Talking Leaves: An Indigenous Perspectives Podcast

Podcast transcript (pdf) We welcome our guest, Navajo pianist and composer Connor Chee, who is speaking to us from Arizona. Connor is known for combining his classical piano training with his Native American heritage. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, his solo piano music is inspired by traditional Navajo chants and songs. C...

Podcast transcript (pdf) We welcome our two guests from the indigenous art world today: Lori Beavis is the Executive Director of Daphne Art Centre in Montréal. Lori has mixed indigenous – settler heritage. On her maternal side she is Michi Saagiig, Anishinaabe and Welsh. Her paternal family is Irish-British. And Michelle Sound, a visual artist, is a member of the Swan River First Nation, a Cree na...

Podcast transcript (pdf) We welcome back our guests - Steve Schwartzberg is a former Director of Undergraduate Studies for International Studies at Yale University, now writing a book titled “Arguments over Genocide: The War of Words over Cherokee Removal in the Congress and the Supreme Court." Peter d’Errico is a member of the New Mexico Bar Association and a former staff attorney at Navajo...

Podcast transcript (pdf) We have two guests in this podcast, both deeply committed to exploring the puzzling and troubling history of relations between Native American Indian tribal nations and the United States and Canada. Steve Schwartzberg is a former Director of Undergraduate Studies for International Studies at Yale University, and he is writing a book titled “Arguments over Genocide: The War...

We want listeners at the end of this show to be more comfortable celebrating Thanksgiving while being aware of Native American concerns. This has been a difficult year for our country. People are up in arms and fraught and confused about taking down statues and what is to be taught in schools about history. And Thanksgiving raises many of those uncomfortable concerns. I hope by the end of the show...

Today's show, “Accessing an Animate World”, explores the healing and comfort that arises from living in the spirit of an indigenous perspective, not only for indigenous people, but also for those in the mainstream. Many of us live in a world where our views of nature, our experiences with nature, and our understanding of nature are mediated by an objectifying Western scientific perspective, an...

Podcast transcript (pdf) We welcome Thomas Linzey to our program today, on the topic of “The Rights of Nature, Bringing Indigenous Perspectives into the Legal System.” Thomas Linzey serves as senior legal counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights – CDER - a nonprofit organization committed to globally advancing environmental rights. He is widely recognized as the founder of th...

Podcast transcript (pdf) Today's program guests are Grant Paulson and Christian Domer. They are each on the line with us from Australia. So they were going to start first by giving some brief backgrounds on themselves, and Grant, can you tell us something about your family background and the variety of experiences that you've had that are both personal to you, and also reflect the experien...

Today, we are exploring how to come to terms with and heal the wounds caused by the legacy of Indian residential schools, where young indigenous children in the U. S. and Canada experienced forced assimilation for nearly a century.

Today’s topic is Shamanism, and our guest is Sas Carey of Vermont. Sas is a healer and a registered nurse who, since 1994, has been traveling to Mongolia studying traditional Mongolian medicine. She became close to a small ethnic group of reindeer herders, and has returned often over nearly three decades. Shamanism is an important part of traditional Mongolian culture, and Sas has attended and par...

This episode of Indigenous Perspectives is about how those of us who are disconnected from nature are trying to reconnect with mother earth and why we're trying to do so.

Today's show celebrates Earth Day. For all of us on Mother Earth, every day should be Earth Day. Indeed, for those of us who have indigenous ancestry, every day on earth is Earth Day, as we are more or less in continual intimate contact with the natural world around us. I say “more or less” in continual contact because the reality of life and a world turned upside down by colonial history is t...

Podcast transcript (pdf) On this show, we have two guests who are Potawatomi: Paige Willet is talking with us from Oklahoma in the southwestern United States where our reservation is located; Eva Marie Carney is talking with us from the east coast of the United States, far from our tribal reservation. Paige is a journalist who works on our tribal newspaper. Eva is a tribal legislator. I will have...

Podcast transcript (pdf) Many of you are familiar with the fact that indigenous people have deep spiritual connections with the natural world. Documentaries, ethnographic literature, fiction - much of it written by Native Americans - and my own book, all reinforce this notion., At the same time, these portrayals of indigenous people run the risk of sending another message - that those with Indian...

Podcast transcript (pdf) Our guest is Tom Dearhouse, a member of the First Nations people known throughout much of the world as Mohawks. That image and name originate in literature and images of skywalkers navigating narrow steel beams far above city streets. The reality behind these popular images is far more complex. Tom Dearhouse is going to help us to explore a rich cultural history and its ve...

Podcast transcript (pdf) Our guest is Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation of Vermont. We explore the history of the Abenaki, and among other topics look at how Native Americans have responded to their encounters with European culture, and in particular the Christian religion. We will be looking at some of the different ways that Native Americans celebrate Christmas....

Podcast transcript (pdf) We explore Native American perspectives on Thanksgiving, and more generally on giving thanks. By reflecting on how we give thanks, and by considering how to do this in the spirit of Native American culture, we can share in a message of healing, as individuals and as a society. Study Guides Available on our Educational Materials page on TalkingLeavesForum.org