Seth Thomas Sutton, professor and chair of the Arts & Humanities Department at Montcalm Community College, will present the address “Racial Reckoning: Activism and Justice in Academia, the Environment & the Politics of Knowledge” as this year’s Indigenous Peoples’ and Environmental Justice Lecture at Hope College on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 4 p.m. in the Fried-Hemenway Auditorium of the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication. A book signing in the lobby will immediately follow the lecture.
The public is invited. Admission is free. A recording will be made available after the event on the Hope College YouTube Channel and on social media.
The keynote address will introduce a decolonizing view of race within academic and park settings, focusing on derogatory stereotypes of Indigenous people.
Seth Thomas Sutton is an Emmy-nominated Métis artist, scholar, author and social activist. He is currently lecturing on cultural criticism, postcolonialism, critical race theory, Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous art & activism, visual arts, art history, anthropology, sociology, visual rhetoric and more at Montcalm Community College.
His publications include the book “The Deconstruction of Chief Blackhawk: A Critical Analysis of Mascots & The Visual Rhetoric of the Indian” published by Big Thicket Publishing in 2021. The book is a qualitative critical analysis of the National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks’ mascot, Chief Blackhawk. It also serves as a resource for researchers, scholars and educators interested in visual, critical and cultural studies.
Sutton is a council member on the Native American Advisory Council at Grand Valley State University as well as a member of several other Indigenous centered educational groups throughout the United States and Canada. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2017 for his involvement in the documentary series, “wiinwaa niizhaasing” (“We the 7th) and again in 2021 for the four-part documentary series, “Shaping Narratives.”
He is a descendant and non-enrolled member of the North Shore Band of Waganakising Odawa // Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
The event is being co-sponsored by the college’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Sustainability, the Green Team and the campus-wide GROW (Growing Relationships through diverse Opportunities to strengthen involvement in an ever-changing World) initiative.
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Updates related to events are posted when available in the individual listings at hope.edu/calendar
Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, the Center for Diversity and Inclusion requests and encourages wearing masks indoors.
The Martha Miller Center for Global Communication is located at 257 Columbia Ave., at the corner of Columbia Avenue and 10th Street.