Horses and the Human Story: A Global Perspective program information
Program
8:30am Welcome Remarks
8:35am ྟ(rTa)Ìýof Tibet: Tracing the Evolution of Horses on the Tibetan Plateau from Prayer to ProtestÌý–ÌýTamar McKee, Center of the American West
9:00am The Heavenly, the Royal, and the Patriotic: The Changing Symbolism of Horses in Chinese ArtÌý–ÌýStephanie Su, Art and Art History
9:30-9:45am Coffee Break
9:45am The Mounted Warrior: Contextualizing Human Osteological 'Riding' MarkersÌý–ÌýLauren Hosek, Department of Anthropology
10:15am Odin the Horse Master: the Mythic Evidence of a Nordic Horse Cult and its Social ImplicationsÌý–ÌýMathias Nordwig, Nordic Program, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures
10:45-11:00am Coffee Break
11:00am Equids in the Old Oyo Empire, West AfricaÌý-ÌýOlumide Ojediran, Department of Anthropology
11:30am Animal Suffering, Anti-Cruelty Activism, and Equine Ventriloquism During the Great Horse Flu of 1872-1873Ìý–ÌýThomas Andrews, Center of the American West
12:00pm Seminar,ÌýThe Strongest Riders in the World: Ancient Horsemanship as Modern Sport in Central AsiaÌý–ÌýWill Grant, author ofÌýThe Last Ride of the Pony Express
1-2:30pm Lunch on Your Own
2:30pm Panel Discussion with All Symposium Participants, Q&A
4pm Discussant:ÌýHorses and the Human Story, from the Eurasian Steppes to the Great PlainsÌýÌý-ÌýWilliam Taylor,Assistant Professor of Anthropology & Curator of Archaeology at the CU Museum of Natural History, author ofÌýHoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History, book signing
5:30pm Dinner on Your Own
7:30pm Keynote Lecture,ÌýHoof Beats and the Humans in the Saddle: History, Culture, and Epistemology in a Distant LandÌý-´¡°ì¾±²ÔÌý°¿²µ³Ü²Ô»å¾±°ù²¹²Ô, Northwestern University
*Speaking slots subject to confirmation
Free and Open to the Public
Made possible by the Kayden Book Award, the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, The Center of the American West, and the Center for Asian Studies.
Participant Bios
Thomas Andrews, Director of the Center of the American West and Professor of History at CU-91¸£ÀûÉç
Will Grant, author ofÌýThe Last Ride of the Pony Express
Will Grant is an author and journalist whose writing has appeared in Outside, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek. As part of a wider effort to understand the foundations of horsemanship, he has made five trips to Central Asia.
Lauren Hosek, Anthropology
LaurenHosek is a historical bioarchaeologist with research in early medieval Central Europe and 19th-century Colorado. She integrates the study of human skeletal remains with archaeological and archival data, focusing on the intersections of religious identity, health, and mortuary practices.
Raised in Quarter Horse culture in 91¸£ÀûÉç, Colorado, Tamar McKee was drawn to horse racing festivals in Tibet in 2005 as part of her of dissertation in cultural anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She has since incorporated the Kentucky Bluegrass and North American West as field sites to help assess the global story of human-equine co-existence.
Mathias Nordvig, PhD, is an assistant teaching professor of Nordic studies at 91¸£ÀûÉç. He teaches subjects in Old Norse culture and religion, Arctic cultures, and medieval Nordic history. His research revolves around animistic expressions and environmental conceptions in pre-Christian Nordic religions, and the contemporary use of Old Norse mythology in music and far-right political groups.
Akin Ogundiran is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Arts and Sciences, Professor of History, and Courtesy Professor of Anthropology and Black Studies at Northwestern University. His research interest focuses on household economy, urbanism, empire, and cultural history in Atlantic Africa from 400 BC to 1840 AD, with emphasis on the Yoruba World. Ogundiran’s publications include The Yoruba: A New HistoryÌý(Indiana University Press, 2020), recipient of the Vinson Sutlive Book Prize, and Isaac Oluwole Delano Prize for Yoruba Studies.
Stephanie Su is an Assistant Professor of Asian Art at the Department of Art and Art History, and a research fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art in Washington D.C. for the academic year 2024-5. Her research interests include the Sino-Japanese relationship, global modernism, history of collecting and exhibition, and colors. Her forthcoming book, History Painting Crossing Borders: A Transnational History of Modern Art in Early Twentieth Century China and Japan (Brill, 2025),Ìýexplores how regional identity and historical connections across East Asia led to the formation of modern nations and arts.