What does “home” truly mean—beyond walls, roofs, and property lines?
In this episode of the Artisans of Nations Podcast, host Rachel sits down with Dr. Chenoa Bah, Diné (Navajo) community advocate, educator, and cultural rights leader, to explore Indigenous housing justice, traditional lifeways, and how reconnecting to land, language, and ceremony restores wellness, dignity, and belonging.
Recorded during Santa Fe Indian Market weekend 2025 on sovereign Pueblo lands, this conversation centers Indigenous perspectives on home as body, spirit, kinship, and Earth, while examining how traditional knowledge informs modern healthcare, architecture, and community care.
00:00 — Welcome & Land Acknowledgment
Introduction to Artisans of Nations and the sacred context of Santa Fe Indian Market
02:10 — Introducing Dr. Chenoa Bah
Clan lineage, matriarchal teachings, and walking the path of Indigenous values
06:30 — What “Home” Means in Indigenous Worldviews
Home as body, language, land, and relational responsibility
11:45 — Indigenous Housing Justice & Unsheltered Relatives
Compassion-centered care, releasing judgment, and protecting the most vulnerable
17:40 — Street Medicine & Servant-Based Healthcare
Meeting people where they are with dignity, humility, and cultural care
23:10 — Language as Medicine
Diné greetings, cosmology, and why Indigenous languages carry belonging
28:50 — Teaching Youth, Ceremony & Rites of Passage
Language revitalization, sweat lodge, Kinaaldá, and intergenerational healing
34:20 — Traditional Architecture & Fire-Centered Living
Hóogans, octagonal homes, and how design shapes wellness
39:10 — Off-Grid Living & Sustainable Indigenous Futures
Solar power, mound homes, and returning to ancestral building practices
44:30 — Integrating Traditional Knowledge into Modern Systems
Healthcare, clinics, tribal colleges, and re-Indigenizing institutions
49:30 — How to Get Involved & Learn More
Southwest Indigenous Housing Justice Collaborative & community resources
52:00 — Closing Reflections
Gratitude, community, and carrying home forward
Part of an 8-episode live series celebrating contemporary Native artists during Santa Fe Indian Market 2025. 🙏 Sponsored by the City of Santa Fe Office of Economic Development & Arts and Culture.
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