FALL 2026
September 8, 2026. Duke Campus Farm
HARVESTING | CORN MILPA
September 15, 2026. LARC. 156A. 10 am.
TENDING. BLACK FARMERS FIGHT FOR JUSTICE.
Shirlette Ammons poet, storyteller, and musician.
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
OCTOBER 20, 2026. FREDRIC JAMESON GALLERY. Friedl Building East Campus. 5-7 pm
Let’s help write BELONGING? | WE THE PEOPLE.
white cotton on black cotton.
Come on October 20, 5:00 to 7:00 pm for a special gathering to finish the writing and enjoy a communal dinner.
Contact: miguel.rojassotelo@duke.edu. LOCATION
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
OCTOBER 25-30, 2026. The Edge. Duke Library. West Campus
CORN MANDALA.
Guest Artist, Jorge Taylor Rojas (U.S/Mexico – based in Salt Lake City, Utah) will lead the collaborative installation of his latest edition of CORN MANDALA. A design commissioned for GROUNDING AMERICA will take place at Duke University Libraries, THE EDGE HALL. (In connection with the Day of the Dead Celebration).
Contact us at: miguel.rojassotelo@duke.edu to help build the MANDALA. LOCATION
Render of CORN MANDALA. The Edge. Duke, fall 2026.
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
OCTOBER 29, 2026. Bostock Library 127. Duke University. West Campus. 12:00 pm.
ARTIST TALK. CORN MANDALA.
“We Are the Corn”
The connection between humans and corn began about 10,000 years ago, when early people in Mexico began domesticating a wild grass called teosinte, creating the edible grain we now know as maize, or corn (maíz in Spanish). Beyond just a food source, maize holds deep spiritual, healing, and artistic significance across the Americas and beyond.
Rojas’s experience as an artist and educator often intersects with his interests as a curator, shaping exhibitions that reflect on interpretation, institutional critique, social and racial justice, and the role of cultural and mediated forms of communication. He has dedicated most of his curatorial practice to promoting, nurturing, and cultivating the vision of giving voice to plants, as well as to the diverse talents of emerging and mid-career BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and immigrant artists.
Followed by a Lunch/Reception. The Edge Lounge. 1:00 pm.
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
Oct. 29. Room 1005, Global Education Center. 6:00 pm (related event)
PEOPLE OF MAÍZ: ROOTS, RELATIONS & CONTINUITY.
Yolanda González Mendoza
Blending personal storytelling and ethnography, this talk explores transborder continuity through the lens of ancestral lands, communal life, and the reciporal care of the milpa (the crop field where multiple complementary crops are grown together). It invites us to reflect on our roots and consider how ancestral and immigrant origians can serve as generative sites of knowledge and belonging.
Yolanda González Mendoza, PhD from the University of Maryland, focuses on understanding how those made illegal by the law – undocumented Mexican immigrants and Mexican immigrants in general – experience risk and produce safe spaces as they navigate displacement in Mexico and segregation & multiple borders in the US.
Interpretation will be provided in English and Spanish. Se proporcionará interpretación en inglés y español.
Campus Life Experience credit is available for UNC Chapel Hill students.
November 12, 2026. Ahmadieh Family Lecture. Smith Warehouse Bay 4. 6:00 pm
SCREENING. SEEDS. (2025) 123”. Britanny Shyne.
Interweaving the stories of three Black generational farmers to create a collective and intimate portrait of farming today, Seeds is a moving and powerful exploration of their lives, joys, and struggles as well as the fragility of legacy and owning land.
With remarkable intimacy, the film documents their everyday lives – cotton harvesting, chasing cows, dealing with broken machinery and financial precarities.
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
November 30. 2026. Fredric Jameson Gallery.
GUEST TALK. BLACK COTTON U.S.
Featuring Julius Tillery, BLACK COTTON U.S.
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
December 3, 2026. Fredric Jameson Gallery. 10:00 am.
Screening of GROUNDING AMERICA: CORN | COTTON | COAL | TOBACCO. Short films for NARRATING NATURE. DOCUMENTARIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES.
Join the final presentation of students exploring these commodities from academic and artistic perspectives. ENVIRON 315S, fall 2026.
This project is supported by:
The Climate and Sustainability Education Innovation Fund and Duke’s We the People initiative and Trinity College’s “Belonging?” series.
“A Duke and Durham Initiative”
SPRING 2026
In progress
