ON THIS EPISODE: Part five of BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods, in which we bring you the first half of 'Storying Systems vs. Symptoms,' the second session of the second day of climate conversations we co-convened with dozens of Indigenous scholars, journalists and experts last October at the University of British Columbia.

Moderated by long-time MEDIA INDIGENA roundtabler Candis Callison—a jointly-appointed Professor in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies at UBC—she was joined at the panel by Jeffrey Ansloos, Michelle Cyca, Tiara R Naputi, and Gina Starblanket, which was described as follows:

According to scholar Adam Hanieh, transforming our current climate trajectory means confronting 'the multiple logics of a social system that has served to center oil throughout all aspects of our lives, and we cannot extricate ourselves from oil's pervasiveness, certainly not at a pace necessary to halt runaway climate change, while remaining within this social system.' Can seeing climate change as symptomatic of systems and structures shed greater light on the impacts of ongoing colonial policies and institutions?

In this session, we ask how we can move beyond event-centric journalistic practices to reflect underlying structural problems, system change, and long-term solutions. Relatedly, we also unpack what Candis Callison calls 'crisis-talk,' where the only allowable discourse is 'what must be done now,' foreclosing larger questions of how we got here or what led up to such crises."

✪ BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods is sponsored by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC ✪

// CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Cloud Seven' by Joseph Sacco (CC-BY); 'Leverage,' by 1000 Handz (CC BY)

ON THIS EPISODE: BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods—part four, featuring the back half of "Storytellers Without Borders," the lead-off session on BFF's second day, where close to 40 scholars, journalists and experts gathered to discuss Indigenous climate narratives last October at UBC.

Returning with their thoughts are panelists Tristan Ahtone, Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Deborah McGregor and Stephanie Wood, along with contributions by fellow BFF attendees Mark Trahant, Gina Starblanket, Cutcha Risling Baldy, and Eriel Tchekwie Deranger.

✪ BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods is sponsored by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology ✪

// CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Cloud Seven' by Joseph Sacco (CC-BY).

ON THIS EPISODE: part three of BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods! (And if this is your first encounter with our new series, you might want to start with BFF Part 0, i.e., episode 365, for best results.) Based on three days of conversations hosted at UBC last October, BFF brought together close to 40 scholars, journalists and experts who document and depict how Indigenous peoples contend with climate change.

In this instalment, "Storytellers Without Borders," the first in our second day's sessions, we discuss what and whom climate change stories currently serve—to what extent is what we're experiencing global change or continuity? As inheritors of a world wrought by centuries of extraction and colonialism, the deeply globalized structures and systems we now live in and with are the consequence of competing empires' efforts to terraform our territories. Yet so much of mainstream climate journalism is confined to nationalist narratives of technosaviourism, where petro-states promise a pivot to eco-states in hopes of preserving the socio-economic status quo. In this session—featuring panelists Tristan Ahtone, Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Deborah McGregor, and Stephanie Wood—we explored why our narrative lens(es) on climate change must be commensurate with the scale of global forces driving it.

✪ BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods is sponsored by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology ✪

// CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Cloud Seven' by Joseph Sacco (CC-BY); 'Tales' by 1000 Handz (CC-BY).

ON THIS EPISODE: The back half of our live panel at the Great Hall of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, it was the only public portion of BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods, our 3-day gathering of journalists, scholars and experts focused on Indigenous narratives of climate change.

Assembling four seasoned storytellers—Judi Kochon, Paul Seesequasis, Tanya Talaga, and Mark Trahant—they joined host/moderator Rick Harp to set the table for the other three-dozen voices who gathered that weekend back in October 2025.

✪ BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods is sponsored by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology ✪

// CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Cloud Seven' by Joseph Sacco (CC-BY).

On this episode, the formal kick-off to our extended series, Beyond Fires & Floods (BFF): Indigenous Narratives in an Era of Extremes, beginning with the first half of a panel recorded last October before a live audience in the Great Hall of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

The opening, public component of a 3-day gathering of journalists, scholars and others focused on Indigenous narratives of climate change, the panel assembled four seasoned storytellers embodying decades of experience, a wide-ranging conversation which served as a microcosm of the overall event—co-convened by MI host/producer Rick Harp and Candis Callison, UBC Professor and long-time MI roundtabler.

