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It’s about more than Standing Rock

Daily Campus

Originally Posted: September 18, 2017

“Can everyone hear me? I have a cold and I sound a bit like Kathleen Turner today,” SMU professor Kacy Hollenback joked to a tightly packed room in Heroy Hall.

Around 40 students and faculty members gathered on Wednesday, Sept. 13 to hear the anthropology professor’s lecture, Its About More Than Standing Rock, a presentation on energy development on the North American Great Plains. Audience members chatted amongst themselves, eager to hear her speak, specifically about the Dakota Access Pipeline and its effect on Indian tribes.

“I’ve seen it unfold on the news but I wanted to find out more,” audience member and fellow anthropology professor Sara Mosher said.

A student in Hollenback’s Archaeology class Anna Braman also wanted to attend the lecture to hear more from her engaging professor.

“Her lectures are really interesting and I wanted to hear a slightly different topic than what we hear in class,” Braman said.

Hollenback stood at a podium next to a PowerPoint with photos of her work and began discussing her research.

“Students ask me, why are tribes so upset? You have to understand the history, and it’s not a deep history,” Hollenback said.

The lecture covered certain tribes such as, Standing Rock, Blackfeet, Fort Berthold, Standing Rock Sioux, and how they have been impacted by energy development on their reservations. Hollenback commented on the fact that our laws do not guarantee protection against natural heritage.

“Our heritage laws are written with words like ‘may,’ that word means you can, but you don’t have to,” she said. READ MORE