Native Circles

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 DeskKing, “Diné dóó Gáamalii: Navajo Latter-day Saint Experiences in the Twentieth Century” (Reviewed by Greg Seppi), Dawning of a Brighter DayNative BYU websiteNative 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 ViolenceMurdered or Missing Indigenous Persons Office for Victims of Crime State Resources Four Directions Summer Research Program (FDSRP)Native Youth Workers Circle Facebook pageFundamental 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/10.1177/01614681211048625Derek 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/

We talk with playwright and attorney, Mary Kathryn Nagle, about what led her to the New York premiere of her play, Manahatta, at the Public Theater, which starts showing on November 16, 2023. Nagle, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, shares insights from her work on the play beginning with her time in the Public Theater Emerging Writers Program in 2013. Nagle's play, Manahatta, follows the story of Jane Snake, a Lenape woman who reconnects with her ancestral homeland, Manahatta, after she comes to New York to pursue a career in finances at the brink of the Great Recession hitting in 2008. Nagle emphasizes the significance of understanding Jane's journey as well as those of the Delaware Nation and their ancestors who survived violence and expulsion, which Manahatta illuminates. As we learn about Manahatta, we come to better understand how and why recognizing Indigenous peoples and their connections to their homeland matter.Learn more about Mary Kathryn Nagle and Manahatta through these resources:Mary Kathryn Nagle BioMary Kathryn Nagle, National Indigenous Women's Resource CenterMary Kathryn Nagle, Humans and Nature Bio"Mary Kathryn Nagle changes the story in court and onstage," The New Yorker (April 2021) Manahatta Press ReleasesOrder tickets to Manahatta showings at the Public Theater, Anspacher Theater, November 16 - December 23, 2023

Listen to our conversation with author Lorinda Martinez, getting to know her and her new book Running with Changing Woman (2023) that she wrote especially for young adults. Lorinda works with youth as an educator, and Running with Changing Woman is her first novel that tells the coming-of-age story of a Diné young woman named Samantha who prepares for the Diné womanhood ceremony, Kinaaldá. We discuss the significance of Diné girls and women and Lorinda's contributions to Native American children and youth literature, which is a gift for all readers. Lorinda is Lók’aa’ Dine’é (the Reed People Clan) born for Táchii’nii (Red Running into the Water Clan). The Tábąąhí (Water’s Edge Clan) are her maternal grandfathers and the Tódích’íí’nii (Bitter Water Clan) are her paternal grandfathers. She lives in the four corners area with her husband, son, and dogs. She was raised in the Navajo Nation areas of Pueblo Pintado, New Mexico and Shonto, Arizona. She attended Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico where she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Education. Learn more about Lorinda and her new book through the following links:Author Lorinda Martinez19 July 2023 Running with Changing Woman Reading (YouTube recording) with author Lorinda MartinezAlexandra Wittenberg, “'Running with Changing Woman' explores kinaaldá and the important role of young Navajo women," Navajo-Hopi Observer, October 3, 2023.You can order Running with Changing Woman through Salina Bookshelf, Inc.: https://salinabookshelf.com/product/runningwithchangingwomanhardcover/

In this episode, we welcome our new co-hosts Eva Bighorse and Dr. Davina Two Bears, who are joining Dr. Farina King. We feature Eva (she/her) who is a 2023 Equity Changemaker with the Center for Health Care Strategies, as she advocates for Native American rights and access to healthcare. Eva is an Indigenous human development advocate with expertise in tribal healthcare relations. She has experience in strategic collaboration; working in multidisciplinary teams specializing in health care delivery and multi-stakeholder engagement; and serving children, youth, and adults living with disabilities in urban and rural areas, both on and off tribal land. She is committed to justice and motivated to advance access to health care and traditional life ways for Indigenous people everywhere, helping members of society live healthier, longer lives. Eva is a citizen of the Cayuga Nation born for the Navajo Nation.Resources and references:Equity Changemakers InstituteAmerican Indian Disability SummitNative American Cancer PreventionArizona American Indian Integrated Care Forum"Native hoop dance coaches preserve history, tradition with new generation" by Lauren KobleyNational Indian Health Board's Help & Healing Podcast: https://www.nihb.org/tribalhealthreform/hope-healing-podcast/ Black Feathers Podcast Disability Conversations for All: https://kucdd.ku.edu/black-feathersState of AZ Division of Developmental Disabilities Eligibility Determination: https://des.az.gov/services/disabilities/developmental-disabilities/determine-eligibility Indian Health Services Basics for health service:  https://www.ihs.gov/newsroom/factsheets/basisforhealthservices/

