Symposium to Focus on ‘Encounters’

Many historians have come to understand the Lewis and Clark Expedition not as a linear excursion across space but as a series of encounters that frame rich and unprecedented experiences. Although Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off with every confidence in their culture and traditions, they soon faced dramatic new stimuli that forced them to move beyond their social, cultural, and intellectual boundaries.

It is these encounters—with native peoples, the limits of language, varied landscapes, and their own identities—that will shape the College’s fall symposium by the same name. Encounters will be held at Lewis & Clark on October 1 and 2, which coincides with Homecoming and Alumni Weekend. It is the second in a series of symposia offered by the College each year during the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In addition, the College will mount a related art exhibition focusing on American Indian themes in the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will be on display from September 2 through October 18.

Featured Speakers

N. Scott Momaday will deliver the symposium’s keynote address at the First Baptist Church in downtown Portland at 8 p.m. on September 30. Momaday is a Pulitzer prize–winning novelist, poet, playwright, painter, and storyteller. He is currently Regents Professor of the Humanities at the University of Arizona. He is a Kiowa Indian and is interested in Native American art and oral tradition.

Momaday’s writings include House Made of Dawn, The Way to Rainy Mountain, The Ancient Child, In the Presence of the Sun, and Circle of Wonder: A Native American Christmas Story. His articles have appeared in Natural History, American West, The New York Review of Books, New York Newsday, the New York Times, and other periodicals.

Other featured speakers include Thomas Jones, former astronaut and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to NASA; Patricia Seed, professor of history at Rice University and author of American Pentimento; Roberta Conner, director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute and cochair of the Circle of Tribal Advisors to the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial; and Victoria Murden, the first woman to row across the Atlantic.

A number of College faculty members will participate as well, including Stephen Dow Beckham, Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Professor of History, and Clay Jenkinson, humanities scholar in residence.

Registration

The event with N. Scott Momaday at First Baptist Church costs $10 for general admission and $8 for students and seniors. Tickets are available through TicketsWest (503-224-8499; service charges may apply) or at the bookstore in Templeton Student Center.

The cost of the symposium is $50 for Friday and Saturday (including lunch both days) and $35 for a single day (including lunch). To register, contact the bicentennial programs office at 503-768-7207 or bicprog@lclark.edu. For symposium updates, visit www.thejourneycontinues. org/cassymposia.html.