Embracing Plant Medicines as Spirit Guides

Join ecologist Simone Whitecloud, Ph.D. in discussing plant guides to cross the Western science/Indigenous divide. Dr. Whitecloud will share her own experiences of plant medicines as a Native woman and a Western-trained scientist, and the tensions that arise, just as in the film, when these two worlds collide, followed by a screening of the film:

Film: Embrace of the Serpent

Directed by Ciro Guerra, Starring Nilbio Torres, Jan Bijvoet, and Antonio Bolívar, winner Cannes Film Festival, Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Sundance Official Selection. Multi-lingual with English Subtitles, 2h 5 min., NR
Embrace of the Serpent follows the story of Karamakate, the last shaman of his tribe, and two Western scientists in their quests for sacred, healing plants. “Simply a work of art. One of the most singular cinematic experiences you could hope to have” —Indiewire

Dr. Simone S. Whitecloud is a mother of one from the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. A native of New Orleans, she began traveling to California every summer in her teens to learn Native spirituality from her aunt and uncle, a Cheyenne medicine man. Her appreciation of plants as healers started with lupines on one such trip and led to a doctoral program at Dartmouth College, where she studied the interactions of plants both with each other and with humans. This work took her to the alpine tundra of New England to study facilitation between plant species and the Arctic tundra of Greenland to document Inuit knowledge of plant usage. Her current work centers on indigenous food security in the Arctic and the chemical language of plants.

Presented in partnership with White Mountain Science, Inc (WMSI)

Sponsored by an anonymous friend of The Colonial.

An initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre with major support from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.