Instant Issues: English & Indigenous Relations in the CT River Valley

Dr. Margaret Bruchac will discuss how Indigenous tribal leaders in the region negotiated relations with English colonists in the 1600s. The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts is pleased to Dr. Margaret Bruchac, Professor Emerita of the University of Pennsylvania, at an Instant Issues event at noon on Wednesday, December 2 in the 9th Floor Gallery, 1350 Main Street in downtown Springfield. She will speak on Revisiting Colonial Encounters: English & Indigenous Relations in the Connecticut River Valley. Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she founded the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. She has long been committed to critical analyses of colonial histories and recoveries of Indigenous histories. Her research has been supported by grants from the American Philosophical Society (2011), School for Advanced Research (2012), Arts Council England (2019), Mellon Foundation (2021), and Mass Humanities (2025), among others. For more than 30 years, Dr. Bruchac has served as a consultant to Historic Northampton, Historic Deerfield, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, and Old Sturbridge Village Museum. Her 2018 book – Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists (University of Arizona Press 2018) won the Council for Museum Anthropology Book Award. She is a citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Abenaki Nation, and a member of the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Culture. The Instant Issues series is generously sponsored by Wilbraham & Monson Academy, Skoler Abbott & Sir Speedy Media Sponsor: The Republican Special thanks to NAI Plotkin The World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts is a nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to fostering civil discourse on international events and foreign policy. Our speakers' opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Affairs Council or our affiliates.