mystery Ranch artist residency, Searchlight, NV
  • Shannon Salter, UNLV Graduate Assistant, English Department, Basin and Range Watch board member
  • Kim Stringfellow, Mojave Project director, will act as panel moderator
Indigenous Perspectives of the Mojave Desert
June 23, 2022, 7 – 8:45 pm
The highlight of our programming series is the Indigenous Perspectives of the Mojave Desert panel discussion which includes representatives from four Native American tribal groups whose current and traditional homelands are located within the Mojave Desert. This conversation will dispel and dismantle the outdated but persistent mindset that the desert is a wasteland by sharing cultural traditions, philosophies, and personal stories that convey their deep regard and sacred connection to the lands they inhabit. Our goal is to amplify the contemporary experience of the Mojave Desert’s Indigenous people within their shared cultural landscape. Programming co-sponsors include the Native American Land Conservancy, Mojave Desert Land Trust and The Cultural Conservancy. Programming co-sponsors of this program include the Native American Land Conservancy, Mojave Desert Land Trust and The Cultural Conservancy. This panel will be held as a Zoom webinar hosted by UNLV on Thursday, June 23, 2022, from 7 – 8:45 pm. CLICK HERE to register for this free online event.
Panel participants include:
 
African American Homesteading in Lanfair Valley
July 21, 2022, 7 – 8:30 pm

During the early twentieth century, twenty-three African American families filed for homesteads in the eastern Mojave at Lanfair Valley near Goffs, California. Palm Springs-based artist Barbara Gothard has been conducting extensive research on these homesteaders which has led to a body of artwork on display at the San Bernardino County Museum from February 8 – April 20, 2022. For this Transformation and Reinvention panel discussion, Gothard will be in conversation with Claytee White, who directs the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries. As one of the five founders of the Las Vegas Black Historical Society Inc., White chronicles the history of the Las Vegas black community that was established in 1905. This panel will be held as a Zoom webinar hosted by UNLV on Thursday, July 21, 2022, from 7 – 8:30 pm. CLICK HERE to register for this free online event.

This event series was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.