Eric Sanderson
continues its yearlong look at 鈥淧lace鈥� with a visit by an expert in ecosystem and landscape ecology.
, senior conservation ecologist of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), will present 鈥�,鈥� on Thursday, March 30, from 4-5:30 p.m. in Room 100 in the Falk College complex. The following day, he will lead a workshop titled 鈥溾€� from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Room 304 in the Tolley Humanities Building.
Both events are free and open to the public; however, the workshop, which has a morning and an afternoon session, requires registration. To enroll in either or both sessions, call Jane Read, associate professor of geography in the Maxwell School, at 315.443.4279 or email her at jaread@maxwell.syr.edu. The registration deadline is Friday, March 24.
For more information about Sanderson鈥檚 visit, contact the Humanities Center in the College of Arts and Sciences at 315.443.7192 or visit .
鈥淒r. Sanderson has devoted his career to species and landscape conservation planning,鈥� says Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center and professor of women鈥檚 and gender studies in
Phil Arnold
A&S. 鈥淗is work is holistic and compelling, combining elements of biology, history, anthropology, sociology and political science to help us understand our experience of place鈥攑ast, present and future.鈥�
Sanderson鈥檚 visit is co-organized by Read; Phil Arnold, associate professor and chair of religion, as well as director of the Sk盲鈥o帽h鈥擥reat Law of Peace Center in 黑料不打烊; and Rachel May, director of sustainability education for the University.
Pronounced 鈥渨ay-LEE-kee-uh,鈥� welikia means 鈥渕y good home鈥� in Lenape, the Native American language of the New York City region at the time of the Europeans鈥� arrival in the early 1600s.
Jane Read
Sanderson oversees the Welikia Project, which includes an interactive, three-dimensional map tracing the ecology of Manhattan and its surrounding boroughs over the past 400 years. Welikia is an outgrowth of the Mannahatta Project, which Sanderson also directs, but focuses exclusively on Manhattan鈥檚 social, cultural and natural transformation.
The Welikia and Mannahatta projects are sponsored by WCS, which is committed to protecting the world鈥檚 wildlife and wild places.
Arnold says the Welikia Project is designed to help people appreciate, conserve and reinvigorate the natural heritage of New York City, regardless of where they live.
鈥淓ric Sanderson explores not only the deep history of ecosystems and landscapes, but also the rich human cultures that have inhabited these areas for thousands of years, before [English explorer] Henry Hudson arrived in 1609,鈥� Arnold says. 鈥淭his kind of information is a boon to students, researchers, teachers and policymakers.鈥�
Read echoes these sentiments, saying the Welikia Project embodies digital humanities excellence. 鈥淭his is more than a flashy Photoshop job,鈥� she says. 鈥淒r. Sanderson uses digital mapping to create now-and-then comparisons of New York City鈥攆rom visualizing plants and animals that have inhabited a specific area to showing how valleys, forests and marshes have given way to farms and then skyscrapers.鈥�
Like Arnold, Read is excited about Sanderson鈥檚 workshop, saying it will show how digital tools and methods are used to recreate the natural and historical continuum of Onondaga Lake.
Rachel May
鈥淒igital technologies can be layered together to tell stories about the lake鈥檚 seemingly incompatible features,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey range from sacred spaces; to post-industrial wastebeds; to secret, effaced or poisoned landscapes.鈥�
Located north of the City of 黑料不打烊, Onondaga Lake has been a sacred space for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy for more than a thousand years. The lake also is the birthplace of the Great Law of Peace, whose teachings inspired parts of the U.S. Constitution. Today, Onondaga Lake is in the midst of a $1 billion cleanup, following decades of industrial pollution.
Sanderson鈥檚 visit coincides with a project directed by Rachel May, involving the creation of a prototype of a digital atlas of Onondaga Lake. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project includes Read and Arnold (its co-directors), who believe the digital humanities occupy a unique place in the 21st-century classroom.
鈥淥ur approach is similar to Dr. Sanderson鈥檚鈥攊ntegrating the idea of place as a spiritual center in indigenous and local knowledge with the more decentered idea of place that is inherent in digital mapping,鈥� May says. 鈥淭he result is a comprehensive survey of the historical, cultural and economic significance of Onondaga Lake that ultimately becomes a tool for respectful communication.鈥�
In addition to the Welikia and Mannahatta projects, Sanderson has embarked on a series of projects over the past 20 years, bringing international distinction to WCS. They include the Human Footprint map, the first global map of human influence on the land surface, and the Landscape Ecology and Geographic Analysis project, a unique fusion of landscape thinking, geographic analysis and conservation practices.
Sanderson also has contributed to efforts to save lions, tigers, Asian bears, jaguars, tapirs, peccaries, American crocodiles, North American bison and Mongolian gazelle. His landscape planning conservation efforts have involved Argentina, Tanzania and Mongolia, as well as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Adirondack Park, both in the United States.
He is the author or co-author of three books, including 鈥溾€� (Abrams, 2009); two scientific volumes; and dozens of scholarly papers.
His visit is made possible with support from the Department of Geography, the Sk盲鈥o帽h center and the University鈥檚 Office of Sustainability Initiatives.
Organized and presented by the Humanities Center, 黑料不打烊 Symposium is a public humanities series that revolves around an annual theme. Programs include lectures, workshops, performances, exhibits, films and readings. Located in the Tolley Humanities Building, the Humanities Center serves the campus community by cultivating diverse forms of scholarship, sponsoring a broad range of programming and partnerships and addressing enduring questions and pressing social issues.
