BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//UM//UM*Events//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Detroit
TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/America/Detroit
X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Detroit
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20070311T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20071104T020000
RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260331T110745
DTSTART;TZID=America/Detroit:20260603T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Detroit:20260603T200000
SUMMARY:Lecture / Discussion:“The Tale of a Weevil”
DESCRIPTION:As part of the 2026 Summer Lecture Series at the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS)\, Dr. Bénédicte Boisseron will give a free\, public talk titled\, “The Tale of a Weevil.”\n\nBoisseron is professor and chair of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan and an affiliate faculty in Romances Languages and Literature\, and Comparative Literature.\n\nHer interdisciplinary scholarship bridges Global Black Studies and the Environmental Humanities through literary\, historical\, and artistic perspectives.\n\nThis talk will use a magnifying glass to examine an environmental crisis of epic proportions in the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.\n\nFrom 1972 to 1993\, a highly toxic pesticide was sprayed on weevil-infested banana plantations in the islands\, despite known health risks\, largely due to pressure from powerful white planter elites and the economic importance of the banana industry.\n\nThe resulting health impact on the population has come to symbolize how the colonial is often inextricable from the ecological. But what about the weevil?\n\nThis talk responds to environmental scholar Malcolm Ferdinand’s call to also look at the weevil in this dramatic story.\n\nBoisseron is the author of “Creole Renegades: Rhetoric of Betrayal and Guilt in the Caribbean Diaspora” (2014) and “Afro-Dog: Blackness and the Animal Question” (2018).\n\nHer current book project focuses on food repurposing and was supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship\, alongside additional funding for her broader work on repurposing practices.\n\nHer recent publications examine pesticide contamination on banana plantations in the French Antilles.\n\nIn Winter 2024\, Boisseron taught Food Literacy for All as a faculty instructor and is a Sustainable Food Systems Initiative Affiliate.\n\nThe University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world\, advance research and education\, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.\n\nFounded in 1909\, UMBS supports long-term research and education through immersive\, field-based courses and features state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for data collection and analysis to help any field researcher be productive. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.\n\nThe Summer Lecture Series is a tradition at UMBS\, where we explore scientific topics with distinguished guest speakers from across the country so the community can learn about our natural world.\n\nThe free\, public talks are on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the spring and summer in Gates Lecture Hall at the University of Michigan Biological Station\, located at 9133 Biological Rd. in Pellston\, Michigan — about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge.
UID:147276-21900623@events.umich.edu
URL:https://events.umich.edu/event/147276
CLASS:PUBLIC
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CATEGORIES:AEM Featured,Biological Station,Bsbsigns,Environmental Humanities,U-m Biological Station
LOCATION:Gates Lecture Hall\, UM Biological Station
CONTACT:
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR