Best Native American Podcasts (2024)

1
How Inuit women brought birthwork home (via The Current) 28:50

1m ago28:50

28:50

Somebody had to refuse to get on the plane. For decades, Inuit women in northern Quebec had to travel south, far from family and community support, to give birth. But then one mother’s act of defiance ultimately shifted maternal care in the north. In a bonus episode from our friends at The Current, Duncan McCue shares the history that led to the cr…

1
Mark Valeri, "The Opening of the Protestant Mind: How Anglo-American Protestants Embraced Religious Liberty" (Oxford UP, 2023) 49:45

33m ago49:45

49:45

During the mid-seventeenth century, Anglo-American Protestants described Native American ceremonies as savage devilry, Islamic teaching as violent chicanery, and Catholicism as repugnant superstition. By the mid-eighteenth century, they would describe amicable debates between evangelical missionaries and Algonquian religious leaders about the moral…

1
Why Canada Needs Natives Needy: Part 5 (ep 354) 1:17:16

1h ago1:17:16

1:17:16

On this week’s collected, connected conversations (the fifth in our summer series): the conclusion to our five-part retrospective, Why Canada Needs Natives Needy, wherein we feature a few more settler-centric solutions to settler-made problems, as well as examples of what truly independent Indigenous initiatives look like. Featured voices this podc…

1
Holly Miowak Guise, "Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II" (U Washington Press, 2024) 1:09:09

2d ago1:09:09

1:09:09

The Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands during World War II changed Alaska, serving as justification for a large American military presence across the peninsula and advancing colonialism into the territory in the years before statehood. In Alaska Native Resilience: Voices from World War II (U Washington Press, 2024), University of New Mexico …

1
James Moses (Cree)

1h ago

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James grew up in Moose Factory, Ontario, a Cree community on the south end of James Bay. His parents brought him up in religion, but his life was empty as a young man. There was a man though, who had come to the community who was different... and he helped James move from religion to a real relationship with his Creator.…

1
Douglas K. Miller, "Indians on the Move: Native American Mobility and Urbanization in the Twentieth Century" (UNC Press, 2019) 1:43:20

2h ago1:43:20

1:43:20

By Marshall Poe

1
The future we want has already existed (via IDEAS) 54:41

1h ago54:41

54:41

Jesse Wente’s great grandparents weren’t futurists, but they knew their traditional way of life was ending, and they had a long-term survival plan. We’re talking seven generations long. In this special bonus episode from IDEAS, the author and arts world changemaker explains how the Anishinaabe conception of time might help us all prepare for the en…

1
Why Canada Needs Natives Needy: Part 4 (ep 353) 1:17:35

34m ago1:17:35

1:17:35

On this week’s collected, connected conversations (the fourth in our summer series): part four of Why Canada Needs Natives Needy, ranging from the precarity of charity to the dubious duty to consult. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): • Michael Redhead Champagne, Winnipeg-based community leader, helper, author, and publi…

1
Carrie Herman (Cup'ik)

7d ago

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Carrie was born in 1929 on Nunavik island, the second largest island on the Bering Sea. There were no stores, no running water... nothing that resembles the conveniences of today. Life was challenging. Listen as Carrie recounts her experiences and the rich culture of growing up on the island. And listen as she shares her spiritual heritage... somet…

1
Treaty 6 and the double-dipping translator (via Secret Life of Canada) 57:30

5d ago57:30

57:30

It’s one of the most thoroughly documented treaties in Canadian history, but the true story of Treaty 6 was deliberately lost in translation. Today, our friends at The Secret Life of Canada tell us a tale of deception, broken promises, and Canada’s largest mass hanging. In this special bonus episode — co-hosted by Falen Johnson and Leah-Simone Bowe…

1
Jaclyn Sumner, "Indigenous Autocracy: Power, Race, and Resources in Porfirian Tlaxcala, Mexico" (Stanford UP, 2023) 1:20:00

20m ago1:20:00

1:20:00

When General Porfirio Díaz assumed power in 1876, he ushered in Mexico's first prolonged period of political stability and national economic growth--though "progress" came at the cost of democracy. Indigenous Autocracy presents a new story about how regional actors negotiated between national authoritarian rule and local circumstances by explaining…

1
Albert Tenorio (Acoma Pueblo)

1d ago

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Albert's heart was hard - by his own admission. He had a hateful feeling towards anyone who would try to speak to him about Jesus. He was mean to his wife who was a Christian. He even burned her Bible. But through it all, she stuck with him and prayed for Albert. Albert had a problem with alcohol. His sons began to follow his lead to the bottle. Th…