** GRATITUDE ** Special thanks to Mitiana Arbon, Pacific Curator at MOA—one of BFF's four core sponsors, alongside the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, and the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.

// CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

ON THIS EPISODE: Part 0 of "Beyond Fires and Floods: Indigenous Narratives in an Era of Extremes." Otherwise known as "BFF," it's the name of a three-day gathering we co-convened last October on Musqueam Lands, home to the campus of UBC. Assembling close to 40 participants from media, academia and more, BFF fostered connections and conversations on Indigenous experiences and expertise with climate change.

An extensive set of dialogues to be released on MEDIA INDIGENA in the weeks and months to come, we thought we'd first ground it with an overview of BFF's origins, contents, and objectives. "We" meaning co-convenors Rick Harp (MI host/producer) and Candis Callison, UBC Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs, and, of course, long-time MI roundtabler.

*** BFF: Beyond Fires & Floods is sponsored by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Global Journalism Innovation Lab, UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology. ***

// CREDITS: Creative Commons music this episode includes 'Cloud Seven' by Joseph Sacco (CC-BY); 'Growth' by 1000 Handz (CC BY); 'Sorta Satie Op 1 Nostalgia' by Lopkerjo (CC BY). Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

On this episode: the last of our five-part series on the seminar, "Sovereignty First: Tackling the White Possessive in an Era of 'Collaboration,'" where we jump into genomics, a realm rife with racialized thinking and practice according to population scientist and Princeton graduate anthropology student Noah Collins. Yet despite challenges to Indigenous-led research in terms of access to financial and human resources, Collins notes that hasn't stopped their projects from prioritizing community over commerce.

Returning to the table with host/producer Rick Harp to discuss Collin's presentation in depth are Kim TallBear (Professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota–Twin Cities) and Candis Callison (Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia).

CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Magnetic' by 1000 Handz (CC BY).

ON THIS EPISODE: part four of 'the White Possessive,' the latest in our five-part series on the seminar, "Sovereignty First: Tackling the White Possessive in an Era of 'Collaboration.'" Based on a presentation about pretendianism by Kim TallBear (Professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota–Twin Cities), she joins fellow MI roundtabler Candis Callison (Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia) and host/producer Rick Harp to discuss what makes settler self-indigenization—where colonial cosplay works to both emulate and eliminate the Indian—arguably the final frontier of white possessiveness.

CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Slow Me Down' by Jangwa; 'Magnetic' by 1000 Handz (CC BY).

ON THIS EPISODE: part three of 'the White Possessive,' the latest in our five-part series on the seminar, "Sovereignty First: Tackling the White Possessive in an Era of 'Collaboration.'" This time around, the property in question is intellectual. Rooted in a talk by Olga Ulturgasheva (Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester), we digest and discuss her account of how unscrupulous colleagues misappropriated and misrepresented her personal stories and observations, a case study in what she calls "epistemological extractivism."

Returning to the roundtable with host/producer Rick Harp are MI regulars Kim TallBear (Professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota–Twin Cities) and Candis Callison (Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC).

CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Magnetic' by 1000 Handz (CC BY).

ON THIS EPISODE: Part two of 'the White Possessive.' And back in part one, we brought you the basics of this analytical framework as articulated by Aileen Moreton-Robinson, an analysis at the heart of the event, "Sovereignty First: Tackling the White Possessive in an Era of 'Collaboration.'" Featuring five presentations, the first was by none other than MI's Candis Callison (Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia), applying her lens as a media scholar.

Here in our second engagement with the ways whiteness works to possess every last thing, we see how that possessiveness seemingly knows no bounds—right down to the extraction of our bodies' most minute material. Drawing on a presentation by Jennifer Brown (Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Alaska Native Studies at the University of Alaska-Southeast) on how that's played out in Alaska in some dubious public health research and reportage, host/producer Rick Harp is joined once again by Candis and fellow MI regular Kim TallBear (Professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota–Twin Cities) to reflect further on Brown's talk.

CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Magnetic' by 1000 Handz (CC BY).