Dr. Liza Black shares her insights about how depictions of Native Americans in media, such as film and television, affect Indigenous peoples and communities. She underscores the impacts of misrepresentations and lack of understanding Native Americans by drawing connections between her first book Picturing Indians: Native Americans in Film, 1941-1960 (2020) and her manuscript in-progress "How to Get Away with Murder," which is a transnational history of missing and murdered Indigenous women.Dr. Black is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and an Associate Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies and history at Indiana University. She examines the motivations of territory and the intersections of representation and violence. Dr. Black developed a lifelong interest in studying Native identity and struggle and in advocating for protecting Native people from violence and exploitation. In "Native TV in 2021: Putting the I in BIPOC," Dr. Black was featured in Perspectives on History discussing the recent surge of Native-centered television representation in Rutherford Falls and Reservation Dogs. Her work has appeared in more than 20 academic and non-academic outlets.Suggested References:Killers of the Flower Moonhttps://osagenews.org/review-killers-of-the-flower-moon-and-the-strength-of-indigenous-women/https://osagenews.org/martin-scorsese-i-take-this-film-as-an-offering-to-the-osage-people-and-from-our-hearts/Here is the "warrior cry" from William Billeau who is Osage at the Cannes Film Festival screening: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8d1kFBm/Dr. Liza Black's Author Site: https://blackli0.wixsite.com/picturingindians/past-media

This episode features a conversation between Dr. Farina King and Sarah Newcomb about their first two years with the Native Circles Podcast, coming changes, and looking towards the future. Learn more about the podcast at https://nativecirclespodcast.com/. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram (@nativecircles).

Two Japanese professors, Dr. Kumiko Noguchi and Dr. Yuka Mizutani, share insights from their experiences and work with Native American and Indigenous communities, which underscore the significance of Native American Studies in Japan and throughout the world. Noguchi is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Meiji Gakuin University. She received her Ph.D. in Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis under the Fulbright Graduate Studies Scholarship Program. Her research interests include Native American Critical Theory, California Indian history, Tribal Sovereignty, Community Development, and Indigenous Movement.  Mizutani is a professor at the Center for Global Education and Discovery, and the Graduate Program of International Cooperation Studies, at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. She holds a Ph.D. in Area Studies from Sophia University. As a doctoral student with the JSPS fellowship, she worked on her research at the Department of Ethnic Studies of the University of California, Berkeley. Mizutani was also a Fulbright visiting scholar at the Department of American Studies of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her current research interests include Indigenous people's experiences at geographical margins of the U.S. territory, the representation of Indigenous perspectives in museums and public spaces, and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and research institutions.  Recommended Sources:Publications of Kumiko Noguchi, including Indian and Gaming: American Light and Shadow (Tokyo: Chikuma Publication, 2019); A California Indian History the 'Invisibles' to a Federally Recognized Tribes (Tokyo: Sairyusha Publication, 2015); and “Keeping the Indian Tribal Community Together: Nation Building and Cultural Sovereignty in the Indian Casino Era,” The Japanese Journal of American Studies, no. 31 (2020), 133-156. Esther Avila, "Researching the Tule River Tribe," The Porterville Recorder, November 10, 2011.Rick Elkins, "Tule Tribe history in Japanese," The Porterville Recorder, September 16, 2015.Yuka Mizutani's award-winning book (selected for the Award for Budding Scholar of the Japan Consortium for Area Studies), Integration of the Pascua Yaqui into the United States: Border Crossing and the Federal Recognition (Hokkaido University Press, 2012). Also see Mizutani, "Promotion of Gastronomic Traditions in the Sonoran Desert and Changes in the Representation of the US-Mexico Borderlands," The Japanese Journal of American Studies, no. 33 (2022). Mizutani's recent interviews in English for ʻŌlelo Community Media in Hawaiʻi: http://olelo.granicus.com/player/clip/85731https://olelo.granicus.com/player/clip/85723Shozo Ssaito (斎藤省三), アメリカ先住民 アリゾナ・フェニックス・インディアン学校 (世界人権問題叢書) | Jr.トレナート ロバート.A., Trennert,Robert A.,Jr., 省三, 斎藤 |本 | 通販 | Amazon 

