Agave has been a mainstay of culture in the Americas for millenia: food, drink, tool, spirit, utilitarian, sacred. Adaptations to aridity represented by both agave and people hold critical insights into how to live in the desert. This lecture series looks closely at these adaptations and the reciprocal relationship between this desert plant and people. Through presentations, roundtable discussions, tastings, and art we will collectively reconnect to the importance of agave, how this relationship in threatened by climate change and our actions, and also how a resilient future is embedded in the heart of a plant.
Lecture Series dates and details:
1/20 - Agave Human Symbiosis: An Overview
Featuring:
Wendy Hodgson, Herbarium Curator Emerita and Sr. Research Botanist, Desert Botanical Garden
2/10 - Tumamoc Agave
Featuring:
Suzanne Fish, Curator Emerita Arizona State Museum, Professor of Anthropology, University of Arizona
Paul Fish, Curator Emeritus Arizona State Museum, Professor of Anthropology, University of Arizona
3/10 Indigenous Agave Practice
Featuring:
Jacob Butler, Onk Akimel O'Odhab and member of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC), Community Garden Coordinator for SRPMIC, Chair Native Seeds Search and
Cheryl Pailzote, White Mountain Apache Tribe
4/14 A Symbiosis Imperiled?
Featuring:
David Suro-Piñera, Owner Siembra Spirits, President Tequila Interchange Project, Co-President Bat Friendly Project
Francesca Claverie
Valeria Cañedo, Centro de Colaboración para la Ciencia y Cultura
Lee Ibarra, Colectivo Sonora Silvestre
5/12 Agave Is The Future
Featuring:
Alex White Mazarella, Rezpiral
Juan Olmeda, Del Rincón Grande
All of these lectures are FREE to attend! Registration is required -
https://tumamoc.arizona.edu/agave_series