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Dr. Margaret Pfeil is a professor at Notre Dame and holds joint appointments in the Department of Theology and the Center for Social Concerns. Pfeil teaches a course on sustainability in the tri-campus community. Pfeil got her undergraduate degree in International Studies with a concentration in Latin American studies and peace studies at Notre Dame. She then worked in Santiago, Chile for two years with the Holy Cross Associates and upon returning to the U.S. worked in the Hispanic Ministry in a Catholic parish in Akron, Ohio. Pfeil then got her Masters of Theological Studies at the Westin Jesuit School of Theology and subsequently returned to Notre Dame, where she earned her doctorate in 2000. She co-founded the St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker Community in South Bend in 2003 and currently lives there with her husband.

 

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

 

How does your acknowledgment of the Indigenous population fit into your role in the Center for Social Concerns and why is it important that the Notre Dame community acknowledges and supports the Indigenous community?

 

“The Center for Social Concerns is very committed to building a relationship with the members of the Pokagon Band of the Potowatomi and one manifestation of that is the art collection in the Geddes Hall Coffee House. Also, Cecil Wilson, who is an historic research specialist with the Pokagon Band, came and joined the class. It was very significant for the students to hear from the perspective of a member of the Pokagon Band what the relationship was like when Fr. Sorin arrived at what is now our campus and to hear his understanding of how the origin story of the Potowatomi people relates to our land in a very profound way. I think that’s really important for all of us at Notre Dame to begin to think more broadly about the meaning of our place on this same land and how Notre Dame’s origin story is situated in relationship with the much longer history and story narrative of the Pokagan Band who long preceded us. I would wish that everyone arriving at Notre Dame would be invited into this understanding as soon as they arrive. I think that it changes how we understand the meaning of our education mission at Notre Dame.”

 

How do you recommend that Notre Dame improves its recognition of our shared community with Indigenous people?

 

“Especially in the curriculum, there could be many opportunities for inviting relationships with members of the Pokagon Band to share their story and talk about what this place actually means in their own history and then to invite reflection on what that means for those of us who are here now. I think that Cecil was delighted to come engage with us and I think that the Pokagon Band would welcome more such invitations to share their story and envision what a relationship can look like moving forward. I think those conversations could be so fruitful because I think together we could imagine a different sort of relationship, one in which perhaps indigenous studies becomes more prominent on our campus — that there would be a whole variety of courses across disciplines and that perhaps the Pokagon Band would have a role to play in shaping that curriculum.”

 

What has your experience been like teaching “Sustainability @ND/SMC/HCC,” the only tri-campus course, and how do you think students benefit from interacting with the students from other campuses?

 

“Every fall I look forward to the course because we have tried to design the course so that we invite students to think about the meaning of our shared ecosystem across the three campuses. We are on the same general land together in relationship with the shared charism of the Holy Cross order, the priest brothers and sisters, and so many students have said that they have never been on the other campuses. When we make that journey together to each campus, there is just such a joy in discovering simple ordinary things like the Saint Mary’s nature trail and the natural path through the woods behind Holy Cross college. I think that there is so much to be learned by seeing our educational mission more broadly in relationship with the other campuses and it gives me a lot of hope that perhaps more such collaboration could unfold in the future.”