First Voices Radio

In this episode of “First Voices Radio,” Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse welcomes back Adele Vrana and Anasuya Sengupta, Co-Directors and Co-Founders of Whose Knowledge? for the second in a series of ongoing conversations exploring “Collective Consciousness Perspectives.” Adele Vrana has led business development and partnerships initiatives to help build a more plural and diverse communities in her nativ...

In the first segment, Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse welcomes Karli Moore. Karlie, who is Lumbee, grew up on a family farm in southeastern North Carolina. She currently serves as an associate program officer at the Native American Agriculture Fund in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Karlie has experience with family farm operations, youth-led food sovereignty initiatives, corporate agribusiness, international ag...

In the first segment, Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse welcomes back a friend, Ukumbwa Sauti is an initiated Elder in the Dagara tradition from Burkina Faso in West Africa. He is a diviner, numerologist, and spiritual counselor. Ukumbwa is a Producer and Partner at Moja Mediaworks, developing the World Ancestor Concert, and facilitating Social Justice workshop experiences along with forwarding progressive...

In the first segment, Leya Hale is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Diné Nations. She makes her home in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her companion and three children. Leya works as a Producer for Twin Cities PBS. She is best known for her first feature documentary, “The People’s Protectors,” a Vision Maker Media grant production and winner of the 2019 Upper Midwest Emmy Award for Best Cultural...

Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse talks with Bryan Nurnberger, President and Founder of Simply Smiles, an organization that builds villages of foster homes for indigenous children. The Simply Smiles model of foster care is a new and progressive one that provides a desperately needed, scalable and culturally appropriate response for Native children in Oaxaca, Mexico and on the Cheyenne River Lakota Reservat...

In the first segment, Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse welcomes Max Wilbert. Max is a writer, organizer and wilderness guide. A third-generation dissident, Max grew up on Duwamish land in post–WTO Seattle. Max is the author of two books, most recently “Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It” (Monkfish, 2021. Max’s essays have been published in Earth Isla...

In the first segment, Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse welcomes Adele Vrana and Anasuya Sengupta, Co-Directors and Co-Founders of Whose Knowledge? Adele Vrana has led business development and partnerships initiatives to help build a more plural and diverse communities in her native country of Brazil and globally. She is the former Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Wikimedia Foundation and a 2015 E...

On this week’s episode, “First Voices Radio” digs deep into its 28-year-old Archive and brings listeners other interpretations and observations surrounding the American holiday known as “Thanksgiving.” Part 1: This interview was first aired in 2005. Robert Jensen is an emeritus professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Austin and a founding board member of the Third Coast Activist...

Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa is one of the most important Indigenous leaders in Chile. The son of a prominent Rapa Nui politician, he lived in the United States for many years. Since 1990 Mayor Paoa has been a key figure in the life of the Island. His government program was called Plan Amor and given its coincidences with the 20/30 agenda of the United Nations, it was chosen as a mirror territory by t...

Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse welcomes Max Nesterak, reporter and producer of "Uprooted: The 1950s Plan to Erase Indian Country" (Nov. 1, 2019, Minnesota Public Radio and APM Reports). Max is a reporter for Minnesota Reformer, a news outlet in Minnesota, which is part of the States Newsroom Network. Previously, he was at Minnesota Public Radio and National Public Radio.   Tiokasin talks with Oqwilowgwa...

Mark K. Tilsen Mark is an Oglala Lakota poet and educator from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. At Standing Rock, he stepped into the role of a direct action trainer and police liaison. Since then he has led trainings and teach in’s about the lessons learned from Standing Rock. He recently spent six months at L’eau Est La Vie Camp helping fight against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline which is the tail...

Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse talks with Chief Terrance Paul, Co-Chair and Fisheries Lead for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs. Chief Paul and Tiokasin discuss the current situation involving the Mi’kmaw’s treaty rights to fish (in this particular case, gather lobsters) and the violence — imposed by a small and extremely racist minority — that has erupted and escalated since mid-September 202...

Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse begins the hour talking with Matthew O’Neill, a musical artist who lives in Upstate New York. Matthew's latest project is “Music for The Mother,” the debut album featuring the Ancestral Teyuna Music from the Sierra Nevada De Santa Marta in Colombia. The album is produced by Matthew’s record label, “Underwater Panther Coalition," a label committed to supporting Indigenous r...

Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse begins the hour talking with Debra Utacia Krol. Debra Utacia Krol, a citizen of the Xolon Salinan Tribe, is an Indigenous affairs reporter at the Arizona Republic. Tiokasin and Debra will discuss her article,“‘Living with fire’ may lead to less destructive wildfires, say Indigenous land stewards,” published in the Arizona Republic on August 24, 2020. https://bit.ly/33yFazL...

Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse begins this week’s broadcast honoring a great friend of “First Voices Radio” — Andre Vltchek. Andre, who was a regular guest for several years, died suddenly on September 22 in Istanbul, Turkey. Andre was a Russian-born author, documentary filmmaker, philosopher, artist and staunch anti-Imperialist investigative journalist. His enormous outpouring of work included 50 books...

Peter Buffet is a well established musician, composer and producer as well as Co-Chairman of the NoVo Foundation.  Highlights of Peter’s music, film, and television work include the Fire Dance scene in the Oscar-winning film "Dances With Wolves"; the entire score for "500 Nations" the 8-hour miniseries for CBS produced by Kevin Costner; and winning an Emmy for his album, "Ojibwe."  As Co-Chair of...

This Week's Guests:   Roberto Rodriguez, Ph. D. — or “Dr. Cintli” — is an Associate Professor in the Mexican American Studies Department at the University of Arizona. Dr. Cintli is a longtime, award-winning writer. His last 2 books, “Our Sacred Maiz is our Mother: Nin Tonantzin Non Centeotl” (2014) and “Yolqui: A Warrior Summoned from the Spirit World” (2019) were both published by the University...