Mitchell Center hosts talk about restoring Penobscot language use, learning from traditional stories

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

March 29, 2021 Outreach, Sustainability Solutions and Technologies

The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk about restoring Penobscot language use and how traditional stories can provide vital knowledge to help meet today’s challenges 3–4 p.m. on Monday, April 5.

When Margo Lukens began the project of publishing a book of traditional stories from the Penobscot Nation, she worked with Penobscot language keeper Carol Dana, who sought to restore Penobscot language use and to make bilingual text versions readily available to young people in her community. Their book, “‘Still They Remember Me’: Penobscot Transformer Tales, Volume 1,” a bilingual collection of traditional Penobscot stories also co-authored by Conor Quinn, is due out in June 2021 from the University of Massachusetts Press.

Reading the narratives as literature, Lukens saw that they contain deep knowledge about how human beings have understood life in this place, teaching ecological knowledge, and community values and relationships from a Penobscot perspective. She realized that reading traditional stories like these offers invaluable insights as we work to solve complex 21st-century problems.

Lukens is a professor of English at UMaine whose work has included producing and directing plays by Indigenous playwrights on campus and in the region. Her research interests also include Wabanaki literary and storytelling history and antiracism work.

The talk is free and available via Zoom; registration is required.

Register online to receive connection information. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth, 207.581.3196; hallsworth@maine.edu.