BEES Department Graduate Seminar

Thursday, April 30, 2026

3:30 PM-5:00 PM

Dr. Steve Vásquez Dolph, Drexel University Associate Teaching Professor: Global Studies and Modern Languages and Associate Dean for Culture and Community: College of Arts and Sciences will discuss “How to Learn from the Land.”

Abstract:
In response to climate anxiety and post-pandemic grief, this lecture proposes a shift from extractive place-based pedagogies toward a model of community reciprocity through the "classroom as milpa." Drawing on my experience developing an intensive course in collaboration with Philadelphia-based urban gardens, I explore the ways that aesthetically and emotionally potent hand-to-hand labor at local community sites like Sankofa Community Farm, Iglesias Gardens, and Villa Africana Colobó facilitates an embodied "diasporic lens" for participants. By centering culturally-rooted responses to environmental racism, this pedagogical framework uses "companion planting" as a metaphor for social change—repairing ancestral knowledge and bridging the gap between campus and community through an "ethic of abundance."

Bio:
https://drexel.edu/coas/faculty-research/faculty-directory/global-studies/dolph-steve/

Contact Information

Donna Fahres
df625@drexel.edu