Speaker: Millie Spencer, PhD candidate, Department of Geography and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Seminar: Weaving Local Knowledge and Western Sciences to Analyze Glacier Retreat and Water Security in Wallmapu, Chile

Abstract
Chilean glacier retreat has innumerable downstream impacts, ranging from the disappearance of streams and aquifers to the collapse of agricultural yields and municipal water supplies. Nowhere is this shock felt stronger than in Wallmapu, the ancestral territory of the Mapuche-Pehuenche people. In Mapuche culture, glaciers and mountains are inhabited by spirits called Ngen. The glaciers give life to the waters that flow from them, which in turn give life to humans and other living things. As a result of this connectivity and the spiritual nature of glaciers and rivers in the Mapuche Cosmovision, many communities hold intimate knowledge of centuries of climate change that has been passed down generationally. This knowledge is of exceptional cultural and scientific value but has been threatened by historic laws forbidding speaking in Mapunzungun, and cultural discrimination against Indigenous traditions and peoples.

In response to the history of exclusion and subjugation of traditional knowledge, we collaborate with both Mapuche and Huinca (non-native) communities in Wallmapu, Chile, to share and learn from one another’s scientific perspectives, and document community knowledge held through oral histories. More specifically, we aim to document Indigenous and local knowledge of glacier retreat and its downstream impacts, and experiences of water insecurity. Through years of relationship building and 14 hours of semi-structured interviews, we document generations of oral history, greatly improving the temporal scope and geographic specificity of glacier change in south-central Chile. Moreover, we aim to highlight the value of Indigenous knowledge as a robust scientific resource that is essential to expanding scientific understanding. 

Bio
Millie is a 4th year PhD candidate in Geography and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). Millie’s work focuses on Andean glacier retreat and its downstream impacts. She seeks to integrate conventional western methods of remote sensing and physical modeling with Indigenous and local knowledge, to build a more comprehensive picture of hydrological change and its impacts on human security.  Her work is funded by the Fulbright Chile Science Initiative, the CUAHSI Pathfinder Fellowship, the USGS George R Aiken Fellowship, and the NSF International Research Experience for Students program Pathways Award, along with several CU graduate awards.