James Eric Francis, Sr., Director of Cultural & Historic Preservation, Penobscot Nation

Penobscot Sense of Place

Wabanaki, part of the Algonkian language group, is the first language of Maine, and each tribe has a distinct language that expresses worldview. The original words of this land – Casco, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Pemaquid – can be found on maps of Maine today. As settlers colonized what is now known as Maine, they named towns after their founding fathers or English homelands, resulting in Wabanaki people living in a familiar place populated with foreign words. During his talk, Francis will share the origin and meaning of land and waterway names from a Wabanaki perspective, illuminating the relationship between natural resources, place names, and worldview while revealing the continued legacies of colonialism on the landscape and continuation of Indigenous adaptation, endurance, and resistance.

James Eric Francis, Sr. serves as the Director of Cultural and Historic Preservation, Tribal Historian, and Chair of the Penobscot Tribal Rights and Resource Protection Board for the Penobscot Nation. As a historian, he explores the relationship between Maine Native Americans and the land. James serves on the board of the Abbe Museum, UMaine’s Hudson Museum, and Maine State Archives, and is a founder and Co-Director of Local Contexts, an initiative dedicated to supporting Indigenous communities in managing their cultural heritage and intellectual property. James is also a visual artist, working as a photographer, filmmaker, painter, and graphic artist.