Nature/Religion/Knowledge/Politics lecture series continues Oct. 7 with Mohawk spiritual leader Tom Porter

Nature/Religion/Knowledge/Politics lecture series continues Oct. 7 with Mohawk spiritual leader Tom PorterOctober 05, 2004Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

Tom Porter, chief spiritual leader and spokesman of the Mohawk Community of Kanatsiohareke in Fonda, N.Y., will speak on “Giving Thanks for the Cycles of Nature to Continue” this Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., in the 1916 Room of Syracuse University’s E.S. Bird Library.

Porter’s presentation is part of SU’s Nature/Religion/Knowledge/Politics Fall 2004 Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.

Porter, a member of the Bear Clan, was raised as a member of the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne (St. Regis) in northern New York. He has been a nationally recognized figure since the 1960s, when he formed “White Roots of Peace,” a traveling multimedia communications group designed to revitalize Native traditions and beliefs in North America.

He served in numerous positions on the Mohawk Nation of Chiefs Council, co-founded the Akwesasne Freedom School with a curriculum entirely in Mohawk and founded the Traditional Mohawk Community at Kanatsiohareke in 1993.

The lecture series is sponsored by SU’s Department of Biology, Department of Religion, enSPIRE, the Native American Studies Program, the Religion and Society Program, the South Asia Center and the SUNY-ESF Women’s Caucus.

For more information, contact the Department of Religion at 443-3861.