Native Circles

Ah-in-nist, also known as Clifford, Sipes is Cheyenne with family ties in both Oklahoma and Montana. His father was the last authorized historian of the Cheyenne People, and a respected Chief and Pipe Carrier. His Mother is a citizen of the Caddo Nation. Ah-in-nist currently resides and works in Oklahoma. He writes and speaks publicly, working most recently on the "Calling Back the Spirits" initiative to "preserve by art and the written word what was previously learned only through the oral recounting of the story of Fort Marion by the descendants" of the warriors and Indigenous people imprisoned there. Ah-in-nist is one of the descendants who supports this work with his relatives. Dr. Farina King and Dr. Davina Two Bears talk with him, in this episode, about the path that led him to this "calling back home."

Learn more with these resources:

"Calling Back the Spirits," Cassville Democrat article written by Sheila Harris (December 28, 2023)

"A look at local sculptor Lew Aytes and the  Calling Back the Spirits Project," written by Adriana Keeton (November 29, 2023)

"The Native American warriors whose 'faces' are in museum storage: Robbed of their freedom on the Great Plains, imprisoned and used as models for plaster 'life masks' that forced them to breathe through tiny straws in their NOSTRILS," article written by Sheila Flynn (February 12, 2018)

Co-founders of the Native Circles podcast Sarah Newcomb and Farina King co-host this session introducing Dr. Melanie ("Mel") Fillmore (they/them/she/her) who is urban mixed Hunkpapa, Lakota of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota. Mel is an assistant professor of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma (OU). 

Their work is an iterative approach to understand the political engagement of Indigenous communities in policy and data. They envision a future of collaborative governance led by Indigenous ancestral wisdom and lived experiences. Melanie was the lead researcher on the 2020 HCR33 Report on Idaho’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP). Their 2024 dissertation, “Redefining Missing in the Third Space of Sovereignty,” considers how US federalism is fundamentally changed in collaborative structures and are created between tribes, states, and the federal institutions, particularly when tribes are leading collaborations on agreements or policy initiatives.  

Prior to joining OU, Mel has taught University Foundations and Anthropology courses at Boise State University on social change, political violence, Native American and Indigenous studies, and Indigenous Methodologies. They have worked as a data analyst for the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence to understand the impacts of domestic violence on Indigenous families across Idaho. In this episode, Mel emphasizes the importance of knowing and being "with her ancestors."

Resources:
Mel Fillmore professional OU webpage
HCR33 Report on Idaho's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP)
Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence 

Dr. Elizabeth (Liz) Ellis talks with co-hosts Davina Two Bears and Farina King about her journey, which led her to writing her first book The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South. She highlights aspects of the book and her research that trace the formation of Native Nations in the early Southeast and the ways that Indigenous migration and immigration practices shaped and limited the extent of European colonization. Liz is Peewaalia and a citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. She serves as her nation's historical liaison. She is an associate professor of history at Princeton University, who specializes in early American and Native American history. While her research focuses on the seventeenth and eighteenth-century South, Liz also writes about contemporary Indigenous issues and political movements. She is committed to organizing and fighting for Indigenous self-determination. She is currently working on a project on early Indigenous iconography and is part of a collaborative research initiative with the Miami and Peoria tribes that is focused on reclaiming historical stories and material culture.

Resources:

Book webpage for The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South (2022)
Elizabeth (Liz) Ellis official faculty webpage for the Department of History at Princeton
"Sitting down with Elizabeth Ellis, Native American History scholar" (October 9, 2022)
"Behind The Research: Elizabeth Ellis Illuminates Native American Histories," Princeton Alumni Weekly

Dr. Liz Ellis also collaborates on the Reclaiming Stories Project, the “Unsettled Refuge” working group on Indigenous histories of North American Sanctuary, and the “Indigenous Borderlands of North America” research project.

*Please note the following correction from Dr. Liz Ellis: At 7:35 of the episode, Dr. Ellis misspoke when she said that “so half of our nation is Miami, so we’re Peoria, Miami, Kaskaskia, and Wea.” She meant to rather say “Peoria, PIANKESHAW, Kaskaskia, and Wea.” Both the Wea and Piankeshaw are historically Miami, but she did not mean to use Miami when she said that.

Dr. Joshua Nelson, a Cherokee Nation citizen scholar, talks with Dr. Farina King about his experiences in Italy and work on a documentary tentatively titled, "Trail of the Thunderbirds." His documentary film project features two Native American Medal of Honor awardees, Ernest Childers and Jack Montgomery of the 45th Infantry Division, known as the "Thunderbirds," during World War II. President's Associates Presidential Professor Dr. Nelson is an associate professor of English and affiliated faculty with Film & Media Studies, Native American Studies, and Women's & Gender Studies at the University of Oklahoma, focusing on American Indian literature and film. He is the author of Progressive Traditions: Identity in Cherokee Literature and Culture, and a co-producer of the PBS documentary Searching for Sequoyah (directed by James Fortier and produced by LeAnne Howe). He is also one of the leading organizers of the Native Crossroads Film Festival and Symposium at OU. He and his wife divide their time between Norman and Park Hill, Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma.

