Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010

Joseph Nicolar and The Life and Traditions of the Red Man

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an exploration of a 1893 book, The Life and Traditions of the Red Man, written and self-published by Joseph Nicolar (Penobscot Nation). Nicolar (1827-94) was an elder and political leader of the Penobscot Nation of Maine. He served six terms as the tribe's elected representative to the Maine State Legislature. A rediscovered treasure of work, The Life and Traditions of the Red Man tells the story of his people from the first moments of creation to the earliest arrivals and eventual settlement of Europeans. The book is one of the few sustained narratives in English composed by a member of an Eastern Algonquian-speaking people during the nineteenth century, which was written by Nicolar in an urgent effort to pass on Penobscot cultural heritage to subsequent generations of the tribe and to reclaim Native Americans' right to self-representation. The guests on the show will include scholar Annette Kolodny, who edited and annotated the text for re-release with a History of the Penobscot Nation and a full introduction to the work, and esteemed elder Charles Norman Shay (Penobscot Nation). Original air-date: 1-26-10.

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Thursday, Jan 14, 2010

IRS seizes and auctions Crow Creek Sioux Land

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an episode that features Brandon J. Sazue, Sr., Chairman of Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. He will discuss the politics of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) auctioning off 7,100 acres of tribal land on December 3, 2009 to recover $3,123,789.73 dollars it claims is unpaid employment taxes. Chairman Sazue has been occupying the land since December 7th; he is currently camped in a travel trailer on the land in sub-zero temperatures and invites supporters and people from all nations to join him in the struggle.
Original air-date: 1-12-10.

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Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010

Indigenous Librarianship and Native Literacy

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an episode that features Dr. Loriene Roy, Professor in the School of Information, the University of Texas at Austin. She is Anishinabe, enrolled on the White Earth Reservation, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Roy will discuss issues of indigenous librarianship, and how the role of cultural custodian is a key part of helping to preserve Native languages, memories, and lifeways. She will tell us about the current state of tribal libraries, and work as director of "If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything," A National Reading Club for Native Children, a Native literacy project she founded in 1999. Roy is the former President for the American Library Association (2007-2008). Since 2001, she has served as member of the International Indigenous Librarians' Council. She was given the 2009 Leadership Award, National Conference Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. Original air-date: 12-22-09.

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Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009

Nahuacalli, Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an episode of "Indigenous Politics" featuring Tupac Enrique Acosta - general coordinator of the indigenous human rights organization, Tonatierra, which focuses on cultural education initiatives. He also serves as a custodian for the Nahuacalli, Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples, which has operated over the past eleven years from its location in Phoenix, Arizona, as an instrument of communication for and coordination of the Indigenous Peoples movement for self determination across the continent. Original air-date: 12-08-09.

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Monday, Dec 07, 2009

Hawaiian Independence and International Law

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Join your host J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Kanaka Maoli) for an episode that will feature two presentations from an event recently held at the Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai`i, in Manoa, called "`Ike: Historical Transformations: Reading Hawai`i's Past to Probe Its Future." The first is by Keanu Sai (Kanaka Maoli), and the second is by J. Kehaulani Kauanui. They each presented on a panel called, "International Routes: De-occupation, Decolonization, and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples." The mission of the session was to discuss the modern trajectory of the Hawaiian Islands within the context of Hague Regulations on the law of occupation, the U.N. Decolonization Protocols, and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Keanu Sai earned his Ph.D. in Political Science specializing in Hawaiian Constitutionalism and International Relations. He is a founding member of the Hawaiian Society of Law & Politics. Sai served as lead Agent for the Hawaiian Kingdom in arbitration proceedings before the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, Netherlands, from November 1999-February 2001. He also served as Agent in a Complaint against the United States of America concerning the prolonged occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which was filed with the United Nations Security Council on July 5, 2001. Besides producing the radio show "Indigenous Politics" J. Kehaulani Kauanui is an associate professor of American Studies and Anthropology at Wesleyan University. She is the author of Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Duke University Press, 2008). She is also the co-founder of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, and was recently elected to a three year term on the governing council. Original air-date: 11-23-09.

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Monday, Dec 07, 2009

Brothertown Indian Nation Rejected for Federal Recognition

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Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an episode featuring an interview with Kathleen A. Brown-Pérez (Brothertown Indian Nation) who is the Chair of her tribe's Federal Acknowledgment Committee and liaison to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Federal Acknowledgment. On August 17, 2009, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) issued a "proposed finding against acknowledgment" of the Brothertown Indian Nation because, according to the office, "the petitioner does not meet five of the seven mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment." These seven criteria are part of the U.S. federal procedures for "Establishing that an American Indian Group exists as an Indian Tribe" and determining whether any petitioning group is an Indian tribe within the meaning of federal law. The BIA's finding that the tribe was terminated by the 1839 act of Congress is the most controversial because one of the seven criteria is that the petitioning tribe must not have been terminated by Congress. The Brothertown Indian Nation was formed in 1785 by members of various eastern coastal nations-Mohegan, Pequot, Narragansett, Montauk, Niantic and Tunxis-who moved to Oneida territory in upstate New York where the Oneida Indian Nation had set aside land for them. The Brothertown was formalized in 1785, and later moved to Wisconsin where a majority of members still live. Kathleen A. Brown-Pérez teaches American Indian Studies at Commonwealth College, the honors college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has a B.A. in political science from Augustana College (IL), and a Juris Doctorate degree and an MBA with a concentration in discrimination law, both from the University of Iowa. For three decades she has worked with her tribe, the Brothertown Indian Nation (Wisconsin), on their quest for federal acknowledgment. Original air-date: 10-27-09.

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Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009

High Stakes Indian Gaming and Sovereignty

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Join your host J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Ph.D. for a special episode featuring Jessica Cattelino who will discuss her new book, High Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty (Duke University Press, 2008). In 1979, Florida Seminoles opened the first tribally operated high-stakes bingo hall in North America. At the time, their annual budget stood at less than $2 million. By 2006, their net income from gaming had exceeded $600 million. This dramatic shift from poverty to relative economic security has created substantial benefits for tribal citizens, including employment, universal health insurance, and social services. In High Stakes, Cattelino documents how this economic strength has also enabled renewed political self-governance that has transformed decades of U.S. federal control. At the same time, this development has brought new dilemmas to reservation communities and triggered outside accusations that Seminoles are sacrificing their culture by embracing capitalism. Cattelino is an associate professor of anthropology at UCLA. Her research and writing center on indigenous sovereignty in Native North America, the social meanings of economic action, environment, and settler colonialism. Her current research project explores citizenship and territoriality in the Florida Everglades, with focus on the Seminole Big Cypress Reservation and the nearby agricultural town of Clewiston. Original air-date: 10-13-09.

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