This episode features Dr. Elizabeth Rule and her work with Indigenous DC and guides to Native Lands. She discusses the myth of invisibility surrounding Native American contributions to the history of Washington DC and how it can and should be addressed. Washington, DC, is Native land, but Indigenous peoples are often left out of the national narrative. To redress this myth of invisibility, Dr. Rule's book Indigenous DC highlights the Indigenous people and sites that have been important to the history of Washington, DC and the United States more broadly. Inspired by American University professor Elizabeth Rule’s award-winning public history mobile app and decolonizing mapping project, Guide to Indigenous DC, her book is a valuable resource that traces the centrality of Native peoples to the history of the United States.For more information about Dr. Rule's work and the app, please see articles from the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and WAMU. Dr. Rule has been interviewed on Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, Code Switch, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, and more. Details about her book, Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation's Capital (Georgetown University Press, 2023), can be found at https://press.georgetown.edu/Book/Indigenous-DC. Also, check out the Guide to Indigenous Lands: A Digital Mapping Project and Elizabeth Rule's website for more resources and information.

Sasha Maria Suarez shares her thoughts and research with us about expanding what Native activism looks like. Suarez is a direct descendant of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe and is the second generation from her family to be born and raised as an urban Ojibwe in Minneapolis. She is an assistant professor of history and American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work focuses on Ojibwe gender history, Indigenous social movements, and urban Indigenous history. She is currently working on her first book tentatively titled, "Making a Home in the City: White Earth Ojibwe Women and Community Organizing in Twentieth Century Minneapolis."Recommended Sources:Sasha Maria Suarez, “Indigenizing Minneapolis: Building American Indian Community Infrastructure in the Mid-Twentieth Century,” in Indian Cities: Histories of Indigenous Urbanism, eds. Kent Blansett, Cathleen D. Cahill, and Andrew Needham (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2022).Heartland History podcast episode (of the Midwestern History Association) featuring Dr. Sasha Maria Suarez (2022).Sasha Maria Suarez, "At The Falls: An Urban Ojibwe Story Of Minneapolis Placemaking," The Metropole (the official blog of the Urban History Association), May 2022."Indigenous Activism: Past & Present," Presented by UW-Madison American Indian Studies Faculty including Matt Villeneuve, Jen Rose Smith, Sasha Maria Suarez, and Kasey Keeler (2022).