Resources:

Dr. Joshua Nelson's OU webpage
Searching for Sequoyah website- https://searchingforsequoyah.com
Native Crossroads Film Festival- http://www.nativecrossroads.org
Demichelis's Iperstoria Interview with Dr. Nelson
Oklahoma National Guard Museum website- https://www.okngmuseum.com
OU in Arezzo

Dr. Kevin Maillard (who has a PhD and JD) shares key insights about his award-winning children's book Fry Bread with co-hosts Dr. Farina King and Dr. Davina Two Bears. Dr. Maillard is Professor of Law at Syracuse University, a contributor to the New York Times and an author of children’s literature. He has written for The Atlantic and has provided on-air commentary to ABC News and MSNBC. He is the debut author of Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, a picture book illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, which won the Sibert Medal and the American Indian Youth Literature Honor. An enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, he is based in Manhattan, New York.

Additional Resources:
Kevin Maillard's website
Dr. Maillard's university webpage
Fry Bread book website
American Indians in Children's Literature by Dr. Debbie Reese

In this episode co-hosted by Dr. Davina Two Bears, Eva Bighorse, and Dr. Farina King, Skylar ("Sky") Begay shares insights from his life and work with Conservation, Native representation in new spaces, the Great Bend of the Gila, Save History, Archaeology Southwest, LandBack, and the Conservation Corps (specifically ancestral lands conservation corps). Sky identifies as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and is also Mandan and Hidatsa. He grew up in the Navajo Nation and in Flagstaff, Arizona. He currently resides in Tucson, Arizona where he works as the Director of Tribal Collaboration in Outreach in Advocacy for Archaeology Southwest.

Additional Resources and Links:

-Skylar Begay biography webpage on Archaeology Southwest: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/team/skylar-begay/

- Main Respect Great Bend website: https://www.respectgreatbend.org/

 - The Respect Great Bend Story Map: https://story.respectgreatbend.org/

 - Respect Great Bend linktree: https://linktr.ee/GreatBendOfTheGila

 - Main Save History Website: https://savehistory.org/

 - cyberSW, online archaeological database: https://cybersw.org/

 - Another podcast with more detail on the Great Bend of the Gila: https://bit.ly/GreatBendGilapodcast

 - A recent segment on Phoenix Channel 12 news about the effort of the Great Bend of the Gila: https://bit.ly/PhoenixChannel12GBG

 - Arizona Conservation Corps: https://azcorps.org/

 - Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps: https://ancestrallands.org/

Dr. Davina Two Bears and Eva Bighorse talk with Dr. Farina King about her book, Diné dóó Gáamalii: Navajo Latter-day Experiences in the Twentieth Century that the University Press of Kansas published through the Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures (2023). Diné dóó Gáamalii, which means “Navajo and Mormon” in Diné bizaad (the Navajo language), traces Diné Latter-day Saint experiences in the Southwest Indian Mission, congregations, and church educational programs such as the Indian Student Placement Program, seminaries, and Brigham Young University American Indian services and studies. King shares insights from oral histories and the voices of Diné Latter-day Saints, the development of their communities, and how their affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affected their Diné identity between the 1950s and early 2000s. King's book addresses how Diné Latter-day Saints like her father engaged with a community that faced a flux of challenges and contradictions in the late twentieth century. Diné dóó Gáamalii communities persisted through tense interactions of different Diné, Indigenous, and Mormon peoples.

King is the Horizon Chair in Native American Ecology and Culture and Associate Professor of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma (OU), homelands of the Hasinais, or Caddo Nation, and Kirikirʔi:s, or Wichita & Affiliated Tribes. She currently serves as the Interim Department Chair of Native American Studies at OU. She is the author of various publications, including the books The Earth Memory Compass: Diné Landscapes and Education in the Twentieth Century and co-author of Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School.

Additional Resources and Links:

Diné dóó Gáamalii (University Press of Kansas online book order)
Farina King's professional website
"Diné Latter-day Saints" blog piece, Times and Seasons
"Who Are the Navajo Latter-day Saints?" From the Desk
King, “Diné dóó Gáamalii: Navajo Latter-day Saint Experiences in the Twentieth Century” (Reviewed by Greg Seppi), Dawning of a Brighter Day
Native BYU website
Native American Studies Department, University of Oklahoma

Oliviah Walker (she/her) highlights "healing-centered approaches" to public health based on her work with Indigenous communities in this conversation with co-hosts Eva Bighorse and Davina Two Bears. She also shares insights about impacts of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) on her and her family. Oliviah is a citizen of the Meskwaki Nation and a health and racial equity advocate. She most recently served as the Health Equity Officer for Iowa Health and Human Services and is starting a new role with the State of Minnesota. Oliviah’s experience includes roles in tribal, local, and state government. Her interests span the intersections of youth work, institutional change management, policy and advocacy, and workforce development, with a dedicated interest in Indigenous governance and capacity building. She serves on various advisory boards and committees including Meskwaki Inc., University of Iowa’s Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the State of Iowa’s Justice Advisory Board. She likes to spend free time reading, baking, and foraging.