1
Meet the ‘Turonno boy’ behind Bear of ‘Rez Dogs’ fame (via Actors & Ancestors) 57:01

7d ago57:01

57:01

D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai beat out a lot of people for his leading role in Reservation Dogs — including his own twin brother! — but the newly Emmy-nominated actor says he’s still humbled on the rez. We think you’ll love his raw and funny interview on Actors & Ancestors, which we’re dropping as a bonus in our podcast feed today. This podcast, hosted by R…

1
Why Canada Needs Natives Needy: Part 3 (ep 352) 1:17:22

6d ago1:17:22

1:17:22

On this week’s collected, connected conversations (the third in our summer series): our third installment of Why Canada Needs Natives Needy, in which we debunk diagnoses of Indigenous impoverishment peddled by settlers, often to their own benefit. And while some come off as almost comical, others appear downright disturbing. Featured voices this po…

1
Tore C. Olsson, "Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past" (St. Martin's Press, 2024) 1:15:43

22d ago1:15:43

1:15:43

Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II, set in 1911 and 1899, are the most-played American history video games since The Oregon Trail. Beloved by millions, they’ve been widely acclaimed for their realism and attention to detail. But how do they fare as re-creations of history? In Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's…

1
Ed Groat (Mohawk) Part 2

8d ago

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I tell people that I had a drug problem when I was young. Our church was Sunday afternoon on the reservation. I got drug to church on Sunday afternoon, and I got drug to church on Sunday evening, and I got drug to church on prayer meeting night. So that was my drug problem.

1
BONUS EPISODE: Our award-winnining episode on Two-Spirit Artivists 49:22

11d ago49:22

49:22

Rosanna pops into your summer feed to tell you about the Indigenous Media Awards that were handed out in July. Unreserved is honoured to receive three awards -- and we're dropping one of those award-winning episodes today: Two-Spirit Artivitsts Share Two Ways of Seeing the World. Unreserved will be back with all new shows Sept. 6, 2024.…

1
Why Canada Needs Natives Needy: Part 2 (ep 351) 58:21

15d ago58:21

58:21

On this week’s collected, connected conversations (the second in our summer series): part two of Why Canada Needs Natives Needy, our comprehensive look at the systematic incapacitation of Indigenous peoples, and how Canada’s overt efforts at social disintegration have fostered generations of individual displacement and disconnection. Featured voice…

1
Ed Groat (Mohawk) Part 1

15d ago

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Ed was raised by his grandma until she died when he was fourteen years old. His uncle was as close to a dad as he ever had. He didn't know who his real dad was. His grandma sent him to boarding school because she couldn't afford to keep him.

1
Derek Taira, "Forward without Fear: Native Hawaiians and American Education in Territorial Hawai'i, 1900-1941" (U Nebraska Press, 2024) 52:17

1M ago52:17

52:17

During Hawai‘i’s territorial period (1900–1959), Native Hawaiians resisted assimilation by refusing to replace Native culture, identity, and history with those of the United States. By actively participating in U.S. public schools, Hawaiians resisted the suppression of their language and culture, subjection to a foreign curriculum, and denial of th…

1
Frank Ward (Cree) Part 2

1M ago

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Frank speaks candidly about the quest for love. He shares how he would do things he knew weren't right in order to gain the acceptance of others. He would come to realize though that all he needed was found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

1
Pekka Hämäläinen, "Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power" (Yale UP, 2019) 40:02

1M ago40:02

40:02

The names of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse are often readily recognized among many Americans. Yet the longer, dynamic history of the Lakota - a history from which these three famous figures were created - remains largely untold. In Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power (Yale, 2019), historian Pekka Hämäläinen, author of The C…

1
Why Canada Needs Natives Needy: Part 1 (ep 350) 55:50

1M ago55:50

55:50

The MEDIA INDIGENA 2024 Summer Series—our classic compendia of collected, connected conversations drawn from our voluminous eight-year archive—begins with the first in a five-part compilation, 'Why Canada Needs Natives Needy,' a wide-ranging rundown of all the ways this country has produced and perpetuates Indigenous dependency. And here in round o…

1
Jacob Lee, "Masters of the Middle Waters: Indian Nations and Colonial Ambitions Along the Mississippi" (Harvard UP, 2019) 1:33:50

1M ago1:33:50

1:33:50

America’s waterways were once the superhighways of travel and communication. Coursing through a central line across the landscape, with tributaries connecting the South to the Great Plains and the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River meant wealth, knowledge, and power for those who could master it. In Masters of the Middle Waters: Indian Nations and …

1
Frank Ward (Cree) Part 1

1M ago

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Frank grew up in the Cree community of Loon Lake, Alberta. He remembers good times with family in the bush, hunting and trapping. He reflects on the blessing of having a dad and a mom. And he speaks about his spiritual journey, how he came to understand that he had a problem he couldn't fix.

