The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program
Presents in Co-Sponsorships
with
Block Museum of Art
Northwestern University
Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR)
Northwestern University
Teresa Montoya, PhD
Diné (Navajo Nation)
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Chicago
Thresholds: The Politics of Environmental Regulation and
Exposure on the Navajo Nation
This talk examines uranium contamination and its enduring legacies on the Navajo Nation and broader Diné homelands. I analyze how federal environmental standards—such as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) as well as toxicological comparison values—produce uneven and often contradictory determinations of risk, exposure, and harm. Through ethnographic engagement with Diné communities downstream from the 1979 Church Rock uranium mill tailings spill, I trace how these regulatory frameworks render certain forms of chronic exposure simultaneously visible and dismissible, categorizing contaminated water as both “unsafe” and “safe” depending on shifting scientific criteria and limited datasets. By interrogating the epistemological and political limits of environmental regulation, this talk contributes to discussions about how risk is defined, by whom, and the challenges of remediation for Diné communities today.
This annual lecture is named in honor of Carlos Montezuma, the first Native American graduate of Northwestern University’s medical school.
This lecture is open to the public and will be held in the Searle Seminar Room in the Lurie Research Building (303 E Superior St), Chicago Campus. For those outside the Chicago area and anyone who would prefer to attend remotely, a Zoom option is also available.
Only Zoom attendees are required to register
** PLEASE REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE ZOOM LINK**
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Cost: free - only Zoom attendees are required to register
