Indigenous Fire: Stewardship, Sovereignty, and Crisis Response in Karuk Country
American Philosophical Soceity Indigenous Learning Forum
February 12, 2026 3:00-4:30pm ET
The sixth 2025-2026 Indigenous Learning Forum will take place February 12, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. ET on Zoom. This talk will be given in English with Spanish translation.
This event is open to all but registration is required.
Karuk fire practitioners are responding to both emergent climate risk and ongoing settler colonialism, working not only for “land back” but “fire back”—the resurgence of their inherent right and responsibility to steward for their homelands with intentionally-set fires, as they have done since time immemorial. Fire for Karuk people is central to spiritual life, land management, human-nonhuman relations, food sovereignty, and cultural modes of governance. In the early 20th century, the United States Forest Service established the fire suppression paradigm. They outlawed Indigenous burning and, in the words of one Karuk elder, made it “illegal to be Karuk.” Despite this criminalization, secret Karuk burning and clandestine assertions of fire sovereignty have persisted as survival and resistance. In the 21st century, Karuk people are taking California’s accelerating wildfire crisis as a strategic opportunity to revitalize practices and establish the social and ecological preconditions for the return of widespread Indigenous burning.
Bruno Seraphin is an assistant professor of Anthropology and Social and Critical Inquiry at the University of Connecticut. He is a settler from Nipmuc territory. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Cornell University and a BFA in Film and Television from NYU. Since 2018, he has partnered with the Karuk Tribe on multimedia community-collaborative environmental justice research, examining the politics of wildfire crisis and Indigenous fire management in northern California. He is the 2025-2026 Mellon Native American Scholars Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Philosophical Society
Chook-Chook Hillman (Karuk) has spent his life immersed in Karuk tribal culture and traditions. He was born and raised near his great-grandmother’s village, near Somes Bar, CA. Chook is a community organizer, cultural practitioner, and expert on Karuk ecological knowledge.
Vikki Preston (Karuk/Yurok/Paiute/Pit River) is an Indigenous fire practitioner, currently working at the Karuk Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources in Orleans, CA. Her knowledge base is rooted in her life along the Klamath River, as a mother, basketweaver, and community member. She works in Cultural Resources and Archaeology, as well as wildfire and TEK work for the Karuk Tribe.
