Native America Calling

Composer, singer, and ethnomusicologist Jeremy Dutcher (Wolastoqiyik) is taking his music on an international tour that includes performing in Taiwan and Japan with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Dutcher’s music continues to draws fans around the world following the release of two acclaimed albums in his Native language, featuring his distinctive tenor voice. His latest album, “Motewolonuwok“, won the Polaris Music Prize. We’ll catch up with him about his latest projects, including the soundtrack to the film “Sk+te’kmujue’katik” (“The Place of Ghosts”), a Mi’kmaq supernatural thriller that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Automatic” is the upcoming second solo album from musician Mali Obomsawin (Odanak First Nation). Obomsawin pushes her avant-garde jazz and experimental sound further than she did on her debut album, “Sweet Tooth”. The new album is bold, explosive, colorful, and ambient with a haunting closing track. We’ll discuss the new album as well as her work with the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, her rock-shoegaze band Deerlady, and her attempt to “make a record institutions can’t own.”

Break 1 Music: Pomawsuwinuwok Wonakiyawolotuwok (song) Jeremy Dutcher (artist) Motewolonuwok (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

Track 1 – Take My Hand (song) Jeremy Dutcher (artist) Motewolonuwok (album)

Track 2 – Automatic (song) Mali Obomsawin (artist) Automatic [release date Oct 16, 2026] (album)

Track 3 – Malian (song) Mali Obomsawin (artist) Automatic [release date Oct 16, 2026] (album)

The Trump administration’s proposal to remove questions about a person’s race for the U.S. Census is sparking alarm among tribal leaders, voting rights advocates, and social service providers. They say it will significantly impede tribes’ political representation at the state and federal levels and reduce access to federal resources, adding up to a serious erosion of tribal sovereignty. Counting the racial makeup of the country has been a function of the constitutionally mandated decennial census since it started in 1790. The Census Bureau proposes changing it to help improve response rates. We’ll hear what changes are potentially in store from the U.S. Census and what the implications are for Native residents.

GUESTS

Gwynne Evans-Lomayesva (Hopi), Ph.D candidate in sociology and demography at the University of Pennsylvania

C. Matthew Snipp (Cherokee), professor of sociology at Stanford University and the director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity

Larry Wright Jr. (Ponca), executive director for the National Congress of American Indians

Aaron Payment (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), tribal councilman, former chairperson for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and a member of the executive board for the National Congress of American Indians

Break 1 Music: Hopi Basket Dance (song) David Taliewiftema, Hopi Singers from Second Mesa (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

At a time when tribes across the country are working to shut down prediction market companies, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana is embracing them by launching its own mobile app with the help of industry giant, Kalshi. The Tunica-Biloxi chairman says his tribe is “creating a new source of economic opportunity and doing it on its own terms.” That is decidedly counter to the other tribes that argue the prediction market platforms pose a direct threat, siphoning off gaming revenue, and sidestepping the strictly regulated federal laws governing Indian casinos. We’ll hear about the plans for the new app — and potential hurdles.

We’ll also hear from entrepreneur, writer, and computer programmer Miguel Douglas (Puyallup Tribe of Indians) about his work to improve visibility for Native-owned businesses with his latest app, Nativepreneurs.

GUESTS

Marshall Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi), chairman and CEO of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana

Chez Oxendine (Lumbee), staff writer for Tribal Business News

Miguel Douglas (Puyallup), developer of the Nativepreneurs app, chief technology officer at Bella & Belle, and editor-in-chief of American Indian Republic

Break 1 Music: Fire On the Bayou (song) Big Chief Alfred Doucette (artist) Rollin’ Wit Da Legends & Marie Laveau (album)

Break 2 Music: War Dance Song (song) Sander Heath, Ed Spino, Byton Patt, Nathan Jim, Duane Miller, and Rudy Clements (artist) 16 Songs by Warm Springs Confederated Tribes (album)

From the original Cherokee syllabary to banners waved by Native American demonstrators, graphic works by Native people carry a thread through the centuries that operate within their own design framework. A new book and accompanying gallery exhibition, “Designed to be Red”, documents and celebrates that thread of visual works by Native designers that exert agency and authority over their own stories. The project compiles examples of purposeful visual rhetoric by Native Americans meant to teach, persuade, resist, and share within an environment that so often dismisses Native input. We’ll talk with Native designers about the project and the unique role Native designs play.

GUESTS

Brian Johnson (Monacan Indian Nation), partner of Polymode design studio

Heidi Brandow (Kanaka Maoli and Diné), editor of “Designed to be Red”, artist, and curator

Dr. Jessica Moore Harjo (Otoe-Missouria, Osage, Pawnee, and Sac & Fox). interdisciplinary artist and graphic designer

Kevin Coochwytewa (Isleta Pueblo and Hopi), freelance graphic designer and creative director

Break 1 Music: A Turtle’s Honour Song [NDN Jazz] (song) Mwalim (artist)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

At a time when Canada is reflecting on the painful history of residential schools, Indigenous leaders are having to speak out against organized efforts to minimize the harms inflicted on generations of Indigenous children. Just days before Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, white nationalists gathered near the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. The incident drew condemnation from Prime Minister Mark Carney and First Nations leaders. After witnessing what they say is an increase in sophisticated misleading public messages, Canadian elected officials are considering legislation to ban residential school denialism. We’ll explore the trend to minimize and distort an era of forced assimilation of subsequent abuse of children and the challenges for addressing it.