1
Alfred Peredo Flores, "Tip of the Spear: Land, Labor, and US Settler Militarism in Guåhan, 1944–1962" (Cornell UP, 2023) 49:44

1M ago49:44

49:44

In Tip of the Spear: Land, Labor, and US Settler Militarism in Guåhan, 1944–1962 (Cornell University Press, 2023), Dr. Alfred Peredo Flores argues that the US occupation of the island of Guåhan (Guam), one of the most heavily militarised islands in the western Pacific Ocean, was enabled by a process of settler militarism. During World War II and th…

1
Why Indigenous-led Genomics Matters: Part II (ep 349) 38:17

1M ago38:17

38:17

On this week’s round table—the last all-new episode before our summer series launches—the second half of our special live on location look at Indigenous-led genomics. Recorded at the Global Indigenous Leadership in Genomics Symposium at UBC back in May, part one brought us the basics of genomics, how it differs from genetics, and how Indigenous gen…

1
Episode 433 "What's Behind Door Number 1?" 1:56:02

2M ago1:56:02

1:56:02

In thos episode of Native Opinion: * Biden/Trump Debate Coverage... What the ?!?!?!? * Judge Orders Rail Operator to Pay $400 Million to Tribe for Trespassing * House Subcommittee Considers Bills to Expand Tribal Land Trust Authority * Israel's Netanyahu blames Biden for withholding weapons. US officials say that's not the whole story * Oklahoma's …

1
Emerson Falls (Sac and Fox) Part 2

1M ago

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Emerson joined the army. It was a rebellious time in his life and he was getting into trouble. One day, someone stole some money from another person's locker. The commanding officer told Emerson he knew that he had taken the money. When he asked why the CO thought that, the officer said, "because you're nothing but a worthless human being." Emerson…

1
Emerson Falls (Sac and Fox) Part 1

2M ago

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Emerson was raised in an urban setting away from the reservation. But home was where the relatives were and they would go back often. His dad raised the family Christian after being coming out of the traditional way. Emerson followed, but later began to question what he believed.

1
Bayley J. Marquez, "Plantation Pedagogy: The Violence of Schooling Across Black and Indigenous Space" (U California Press, 2024) 1:15:07

1M ago1:15:07

1:15:07

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, teachers, administrators, and policymakers fashioned a system of industrial education that attempted to transform Black and Indigenous peoples and land. This form of teaching—what Bayley J. Marquez names plantation pedagogy—was built on the claim that slavery and land dispossession are fundamentall…

1
David H. Wilson, "Northern Paiutes of the Malheur: High Desert Reckoning in Oregon Country" (U Nebraska Press, 2022) 1:01:43

2M ago1:01:43

1:01:43

Between the mid-19th century and the start of the twentieth century, the Northern Paiute people of the Great Basin went from a self-sufficient tribe well-adapted to living on the harsh desert homelands, to a people singled out by the Native activist Henry Roe Cloud for their dire social and economic position. The story of how this happened is told …

1
Why Indigenous-led Genomics Matters: Part I (ep 348) 42:53

2M ago42:53

42:53

What is genomics? In what ways might Indigenous genomics differ from its mainstream counterpart? And why is it important they be Indigenous-led? Answers to those questions and more on this special edition of MEDIA INDIGENA, recorded live on location at the Global Indigenous Leadership in Genomics Symposium, hosted this past May at the University of…

1
Matthew Goldmark, "Forms of Relation: Composing Kinship in Colonial Spanish America" (U Virginia Press, 2023) 39:32

2M ago39:32

39:32

Drawing on literary texts, conversion manuals, and colonial correspondence from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain and Peru, Forms of Relation: Composing Kinship in Colonial Spanish America (University of Virginia, 2023) shows the importance of textual, religious, and bureaucratic ties to struggles over colonial governance and identities. Dr.…

1
Connie Hayes (Colville, Creek, Cherokee)

2M ago

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Though originally from Washington State, she was raised by her grandparents in rural Oklahoma. When she was three, her father was shot and killed. Thankfully, she had her grandparents who provided a stable, loving environment... and made a lasting impact on her life.

1
Ep 432 "It's About Time" 1:46:45

2M ago1:46:45

1:46:45

Episode Description: It is rare in America to see a wealthy, white male convicted of a Felony crime. But that rarity disappeared recently for Donald Trump. Jurors convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree, which is a felony in New York. Trump was a resident of New York most of his life, and generated weal…

1
Unreserved live: 10 year anniversary show 1:06:32

2M ago1:06:32

1:06:32

Unreserved turns 10 (that's like 100 in rez dog years). Join Rosanna for a special live taping for our ten year anniversary celebration recorded at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg.

