Events › Voices for Justice: Author Dr. Jessica Hernandez

Chicago Public Library is pleased to welcome Dr. Jessica Hernandez as part of our new Voices for Justice speaker series, and in celebration of Women's History Month.

In Fresh Banana Leaves, Dr. Hernandez breaks down why western conservationism isn’t working–and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as “soft”–the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.

Dr. Jessica Hernandez–Maya Ch’orti’ and Zapotec environmental scientist and founder of environmental agency Piña Soul–introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces, that generates rather than destroys. She breaks down the failures of western-defined conservatism and shares alternatives, citing the restoration work of urban Indigenous people in Seattle; her family’s fight against ecoterrorism in Latin America; and holistic land management approaches of Indigenous groups across the continent.

This program is made possible thanks to generous support from the Chicago Public Library Foundation. For more information on the Foundation, visit cplfoundation.org.

Questions for the speaker? Please reach out to us at adultservices@chipublib.org.

The book can also be purchased online. 

How to Attend:

This event will take place live on CPL's YouTube channel and CPL's Facebook page. You'll be able to ask questions during the event as well! Can't make it to the live stream? We'll archive the video on YouTube to watch later.

Accessibility

Automatic captioning is available via Facebook and YouTube's closed captioning setting. Need ASL interpretation or other accommodations for this event? Please call (312) 747-4015. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event.