Listen to a conversation with Meredith McCoy and Matthew Villeneuve about historical and current strategies that Indigenous people used to repurpose the educational systems for Indigenous well-being. In this episode, we are also joined by a student audience Q&A. Meredith McCoy is an Assistant Professor of American Studies and History at Carleton College. She is of Turtle Mountain Ojibwe descent, and her father, David McCoy, is an enrolled Turtle Mountain citizen. Meredith's research examines how Indigenous families, educators, and community leaders have long repurposed tools of settler colonial educational violence into tools for Indigenous life. Her first book, a history of Indigenous strategizing in federal education funding and policy, is currently under contract with the University of Nebraska Press. Matt Villeneuve (Turtle Mountain Chippewa descent) is Assistant Professor of U.S. History and American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he teaches courses in American Indian History, Native education, and environmental history. His research focuses on Native histories of education and schooling. His current book project, "Instrumental Indians: John Dewey and the Problem of the Frontier, 1884-1959," is an intellectual history of America’s most prominent philosopher of education and democracy and his relationship to the anti-democratic nature of federal Indian schooling.Recommended Sources:Meredith L. McCoy and Matthew Villeneuve, "Reconceiving Schooling: Centering Indigenous Experimentation in Indian Education History," History of Education Quarterly 60, no. 4 (November 2020): 487-519."Publications and Digital Projects," Dr. Meredith McCoy website, https://meredithmccoy.com/publications/."Publications," Matt Villeneuve website, https://mattvilleneuvephd.com/publications/.Meredith McCoy's conversation with Roy Taylor on KFAI's IndigeneityRisingMcCoy's Op-Ed in The Hechinger Report

This episode features the series editors, Farina King, Kiara Vigil, and Tai Edwards, of a new university press series related to Native American Studies. The University Press of Kansas is launching The Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures, which King, Vigil, and Edwards highlight. This is one of the first press series named after a Native American woman.Lyda Conley’s life and experiences are inspirational as one of the first Native American women known to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which she did in defense of her Indigenous ancestors and people. Her case was also one of the first in which “a plaintiff argued that the burying grounds of Native Americans were entitled to federal protection.” One of Farina King’s students, Sarah (Wood) Fite James, brought Lyda Conley to Farina’s attention in her class research project, which the Museum of Native American History features on its website.Please contact UPK senior editor David Congdon if you have any questions about the series and want to submit a proposal: dcongdon@ku.edu.Links:Press release posted on October 6, 2022 A video presentation about Lyda Conley by Sarah (Wood) Fite JamesBio of Tai EdwardsKansas Studies Institute webpage: https://www.jccc.edu/about/leadership-governance/faculty/scholarly-research/kansas-studies-institute/UPK Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures webpage: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/search-grid/?series=lyda-conley-series-on-trailblazing-indigenous-futuresVideo Recording of the 29 March 2022 conversation with Sarah Deer, Kiara Vigil, Farina King, and Tai Edwards about the Kansas Open Books with Open Access Publishing and the Future of Native and Indigenous Studies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6X5bgFqD9A4 April 2022 article of "The Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe/Sacred Red Rock Project Receives Mellon Monuments Grant": https://www.robinsonpark1929.com/

Ryan Lee highlights his current work with the American Indian Programs and Services (AIPS) and the American Indian Student Association (AISA) at the University of Oklahoma (OU) as well as his excitement for contributing to the available events and his hopes for future growth. Ryan also shares his early journey of growing up both in and beyond the Navajo Nation, including his experiences at Diné College and what led him to the path he is on. Ryan serves as the Coordinator for AIPS at OU. In this role, he serves as the primary advisor for AISA. Ryan is a citizen of the Navajo Nation. He is a graduate of Diné College, the first tribally controlled and accredited collegiate institution in the United States, where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration.Resources:American Indian Student Association at the University of Oklahoma OU American Indian Programs and Services 