1
Kathleen DuVal, "Native Nations: A Millennium in North America" (Random House, 2024) 58:18

2M ago58:18

58:18

In this sweeping new history, esteemed University of North Carolina historian Kathleen DuVal makes the case for the ongoing, ancient, and dynamic history of Native nationhood as a critical component of global history. In Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Random House, 2024), DuVal covers a thousand years of continental history, buildin…

1
Timothy G. Anderson and Brian Schoen, "Settling Ohio: First Peoples and Beyond" (Ohio UP, 2023) 36:02

2M ago36:02

36:02

Scholars working in archaeology, education, history, geography, and politics tell a nuanced story about the people and dynamics that reshaped this region and determined who would control it. The Ohio Valley possesses some of the most resource-rich terrain in the world. Its settlement by humans was thus consequential not only for shaping the geograp…

1
Paul Frost (Yup'ik) Part 3

2M ago

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"I wanted to go do these drugs cause I hadn't done them for quite some time and it was time for me to do them again. I used to go on three-day binges. I would disappear and my wife and kids didn't know where I was. They didn't know if I was dead or alive or nothing." Listen as Paul shares his battle with addiction and how it finally came to an end.…

1
Our recommendations on how to celebrate NIPD all summer long 51:15

2M ago51:15

51:15

Podcasts, movies, books, Pride events and some favourite summer ingredients -- your summer lists just got Indigenous! We gathered some friends to put together a list of recommendations that will help us all celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day and keep it going all summer long. It already has Rosanna on to a couple new podcasts. We hope it ins…

1
Bonus: Connie Walker joins Kathleen Goldhar on Crime Story to discuss her new podcast 51:50

2M ago51:50

51:50

Every week, Crime Story host and investigative journalist Kathleen Goldhar goes deep into a tale of true crime with the storyteller who knows it best. In this special episode of Crime Story, Connie Walker joins Kathleen to discuss the new season of her Pulitzer Prize winning podcast Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater that investigates a crisis of polici…

1
Paul Frost (Yup'ik) Part 2

2M ago

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Working on the Alaska pipeline, Paul got into drugs and alcohol. It changed his life. His addictions had full control over him, until one night, when he had a dream so terrifying, that it caught his full attention.

1
Radiodays (live): Raising Our Voices 49:45

3M ago49:45

49:45

From a time when skidoos helped deliver important radio messages to today’s ever-evolving content in the podcast world, we hear from three experts on what it takes to claim space and share our stories. Recorded live at Radiodays North America, Rosanna is joined by Shawn Spruce, the host of Native America Calling, David McLeod – CEO of NCI-FM, and S…

1
Close Encounters of the Colonial Kind: Part 2 (ep 347) 1:18:38

2M ago1:18:38

1:18:38

This week: our return to the realm of IZ, the personification of critical Indigenous studies as imagined by MEDIA INDIGENA regular Kim TallBear (University of Alberta professor of Native Studies), a character she embodied in her keynote at “Of the Land and Water: Indigenous Sexualities, Genders and Ways of Being,” hosted earlier this year in Whiteh…

1
Paul Frost (Yup'ik) Part 1

3M ago

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He was in a fist fight at least twice a week, every week for most of his schooling... because of the way he looked. He didn't fit in with the white kids... he didn't fit in with the Native kids. Listen as Paul shares about the early days of his journey and how that would influence his outlook in the days to come.…

1
The power of the paddle 44:49

2M ago44:49

44:49

Grab your paddles and hop in our canoe as we learn how canoeing does more than bring us closer to nature. This week Rosanna takes us on a journey across Turtle Island to learn how the canoe connects us to our past and carries knowledge into the future. The sights and sounds of the river can teach language and culture and heal intergenerational trau…

1
Episode 431 "“The Youth Can Lead the Way” 1:34:01

3M ago1:34:01

1:34:01

Episode 431: “The Youth Can Lead the Way” Our Native youth can lead the way if we show them how, give them the tools to do so, and then get out of the way.By Native Opinion Incorporated

1
Adrienne Kinney (Cheyenne/Arapaho) Part 2

3M ago

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Where was the peace that others seemed to have? As she looked around, she couldn't help but notice. How come she couldn't find it? It seems she'd been fighting for something all her life... perhaps just fighting to survive. She'd learned that in her youth. But she wanted what these folks had. Listen as she shares how she finally found what she was …

1
Intersections 50:26

3M ago50:26

50:26

Drawing from nimîipuu and Nigerian traditions, beadwork is one way for Afro-Indigenous artist Mikailah Thompson to express her identity. She's one of the people speaking with Rosanna this week about living and creating at the intersections, where multiple cultures, practices and traditions meet.

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