Hear writer, performer and cultural geographer Carolyn Finney, Ph.D., deliver the Jordahl Public Lands Lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, October 19 at Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Memorial Union, Madison. 

Carolyn is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing.  She pursued an acting career for 11 years, but a backpacking trip around the world and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences, she returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. The aim of her work is to develop greater cultural competency within environmental organizations and institutions, challenge media outlets on their representation of difference, and increase awareness of how privilege shapes who gets to speak to environmental issues and determine policy and action. 

Along with public speaking, writing and consulting, she serves on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board that is working to assist the National Park Service in engaging in relations of reciprocity with diverse communities. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Re-imagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014 (UNC Press). 

For more information: http://ghi.wisc.edu/event/jordahl-public-lands-lecture-feat-carolyn-finney/