Additional resources:

Profile of Missing Person: Rita Janelle Papakee
"Meskwaki citizen among Iowa’s missing Indigenous women" (2022)
RISE Resources 
Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Murdered or Missing Indigenous Persons Office for Victims of Crime State Resources 
Four Directions Summer Research Program (FDSRP)
Native Youth Workers Circle Facebook page
Fundamental Requirements for Healthy Youth Development

In this episode, Farina King and Eva Bighorse co-host a conversation with Derek Taira who is an associate professor of history and educational policy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He earned his Ph.D. in history and educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Coming from a long line of public-school teachers, Derek teaches and writes about the histories and politics of education in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. as well as multicultural education. His first book is forthcoming (scheduled to be published by June 2024), which is titled “Forward without Fear: Native Hawaiians and American Education in Territorial Hawaiʻi, 1900-1941,” stemming from the Native Hawaiian phrase of "Imua, Me Ka Hopo Ole." We talk with Derek about the significance of his research, which traces the social and cultural experiences of Kānaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiians, in American schools during the first half of the twentieth century. Derek illuminates how historical awareness helps people to understand the complex ways schools have been both contested sites of conflict and spaces of opportunity for marginalized communities such as Kānaka Maoli. He also considers differences and similarities of diverse Indigenous educational experiences in U.S. schooling systems of settler colonialism.

Some additional resources:

Indigenous Education Speakers' Series: Derek Taira with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Educational Policy Studies, "Littoral Hawai'i- Situating the American West in Oceania through Hawai'i's History of Education," YouTube video posted November 2, 2022.

Derek Taira, "Colonizing the Mind: Hawaiian History, Americanization, and Manual Training in Hawaiʻi’s Public Schools, 1913–1940," Teachers College Record 123, issue 8 (2021): 59-85. https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681211048625

Derek Taira short biography and description of research in "2019 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellows," National Academy of Education, https://naeducation.org/2019-naed-spencer-postdoctoral-fellows/.

"COE Faculty Member is Awarded $45K Grant by Spencer Foundation," April 13, 2018, https://coe.hawaii.edu/edef/news/coe-faculty-member-is-awarded-45k-grant-by-spencer-foundation/.

Pre-order Derek Taira's book Forward without Fear: Native Hawaiians and American Education in Territorial Hawai'i, 1900-1941 from the Studies in Pacific Worlds Series of the University of Nebraska Press (June 2024).

Dr. Veronica E. Velarde Tiller shares insights from her extensive work and experience, in this episode with co-hosts Dr. Farina King and Eva Bighorse, recognizing ways that Native Nations thrive. Tiller is a member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. She earned a Ph.D. in American History with a focus on Native American history at the University of New Mexico. She retired after over 40 years as the CEO of Tiller Research, Inc. in Albuquerque. Her life’s work in promoting Native American history from Native perspectives has reached a national and international audience through her teaching of Native histories in college, development of educational curriculum, publications, lectures (including at the United Nations), preservation of her Native language with the re-translation of the 1911 Jicarilla Apache Texts under a National Science Foundation grant, and consultation with private and governmental business sectors. She has consulted for films such as A Thousand Voices (2014) on Native Women in New Mexico. She is best known for The Jicarilla Apache Tribe: A History 1846-1970 (1983) and the award-winning Tiller’s Guide to Indian Country: Economic Profiles of American Indian Reservations (three editions), the authoritative reference guide to 567 modern-day Native Nations. In 2017, the City of Albuquerque honored Tiller on the Wall of Fame for Tiller’s Guide. Harvard University’s American Indian Economic Development Google MAP database uses the economic data that Tiller compiled.

Additional resources:

Veronica E. Tiller, “History, Indians, and Business: An Apache Story,” in "Career Paths," Perspectives on History 55, no. 6 (September, 2017): 47-48.
 
Vigil, Eden, Asst. Editor, “Interview with Veronica E. Velarde Tiller," in Southwest Talks: in the New Mexico Historical Review Interview Series, NMHR 95, no. 1 (Winter 2020):  95-102.

Special Edition of "Les Apaches. Geronimo le rebelle," Et apres, Veronica E. Tiller, “Moi Veronica E. Velarde Tiller, historienne apache” in Historia Grand Angle no. 65 (September-November 2022): 112-117 (magazine in Paris, France).

Natalie Rogers, "Saving a language, preserving a culture: New translations of Jicarilla Apache texts," UNM Newsroom, November 30, 2020.

Tiller's Guide to Indian Country: Economic Profiles of American Indian Reservations, Third Edition, edited by Veronica E. Velarde Tiller with preface by LaDonna Harris.

https://www.unmpress.com/author/veronica-e-velarde-tiller/