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The increase in unprecedented damage from wildfires knows no boundaries and International Indigenous fire management experts see global participation as a solution. At the heart of their work is recognition that climate change is a major contributing factor.  They’re bringing traditional fire knowledge to a new generation who are inheriting some of the worst conditions for destructive wildfires in history. We’ll talk with some of those gathered for this year’s Indigenous Peoples Burning Workshop, in this encore episode of Native America Calling (no calls, please).

GUESTS

Charity Battise (Alabama Coushatta), student at the University of Oklahoma  

Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok), Indigenous fire practitioner

Victor Steffensen (Tagalaka descendent), lead fire practitioner of the Firesticks Indigenous Alliance

Break 1 Music: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (song) PIQSIQ (artist)

Break 2 Music: 12 Days of Christmas (song) Carol Adams (artist) Heartbeat of the Holiday Season (album)

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What music from 2023 is on repeat in your Native playlist? We’ll get recommendations from Native artists and others with their ears to the ground about this year’s new releases from veteran artists and up-and-comers, spanning genres, tribes, and styles.

GUESTS

DEF-I (Diné), hip-hop artist and MC

Larry K (Ho-Chunk), producer of Indigenous in Music

Robert Ortiz (Taos Pueblo), DJ of REZ-olution Radio Hour on KSUT Tribal Radio

Break 1 Music: Solstice Echo (song) PIQSIQ (artist)

Break 2 Music: Parallel (song) Red-209 (artist)

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The aurora borealis is more than just a dazzling natural light show for those lucky enough to see it. The northern lights are also a cultural touchstone handed down over millennia. Some tribes understand the Northern Lights as a message from the ancestors. At the same time Native astrophysicists are working to view the phenomenon with both modern scientific and traditional knowledge.

GUESTS

Sharon Shorty (Tlingit and Northern Tutchone), storyteller, comedian, and performer

Gabe Tegoseak (Inupiaq)

Dana Nez (Diné), cultural consultant

Break 1 Music: Northern Lights Are Dancing (song) Lisa Muswagon (artist) Buffalo and Rabbits (album)

Break 2 Music: Winter’s Breath (song) Louie Gonnie (artist) Elements (album)

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The Dadiwonsi Adult Language Program in North Carolina just welcomed its first graduates in the Cherokee Language. The program is part of an extensive network to develop new fluent Cherokee speakers on and around the Qualla Boundary. And a translation effort hopes to connect modern Cherokees with past culture keepers, Inoli and Will West Long.

GUESTS

Tom Belt (Cherokee Nation), retired WCU Cherokee Language Program Coordinator

Cailon Garland (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), recent graduate of the Snowbird Adult Immersion Cherokee Language Program 

Cassidy Galaviz (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), language specialist and teacher of the Cherokee language

Break 1 Music: Unadetiyisgv’i [Happy Xmas War is Over by John Lennon] (song) Tsalagi Uweti Dininogisgi [Cherokee Language Repertory Choir] (artist)

Break 2 Music: Winter’s Breath (song) Louie Gonnie (artist) Elements (album)

 

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This year we said goodbye to Reservation Dogs, but welcomed a trailblazing new Native character in the Marvel franchise. A talented actress brought a tragic tale of greed and murder on the Osage Nation to the big screen and a poignant coming of age story set on the Navajo Nation is a streaming darling. We’ll recall the highlights of the Native stories that connected with audiences in 2023.

GUESTS

Jason Asenap (Comanche and Muscogee), writer, critic, and filmmaker

Everett Osceola (Seminole Tribe of Florida), cultural ambassador and film liaison for the Seminole Tribe of Florida and president/co-founder of the Native Reel Cinema Festival

Nicholas DeShaw (Bois Forte Ojibwe), writer for A Tribe Called Geek and children’s book author

James Simermeyer (Coharie), co-founder of the Native Comic Book Society

Break 1 Music: Boogie Boy (song) Mato Wayuhi (artist)

Break 2 Music: Winter’s Breath (song) Louie Gonnie (artist) Elements (album)

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Indigenous leaders from around the world are assessing the results – and lack thereof – from the annual international conference to determine the direction of environmental policy. Climate activists are severely criticizing the key document that emerged from the meeting hosted by one of the world’s biggest oil producers for ignoring future petroleum phase-outs to fight climate change. We’ll take on the 28th Annual Conference of Parties from an Indigenous perspective.

GUESTS

Ozawa Bineshi Albert (Anishinaabe and Yuchi), co-executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance

Tom Goldtooth (Diné and Mdewakanton Dakota), executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network

Janene Yazzie (Diné), Southwest regional director at NDN Collective

Break 1 Music: The Four Essential Elements (Diigo Bee’iináanii) (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album)

Break 2 Music: Climb the Mountain [feat. Alison Jenkins] (song) Russell Wallace (artist) Russell Wallace (album)

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The Biden Administration just announced more than $4.3 million in federal money for a handful of tribes to bolster meat processing. Officials say the Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are designed to improve connections to traditional food sources. It’s part of a larger $68 million federal appropriation just announced that includes cooperative land management to improve wildlife habitat and fire protection. We’ll find out how tribes will utilize money to improve food sovereignty.

GUESTS

Heather Thompson (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), director of the Office of Tribal Relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Cynthia Berns (enrolled member of the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor), project manager for the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor

Harleigh Moore-Wilson (Osage), Osage Nation Director of Natural Resources and Food Sovereignty

Dr. Lauren Divine, director of Ecosystem Conservation Office for the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island

Break 1 Music: La Grande Gigue Simple/ Red River Jig/ Big John McNeil (song) Métis Fiddler Quartet (artist) North West Voyage Nord Ouest (album)

Break 2 Music: Climb the Mountain [feat. Alison Jenkins] (song) Russell Wallace (artist) Russell Wallace (album)