Marja Eloheimo, Environmental and Medical Anthropology, The Evergreen State College, University of Washington
Working as a multidisciplinary pr oject team in a year-long academic pr ogram at The Evergreen State College, students engaged in hands-on work to revitalize a fledgling ethnobotanical garden at Evergreen’s “House of Welcome” Longhouse. This pr esentation will describes the innovative project, its academic framework and embedded interdisciplinary and intercultural learning. Students refined existing habitat and theme areas, and developed the sayuyay Sister Garden pr oject on the Skokomish Indian Reservation). Students also collaboratively developed interpr etive and educational materials; an important component was the beginning of a poly-vocal book about the garden, its history, its habitats and its potential for interactive teaching and learning. Through this work, students began to create a valuable educational resource and contributed to multiple communities, including Evergreen, local K-12 schools, local First Nations, and a growing global collective of ethnobotanical gardens that pr omote environmental, and cultural diversity and sustainability.
Marja Eloheimo has taught at The Evergreen State College since 1987. Her academic and pr ofessional foci are ethnoecology and medicinal botany with an emphasis on First Peoples of the Pacific Northwest, Tribal Peoples in eastern India
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Denver Botanic Gardens – Morrison Center
6:30 – 8 p.m.