GUESTS

Nikki Fraser (Secwépemc), Acting Kúkwpi7 of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc

Pamela Palmater (Mi’kmaq), lawyer, professor, author, speaker and podcaster

Eleanore Sunchild (Cree from Thunderchild First Nation), Indigenous human rights attorney and the owner of Sunchild Law

Break 1 Music: Healing Song (song) Red Hawk Medicine Drum (artist) New Beginnings (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

“The Blue Corn Kitchen” by Alana Yazzie (Diné) gives young reader’s a glimpse of the traditional corn-based Navajo foods many Navajo grandmothers have stocked in their kitchens. It’s the latest project from the self-made, Navajo lifestyle and food blogger who also goes by The Fancy Navajo.

Howdy Cakes is a new pastry and cake business by Diné culinarian, Liz McKenzie. It’s in partnership with a start-up mini food hall in Albuquerque.

And, on the National Day of Remembrance for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools, we’ll take a look at the negative effects the institutions had on Native foodways.

GUESTS

Liz McKenzie (Diné), culinarian and cake artist; owner of Howdy Cakes, owner of Prickly Foods, and partner for La Carinderia

Alana Yazzie (Diné), creator and owner of the lifestyle and food blog, The Fancy Navajo, and author of “The Blue Corn Kitchen”

A-dae Romero-Briones (Cochiti and Kiowa), senior vice president of research and strategy for First Nations Development Institute

Break 1 Music: Yacca Banana Song [Two-Step Dance Song] (song) Sweethearts of Navajoland (artist) From the Heart of Diné Nation Traditional Songs of the Navajo (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

Named a “legendary Lakota horseman” by the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota) has enjoyed a celebrated 68-year career as a jockey. After winning his debut race in 1957, Ecoffey went on to compete in more than 17,500 races, earning inductions into both the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Ecoffey, 88, has retired from professional racing, though he still helps one of his daughters with her barrel racing from time to time. Today, a new generation of young Native jockeys is taking up the mantle and finding success on the racetrack. Among them is Talliyah Timentwa (Colville Tribes), a two-time national Indian Relay champion who made her debut at Washington state’s Emerald Downs racecourse last year. We’ll speak with Native horse riders about cultivating the art of horsemanship across disciplines, from relay races and jockeying to the sport of dressage.

GUESTS

Fred Ecoffey (Oglala Lakota), retired jockey, elder, and “legendary Lakota horseman”

Talliyah Timentwa (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), amateur jockey and two-time Indian Relay champion

Kate Nelson (Tlingit), journalist and amateur dressage rider

Break 1 Music: My Horse (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)

Break 2 Music: Suquamish Drum Songs 2015 (song) Sacred Water Canoe Family (artist)

Aliet Paul learns traditional sacred birthing practices of her Mi’kmaq through her grandmother. But the outside world is changing and drives a wedge between her and her community. “The Birthing Tree” is the second novel from Amanda Peters (Mi’kmaq). It is a story of identity, overcoming tragedy, and redemption through one’s connections to family and culture.

“How Settlers Get Away with Murder” by Liza Black (Cherokee) focuses on the real-life death and disappearance of five Indigenous people to exemplify the larger culpability of Western systems in ongoing violence against Indigenous people that fuels today’s MMIP crisis.

Break 1 Music: Stranger (song) Ken Pomeroy (artist) Cruel Joke (album)

Break 2 Music: Four Corners (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

Some experts are warning about the risks of artificial intelligence advancing beyond human control in the foreseeable future. The major AI developers themselves are calling on government intervention to slow down the pace of AI progress. In the meantime, tribes are developing policies to head off potential AI misuse of cultural and private data. Much of the tribal policies revolve around intellectual property and privacy. We’ll talk about the actual potential for AI incursions and what can done to head it off.

GUESTS

Jason Edward Lewis (Native Hawaiian and Samoan), professor of computation arts and the university research chair in computational media and the Indigenous Future Imaginary at Concordia University

Zam DeShields (Chickasaw), digital consultant

Angelo Baca (Diné and Hopi), professor of history, philosophy, and social sciences at the Rhode Island School of Design

Daniel Wildcat (Yuchi), professor at Haskell Indian Nations University

Break 1 Music: The Center of the Universe (song) Clark Tenakhongva (artist) Su’Vu’Yo’Yungw (album)

Break 2 Music: Four Corners (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)

After centuries of having their stories told by outsiders, Indigenous people made considerable progress in having their voices represented in the media in recent decades. The 2012 book, “American Indians and the Mass Media,” co-edited by Meta Carstarphen, documented that growth in authentic Native voices. Now, a new book edited by Carstarphen and Cristina L. Azocar picks up where the original book left off. “Storytelling Sovereignty: Indigenous Peoples and the Media,” combines scholarly research and interviews with notable Native journalists and storytellers. It reviews the history of Native radio, television, news, and the arts and provides a first draft of the dramatic shifts in media just in the past ten years. We’ll hear from some of those featured in the book about how Native perspectives are making a difference.

GUESTS

Dr. Cristina Azocar (Upper Mattaponi), professor and chair of journalism at San Francisco State University

Mark Trahant (Shoshone Bannock), writer and former editor at ICT

Joseph Orozco (Hoopa Valley Tribe), part-time employed at KIDE, vice chairman of the Association of Affiliates for the Pacifica Radio Network, and member of Hoopa Tribal Educational Association

Break 1 Music: Water by Jim Pepper [Arranged by Jhoely Garay] (song) Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist) Live at Joe’s Pub, NYC on January 13th, 2024 (performance)

Break 2 Music: Four Corners (song) Little Axe Singers (artist) Traditional Voices: Historic Recordings of Traditional Native American Music (album)