Bernard C. Perley
Department of Anthropology
Fellow 2007-08

"Ethnocosmogenesis" is the term I used to describe a research project that I wanted to develop while a Fellow at the Center for 21st Century Studies.  "Ethnocosmogenesis" was originally a linguistic anthropology project that integrated American Indian languages, landscapes, oral traditions, and cosmogonies into a holistic research agenda promoting American Indian  language revitalization.  The Center Fellowship was the perfect opportunity to engage scholars from other fields and disciplines, learn from their experiences and practices, and discuss best options to expand my project beyond anthropological boundaries to explore the prospects of intertextual “knowing.”  My paper, "Tempus Profundus," was an important catalyst in breaking through disciplinary boundaries and recognizing that my project had the potential to reach a much wider audience.  Not only had "ethnocosmogenesis" become intertextual and interdisciplinary but it also had the prospect of having greater social, cultural, and political relevance. 

Presentations

“Tempus Profundus: Warnings from the Village of the Dammed,” a paper presentation for the symposium From Magna Carta to the Sky Trust: The Historical Arc of the Commons cosponsored by the Tomales Bay Institute and the Center for 21st Century Studies, Milwaukee, WI, Friday, December 7, 2007.

 “Making Global Climate Change Local,” a presentation at the Focus the Nation Teach-in at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Friday, January 31, 2008.

Interview for onthecommons.org, Sunday, March 30, 2008.

 “Fragments of Epistemic Intertextualities,” a seminar presentation at the Center for 21st  Century Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Thursday, April 10, 2008.

 “Seeking Common Ground: Toward a disciplinary approach to American Indian Studies,” a presentation at the AIS Symposium The Future of American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Friday, April 18, 2008.

 “Ethnocosmogenesis, Lacan, and the Primacy of the Signifier,” a presentation for Theories on Environmental Design Research: Making place/Place making,  School of Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Friday, April 25, 2008.

 “Language Fantasies in Technotopia: Plugged in but tuned out,” a paper presented at the conference on Native American Languages in Crisis: Exploring the Interface between Academia, Technology and Smaller Native Language Communities, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Saturday, May 3, 2008.

Articles and Creative Work in Progress
“Apodamkon: the Water Monster,” a graphic novel ethnography to be submitted to the Journal for Humanistic Anthropology.

“Journeys in Spirited Landscapes,” an exhibit of the Ethnocosmogenesis project scheduled for the fall of 2008 at the Union Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

“Language Fantasies in Technotopia: Plugged in but tuned out,” A chapter in an edited volume of collected papers and presentations from the University of Pennsylvania conference Native American Languages in Crisis: Exploring the Interface between Academia, Technology and Smaller Native Language Communities.

Current department website

Center for 21st Century Studies

Merry Wiesner-Hanks
Interim Director