Confluence

In this episode we explore the concept of monuments with the help of three Indigenous women who live in the Pacific Northwest. Bobbie Conner is an enrolled member at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and director of Tamástslikt Cultural Institute; Deanna Dartt is Coastal Chumash and Mestiza--descending from the Indigenous peoples of California--and has worked as a curator...

In this episode, speakers discuss a recent documentary on Native American food sovereignty called “Gather.” Our conversation includes two of the people featured in the film: Nephi Craig, a chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation in Arizona, who opened an Indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic and Samuel Gensaw, the co-founder of Ancestral Guard, a group of environmental activists from...

As America re-examines its relationship with history, many of us are taking a new look at the people who have been held up as heroes of our past. Monuments are being replaced, including the statue of Marcus Whitman that is in the US Capitol, soon to be replaced by a statue of fishing rights activist Billy Frank Jr. Writer Sarah Vowell dives into this on the 2nd episode of Season 2 of Confluence Po...

America’s relationship with history is changing and, with it, our views of public monuments. In this episode, writer Sarah Vowell talks about how we express our stories and values in public places, and how to find joy in the darkness. Vowell is the New York Times’ bestselling author of seven nonfiction books on American history and culture in which she examines the connections between America's pa...

The Redheart Memorial Oral History by Confluence

Listen for a short update on the podcast, including information about our upcoming special episode and where we're appearing next.

Two family members, Emily Washines (Yakama)and Josiah Pinkham (Nez Perce), discuss finding resilience, comfort, and strength in times of challenge.

In this episode, the speakers discuss being a voice for the orcas, salmon, and the waterways they live in. Listen to the episode to learn from Washington State Representative Debra Lekanoff (Tlingit), Klickitat Tribal Elder Wilbur Slockish, and James Holt, (Nez Perce) the Executive Director of the Buffalo Field Campaign on how to care for these important members of our ecosystem.

How are orcas connected to salmon? In this episode Washington State Representative Debra Lekanoff (Tlingit), Klickitat Tribal Elder Wilbur Slockish, and James Holt, (Nez Perce) the Executive Director of the Buffalo Field Campaign discuss the orcas, salmon, and waterways that bring and grace to our region and how they require committed caretakers – now more than ever.

Answering the question, “Who Gets to be an American?” Elizabeth Woody, Chuck Sams and Patricia Whitefoot talk about how to help people become more American, through an Indigenous lens.

Answering the question, “Who Gets to be an American?” Elizabeth Woody, Chuck Sams, and Patricia Whitefoot talk about the complex nature of US citizenship, the sovereignty of tribal nations, the responsibility to the land, the kinship network to the non-human elements of the land, and the relationship to the world.

How can we maintain cultural traditions throughout the pandemic and draw on them for strength? Join Emily Washines (Yakama) and Chuck Sams (CTUIR) to hear first-hand stories of the different ways Tribes have responded. This podcast episode will go beyond statistics and headlines to consider the daily lives of Native people as they confront what, for them, is the most recent pandemic.

Indigenous communities in our region have been hit disproportionately hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Join Emily Washines (Yakama) and Chuck Sams (CTUIR) to hear first-hand stories of the different ways Tribes have responded. This conversation will go beyond statistics and headlines to consider the daily lives of Native people as they confront what, for them, the most recent pandemic. Emily Washine...

In this episode of the Confluence Podcast, Robin Wall Kimmerer speaks to Confluence about unlearning the settler view of land and listening to the land.

In this episode of the Confluence Podcast, Robin Wall Kimmerer asks the audience to consider what the earth asks of us and how we can do right by the land. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants, which has earne...

Parallel Lives - Part 2 by Confluence

Parallel Lives - Part 1 by Confluence

Indigenous Voices of the Columbia River: Vancouver Story Gathering part 2 by Confluence

Indigenous Voices of the Columbia River: Vancouver Story Gathering by Confluence

"I know I'm from this place. I know what other folks call wild, I call home. Because nothing in our homelands is wild to us, it's not unknown." Roberta Kirk, Chuck Sams, and Patricia Whitefoot discuss the importance of the river and interconnectedness.

Paul Lumley, the Executive Director of NAYA PDX, talks about how treaties are a source of power for tribes, the importance of tribes being in charge of their own science, and the resilence and passion tribes have to maintain their traditions.

“We’ve come back with strength and the power of deprivation and desperation and that’s what a non-treaty tribe encounters.” Tanna Engdahl, the spiritual leader of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, talks about Cowlitz federal recognition, the experience of non-treaty tribes, the impact of the disease on the Cowlitz and the spiritual power of sacred sites and ancestors.

In this episode, anthropologist and Grand Ronde historian David Lewis discusses the loss of land, tribe-settler interactions, the historical context of Grand Ronde’s treaty negotiation, and protecting rights that weren’t guaranteed in treaties.

Tule Films founder Woodrow Hunt talks about his work with Confluence, termination and resilience, and how his own family history relates to the work he does.

In this Confluence Podcast, Carol Craig, a Yakama educator and journalist, relates her experiences during the historic 1999 Makah whale hunt, of working with the Yakama Fish Commission, and the peoples’ grief over the loss of Celilo.