The Order of Multitudes: November Newsletter
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the November edition of our newsletter. This fraught election season reminds us just how dependent democracy is on just practices of collecting and managing data. It has been a timely moment to launch our webinar series on the theme of data diversity, which I’ve organized in partnership with Professor Lisa Messeri. Our guiding questions have been: Is the accumulation of data designed to exclude some and prioritize others? How can information be more accessible to diverse users?
We kicked off our event series in October with a panel on the ways in which knowledge curators—such as librarians, archivists, and museum professionals—are working towards racial justice today. Professor Safiya Noble’s powerful presentation was followed by discussion with Dr. Elisa Celis, Dr. Charlton McIlwain, Dr. Simone Browne, Dr. Susan Gibbons, and MPH Candidate Krzysztof Chwała. Each discussant represented a different area of expertise, from Yale and beyond, and included practical tips for instructors and librarians.
Our second event centered on the turn to “participatory” or grassroots data production. Professor Chris Kelty shared an original sequence of videos that traces the ideal of participation across the twentieth century, culminating in a reflection on the paradox of participation in (pandemic) isolation. Our panelists Dr. Caroline Lee, Dr. Jo Guldi, and Dr. Nana Osei Quarshie responded with tough questions about the politics of participation in spheres ranging from the history of colonialism to contemporary higher education and the arts.
Finally, this month we partnered with the Director of the New York Botanical Garden’s Humanities Institute, Vanessa Sellers, to host First Nations: Ethical Landscapes, Sacred Plants. This was a very special symposium on human relationships with plants. The event featured Dr. Zoe Todd, Executive Director Joe Baker, Dr. Janelle Marie Baker, Ethnobotanist Linda Black Elk, Dr. Kyle Whyte, and Dr. Ashanti Shih. The panelists shared their research on the medicinal and nutritional value of plants and models of ethical and sustainable land use. From the perspective of The Order of Multitudes, botanical gardens are a classic example of how Europeans’ collection-based knowledge-making has depended on the exploitation of colonized lands and peoples. This event, which drew roughly 533 participants from 22 countries, was a promising step towards building a more reciprocal and respectful relationship between botanical gardens and Indigenous communities.
Currently up on _The Order of Multitudes _website are interviews by our Graduate Associates Allison Chu and Sarah Pickman. They spoke with five scholars: Nancy Rao, Nientara Anderson, Lucy Caplan, Paul Messier, and Elaine Ayers. The theme of this series of interviews was Contesting Archives. In December, we will focus on Alternative Geographies; stay tuned for interviews with Alex Chavez, Heddi Siebel, Regan Rosburg, and Ro Spankie.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at admin@orderofm.com with ideas, responses, or pitches. We appreciate your continued support.
All the best,
Deborah Coen