Threads of Memory, Ties of Resilience: An Online Conversation

Threads of Memory, Ties of Resilience: A Conversation with Dr. Jennifer Denetdale & Lillia McEnaney, led by Dr. Christine Ami

Registration required via Zoom. Register here.

In December 2025, the exhibit "Nothing Left for Me:Federal Policy and the Photography of Milton Snow in Diné Bikéyah" at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology will be closing while the exhibit "Nihinaaldlooshii doo nídínééshgóó k’ee’ąą yilzhish dooleeł /Our Livestock Will Never Diminish” at the Navajo Nation Museum, will only be celebrating its 4th month.

For the co-curators of these two exhibits, Dr. Jennifer Denetdale (Diné) and Lillia McEnaney, these two separate yet intersecting exhibition projects continuously provoked new questions around collaborative curatorial praxis, archival research methodologies, and community-engaged museum pedagogy.

This virtual program will explore the ways in which the two exhibitions informed and generated each other within the larger contexts of museum anthropology, Diné Studies, and American Studies. The co-curators will be joined by Dr. Christine Ami (Diné), Associate Professor at Diné College and researcher on Indigenous relationships with humans and non-human animals, who will be moderating the online conversation.We hope you will join us for what promises to be thoughtful and illuminating conversation.

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Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale is Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of New Mexico. As the first-ever Diné to earn a Ph.D. in history, Dr. Denetdale is a strong advocate for Indigenous peoples and strives to foster academic excellence in the next generation of students devoted to supporting Indigenous nations and their claims to sovereignty.

Lillia McEnaney is a museum anthropologist, independent curator, and assistant professor of museum studies at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dr. Christine Ami is a Diné scholar, associate professor, and weaver at Diné College, specializing in Indigenous animal studies, traditional ecological knowledge, cultural arts and epistemological imperialism.