native american

Rapa Nui - HeVo 91

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Friar Francisco Nahoe and Mata'u Rapu about how a priest and a filmmaker got involved in repatriation efforts for Rapa Nui (Easter Island). We learn how 19th and 20th Century European sheepherding ventures circulated Polynesian crania from Rapa Nui across the world; how UNESCO recognition can harm indigenous communities; the close relationship between environmental protection, cultural heritage, and indigenous rights; and most of all how the Rapanui people themselves provide an outstanding example of resilience in the face of environmental precarity and Euro-American colonization. Finally, we explore the challenges of living up to the leadership and legacy of both ancient ancestors and living elders in the effort to find a collective, multi-generational Polynesian voice.

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The Tohono O’odham Nation and Kitt Peak National Observatory: Building Relationships and Creating Resources - Ep 90

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Dr. Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan (Tohono O'odham Nation Education Development Liaison at Kitt Peak National Observatory; Tohono O’odham from Wa:k Ceksan [the San Xavier District]) about her work fostering relationships between the Tohono O'odham Nation and Kitt Peak National Observatory through tours for Tribal Departments, programs, and schools, serving as a point of contact for tribal members and the Nation as a whole, sharing Tohono O’odham history and culture with general public visitors, and continuing to build on the promises made during the original agreements to lease the land from the Tohono O'odham Nation. Additionally, Dr. Ramon-Sauberan (or Dr. J.) works with the larger Astronomy community on how to be a good neighbor to Indigenous communities. Throughout Dr. J’s career, her focus has always been on providing resources and serving Indigenous communities, from journalism that focused on Indigenous people making a difference in the world to developing her dissertation that centered community voices as a resource on land and water rights in Wa:k Ceksan (the San Xavier District).

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Tamamta (all of us): Transforming Western and Indigenous Sciences together - HeVo 89

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Dr. Jessica Black (Gwich’in; Associate Vice Chancellor and Associate Professor in the College of Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks) and Dr. Courtney Carothers (Professor of Fisheries in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks). Dr. Black and Dr. Carothers discuss their work, alongside student colleagues and Alaska Native peoples, to highlight Indigenous fisheries knowledge, Indigenous fisheries science and governance practices, and the structural inequities that keep Indigenous peoples in Alaska from their deep traditional cultural practices, livelihoods, and relations. All of this deeply relational work lead to the birth of Tamamta (a Yup’ik and Sugpiaq word meaning 'all of us'), an organization focused on connecting Indigenous and Western sciences and supporting graduate students deeply connected with Indigenous communities in Alaska on research around fisheries.

Interested in the Accountable Allies group? Keep an eye on the Tamamta website or sign up for their mailing list for resources that this group has been developing.

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Sámi Land Protection - Ep 88

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Tuula Sharma Vassvik (Sámi activist, land protector, musician, podcast host, and freelance contractor in Heritage and Indigenous Methodologies) about their journey through archaeology to Indigenous methodologies and land protection in Sápmi. Tuula’s work focuses on solidarity across cultures and class, as well as community building and future building within Indigenous ways of life. We talk about their time at Standing Rock and how that shaped not only their Masters thesis, but their life trajectory. We also discuss their involvement in protests against wind turbines on reindeer herding areas, the destructive impact of farmed salmon on the coast and coastal Sámi people, as well as topics they have explored with their podcast guests, including Indigenizing queerness. Today’s takeaway: Don’t buy farmed salmon from Norway!

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Nuxawiš: unwilling to give up - HeVo 87

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Maura Sullivan (PhD student in Linguistics at Tulane University; Irish-American, Chumash and Mexican heritage, and an enrolled member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation). Maura gives Jessica a crash course in many different language topics such as the difference between language work and linguistics, what is a minoritized language, and how you can revive a language in ways other than with fluent speakers (such as the Breath of Life program). She emphasizes the need for structural changes to support language work, but also some ways that we can all be better relatives and give back on an individual level. Maura also described varying creative methods to support language work, including how she incorporates her art, provides intra-community language materials, as well as making the Šmuwič language more visible where appropriate.

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