2026 Mountain Studies Lecture feat. Dr. María Nieves Zedeño
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026
7-8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Lecture begins at 7 p.m. Q&A to follow.)
Plemmons Student Union Parkway Ballroom (Room 420)
BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and Department of Anthropology will host archaeologist Dr. María Nieves Zedeño as the 2026 Mountain Studies Lecture Series speaker on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, from 7–8:30 p.m. in the Parkway Ballroom (Room 420) of the Plemmons Student Union. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
This visit follows her originally scheduled appearance for the 2024 Mountain Studies Lecture, which was canceled due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene. CAS is pleased to welcome Dr. Zedeño to campus to continue the series’ focus on the cultural, ecological, and historical significance of mountain landscapes.
Dr. Zedeño will present “Ninaistákis, Home of Thunder: Chief Mountain as a Blackfoot Chronotype.” The lecture begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a Q&A.
Zedeño is a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. Since 1994, she has devoted her research to Applied Archaeology with Native Americans in several regions of the United States and Canada, and especially with member tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Zedeño's research focuses on landscape theory and method, mobile hunters, and the peopling of the Rocky Mountain West. Zedeño co-directs the interdisciplinary Blackfoot Early Origins Program, which integrates oral tradition and science.
In her lecture, Zedeño will discuss the following: Across the world, mountain landscapes contain significant social, political, and spiritual values beyond unique ecologies and resources. Such significance evolves through time alongside the people who use them. The northern Rocky Mountain Front, headwaters of North America’s divides, figures prominently in the origins and cultural development of both Plains and Mountain aboriginal groups who traversed or inhabited it. Named Ninaistákis by the Blackfoot, Chief Mountain rises in striking contrast with surrounding peaks, providing a landmark for mobile bison hunters who not only traversed its base but ascended its cliffs to obtain knowledge and power. While archaeological remains on and around Chief Mountain attest to the antiquity of these interactions, the contemporary Blackfoot preserve oral traditions of the spiritual forces who inhabit it as well as ancient ceremonial practices that connect people to its power. Here, Zedeño proposes that Chief Mountain is a kind of chronotope where time and space fuse and thus stands as a monument to the community, its symbol, and a force that helps shape identity and belonging.
The Mountain Studies Lecture is free and open to the public. No ticketing or registration is required. The Parkway Ballroom is located on the fourth floor of the Plemmons Student Union at 263 Locust Street in Boone. Campus parking is free to visitors on weekdays after 5 p.m.
For a disability accommodation, contact the Office of Disability Resources. Questions may be directed to the CAS Dean's Office at cas@appstate.edu or (828) 262-3078.
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About the Mountain Studies Lecture Series
The College of Arts and Sciences' Mountain Studies Lecture Series grew out of the 2019 International Mountain Studies Conference, hosted by App State’s Center for Appalachian Studies. Created to continue the conversations sparked at that event, the series brings leading scholars to Appalachian State University to explore the cultural, ecological, and historical significance of mountain landscapes around the world. Learn more about the Mountain Studies Lecture Series
About the Department of Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology offers a comparative and holistic approach to the study of the human experience. The anthropological perspective provides a broad understanding of the origins as well as the meaning of physical and cultural diversity in the world — past, present and future. Learn more about the Department of Anthropology
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers, and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical, and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions, and locations. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating, and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,800 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more about CAS
By Lauren Gibbs
September 14, 2026
BOONE, N.C.
Black-and-white portrait of a smiling woman in a leather motorcycle jacket, touching her short hair outdoors.
Dr. María Nieves Zedeño