Crystal Lepscier talks about how the history of education and racism tied to historically government sanctioned assimilation and similar genocidal practices ties into our traumas and experiences within the institution that is 'school.' This is profound when we think about Racial Battle Fatigue. This term explains the physiological and psychological harm that is a result of long term microaggressions, racism, and intergenerational trauma. This term carries a weight that, when confronted, has the potential to also help us open the doors to understanding and healing, which sets us on a better path to our human selves. Lepscier is an enrolled citizen of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe and a first line descendant of Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee communities. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art and a Master of Science in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She currently works at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay (UWGB) as the First Nations Student Success Coordinator, supporting all Indigenous students at the institution. Lepscier recently completed her Ed.D. in the First Nations Education Doctorate (FNED) program at UWGB, where she focused her dissertation work on combating Racial Battle Fatigue in the Indigenous student population in higher education.Learn more about the First Nations Education Ed.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.See also Dan Ninham, “‘Learning is a Lifelong Journey’: Four Indigenous Educators in Wisconsin are the first in the nation with a new doctorate in First Nations Education,” Indian Country Today, July 12, 2022.Frank Vaisvilas, “The first doctors of Indigenous education have graduated from UW-Green Bay. Here’s what they plan to do next,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, May 24, 2022.

Ernestine Berry shares parts of her journey seeking the history of her people, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, and on becoming the founding Director of the UKB John Hair Cultural Center and Museum (JHCCM). Ernestine was pivotal in the establishment of the JHCCM in 2011, which is dedicated to sharing Keetoowah culture and history with the Keetoowah community and the public. She earned a master’s degree in education administration from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and a master’s degree in museum studies from the University of Oklahoma. Berry focuses on researching and sharing tribal history and culture, growing the tribal archives, and helping revitalize the Keetoowah language. On this episode we are also joined by guest co-host, Evelyn Castro Cox. Evelyn is CHamoru (also known as Chamorro), born on the beautiful island of Guåhan (Guam – island territory of the United States) and now lives in Oklahoma.  You can learn more about her at NativeCirclesPodcast.com. Additional Resources:John Hair Cultural Center and Museum - https://www.ukb-nsn.gov/john-hair-cultural-center-museumNative Nations Center at University of Oklahoma - https://www.ou.edu/nativenationscenterTHPO with Sheila Bird (Podcast) - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1922460

Teagan Dreyer shares with us her personal experiences and research of Native identity and self-determination within reclaimed boarding schools. Teagan is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in her second year of the History PhD program at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She studies the experiences of Native American students in federal and tribally-run boarding schools post-World War II. In her research Teagan has focused on the experiences of students in Oklahoma but is also concerned with schools around the country. This research has led Teagan to study the implications of changing federal policies on boarding schools and tribal self-determination through education. Additional Resources:Chilocco Indian School History Project through Oklahoma State University - https://chilocco.library.okstate.edu/historyGraphic novel on Chilocco Indian School - https://chilocco.library.okstate.edu/graphic-novelChilocco Indian School Documentary - https://chilocco.library.okstate.edu/documentaryNational Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition - https://boardingschoolhealing.org/Carlisle Indian School Project - https://carlisleindianschoolproject.com/Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School co-authored by Farina King, Michael P. Taylor, and James R. Swensen - https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/returning-home

Dr. Michael Kaulana Ing shares with us Kanaka/Hawaiian philosophy as well as what it means to be Kanaka/Hawaiian living away from Hawai'i. He also shares his experiences and knowledge with Philosophy and Religious studies and the need for Indigenous thinking in Philosophy Departments.Michael Kaulana Ing was raised by the ʻāina (land) of Mānoa on the island of Oʻahu. He currently resides on the land of the Miami, Delaware, Potawatomi, and Shawnee where he is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University. He completed his PhD in 2011 at Harvard University, where he studied Chinese thought. More recently, he has been working on ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian thought) and bringing it into conversation with other philosophical traditions.Resources:Information about Dr. Michael Ing and his publications can be found on his faculty page at Indiana University here:  https://religiousstudies.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ing-michael.html.Dr. Michael Ing's article, "Ka Hulikanaka a me Ka Hoʻokūʻonoʻono: Davida Malo and Richard Armstrong on Being Human and Living Well" can be found in the Journal of World Philosophies here: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp/article/view/5473.To learn more about Kanaka/Hawaiian culture, language and stories please visit https://ulukau.org/.