Past Shows Archives » Native America Calling

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)

Modern traditional practitioners are the culmination of generations of people who acquired and passed on their skills, knowledge, and technology. That knowledge includes innovative ways to find water in arid places, stay warm in cold climates, navigate surroundings without a compass or a map, and to use the land in a way that doesn’t deplete it. A new documentary on the PBS science series “NOVA” talks to some of the Indigenous people who are the receivers of that knowledge and how they’re instilling it in the next generations. “Knowledge Keepers“, produced by Vision Maker Media, shows the innovations that come with knowledge accumulated over millennia, and how that can guide the future for everyone. We’ll talk with the filmmakers and producers ahead of the episode’s premiere on PBS.

GUESTS

Daniel Golding (Fort Yuma Quechan), writer, producer, and director of “Knowledge Keepers” and founder and owner of Hokan Media, LLC

Francene Blythe-Lewis (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, Diné, Eastern Band Cherokee), CEO and President of Vision Maker Media

Roberto Nutlouis (Diné), executive director of Nihikeya

Pete Sands (Diné), writer and director of “Navajo Highways”

Break 1 Music: My Cheii’s Wisdom (song) Talibah (artist) Navajo Songs For Children (album)

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

Alaska tribes just took over ownership from the federal government of the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, making way for growth that officials have been advocating for years. The new owners, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, were among the first Native organizations to assume health care sovereignty in 1998, but officials say underinvestment in the facility by the federal Indian Health Service was blocking much-needed expansion of both services and capacity. Although it’s in Anchorage, the center serves as a hub of health care for Alaska Native patients from all across the state, counting almost 172,000 specialty cases and 56,000 emergency room visits a year. Under the new arrangement, the SouthCentral Foundation will oversee primary care. We’ll talk about the legacy and new future prospects for healthcare sovereignty in Alaska.

GUESTS

Natasha Singh (member of Stevens Village), Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium president and CEO

Kimberley Strong (Tlingit), SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium chair and ANTHC board chair

Toni Raye Bergan (Iñupiaq), chair of Native Village of Kotzebue Tribal Council and ANTHC board member

Wilson Justin (Ahtna Athabascan), elder and longtime advocate of self-determination

Break 1 Music: Sunrise Song (song) Khu.éex’ (artist) They Forgot They Survived (album)

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

Musician Kole Galbraith (Peoria Tribe) has spent nearly a decade perfecting his unique blend of electronic and acoustic instrumentation and field recordings to create his signature drone-doom sound. Galbraith’s musical roots are grounded in metal, noise, free jazz, and musique concrète. He is earning praises from audiences from the Pacific Northwest to Eastern Europe for his honed sound that finds the beauty in dark and abrasive tones.

Composer and violinist Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) calls her approach to music “sculpting sound.” She often composes for visual art exhibitions and multimedia performances. Like Galbraith, Ortman blends field recordings with her own masterful violin playing, which Vogue has described as “transcendent” and “eccentric.” Her music has taken her to stages throughout Europe and led to collaborations with acclaimed Diné ballet dancer Jock Soto, Diné Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Raven Chacon, and many others. She joins us to talk about her live performances, honoring her Apache heritage, and her unique approach to composing.

Break 1 Music: Live from Skaņu Mežs, Latvia [EXCERPT] (song) Laura Ortman (artist) Live from Skaņu Mežs, Latvia (album)

Break 2 Music: Everywhere On Earth I Roam (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)

Julian Lang is an elder, artist, and dedicated language teacher. He has spent decades talking with elders and poring over documents — including deciphering cryptic field notes from an anthropological linguist a century ago — to help rebuild the structure of his Karuk language. Now, a master-apprenticeship program he helped found is being recognized by linguists as a successful example of language revitalization. Similarly, Jesse Little Doe Baird, a Mashpee Wampanoag language advocate, dedicated years to building a language program that is earning praise for its effectiveness. Her work included analyzing a 1663 Bible in the Wampanoag language. We’ll hear from them and others about building these programs from the ground up.

GUESTS

Julian Lange (Karuk, Wiyot, and Shasta), language teacher and artist

Sandra Hernandez (Tejon Indian Tribe/Kitanemuk) Language and Culture Coordinator for Kern County, Calif.; language learner.

Jessie Little Doe Baird (Mashpee Wampanoag), co-founder of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project

Break 1 Music: Generations (song) P. Town Boyz (artist) P. Town Boyz (album)

Break 2 Music: Everywhere On Earth I Roam (song) Courtney Yellow Fat (artist) The Lost Songs of Sitting Bull (album)