Forge Project Talks: Joseph M. Pierce

As part of a series co-presented by Forge Project and CCS Bard, Joseph M. Pierce will introduce the core arguments of his recently published book, Speculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair (Duke University Press, 2025), with a focus on how Indigenous art, artists, histories, and stories, make Indigenous worlds possible.

This event is organized by Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Executive Director & Chief Curator, Forge Project, and Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies, CCS Bard.

All CCS Bard lectures are free and open to the public.

Artist Biography:

Joseph M. Pierce is Associate Professor in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature and the Founding Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Stony Brook University. He is the author of Speculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair (Duke University Press, 2025) and Argentine Intimacies: Queer Kinship in an Age of Splendor, 1890-1910 (SUNY Press, 2019), and co-editor of Políticas del amor: Derechos sexuales y escrituras disidentes en el Cono Sur (Cuarto Propio, 2018) and the 2021 special issue of GLQ, “Queer/Cuir Américas: Translation, Decoloniality, and the Incommensurable.” He has published work in Critical Ethnic Studies Journal, Latin American Research Review, and Art Journal, and in popular outlets including Hyperallergic, TruthOut, and Indian Country Today. With S.J. Norman (Wiradjuri), he is co-curator of the performance series Knowledge of Wounds, and in 2024-2025 he was a Ford Foundation Scholar in Residence at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He is a citizen of Cherokee Nation.

Forge Project Talks

Forge Project Talks are part of a set of broader initiatives at Bard College that seek to place Native American and Indigenous Studies at the heart of curricular innovation, which includes programming organized by the Center for Indigenous Studies and the Rethinking Place initiative.

These programs are made possible by the Forge Endowed Fund for Indigenous Studies at Bard College, generously supported by the Gochman Family Foundation along with George Soros and the Open Society Foundations.

Accessibility for Public Programs

Recordings
This program will be live-streamed on @Forgeprojectny and video-recorded with closed captioning and available on Forge Project’s Vimeo page. All CCS Bard programs are recorded through audio recordings that reside in the CCS Bard Library & Archives and online here. To inquire about an audio recording, please contact [email protected].

American Sign Language Interpretation
ASL-English interpretation is available for public programs upon request with two weeks advance notice. To place a request, please contact [email protected]. Relay and voice calls welcome.

Verbal Description
Verbal description is available for public programs upon request with two weeks advance notice. To place a request, please contact [email protected]. Relay and voice calls welcome.

Captioning
When public programs are held over Zoom, live transcription is available.