Maple, New Hampshire’s Medicine of Connection

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Maple, New Hampshire’s Medicine of Connection

With historian and author Dr. Damian Costello

{This program is made possible by a grant from the "New Hampshire Humanities "Humanities to Go" program.}

Few things evoke the identity and values of New Hamphire more than maple syrup. It also bridges the many divisions facing our communites. In this presentation, Damian Costello explores how the practice of maple sugaring connects us to the land, our ancestors, and all that surrounds us. In conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer’s bestselling Braiding Sweetgrass, he suggests that sugarmaking—which is informed by indigenous wisdom—is a communal medicine of connection that teaches mutual reciprocity with the land.

Dr. Damian Costello received his Ph.D. in theological studies from the University of Dayton and specializes in the intersection of Catholic theology, Indigenous spiritual traditions, and colonial history. He is an international expert on the life and legacy of Nicholas Black Elk and the author of Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism. Costello was born and raised in Vermont and his work is informed by many years of ethnographic work on the Navajo Nation. Costello serves the director of postgraduate studies at NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, an Indigenous designed and delivered ATS accredited graduate school.