Thursday, Aug 27, 2009

Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong- Paul Chaat Smith

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Join your host J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Ph.D. for a an episode featuring Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche) who will discuss his new book, Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong (University of Minnesota Press, 2009). Everything You Know about Indians Is Wrong is a collection of essays written from 1992 to 2008, which chronicles the evolution of his views on the politics of being a Native American, beginning with his involvement as a committed activist within the American Indian Movement to his present employment with the federal government. Lowery Stokes Sims, Curator, Museum of Arts and Design, said of the book, "Paul Chaat Smith pulls no punches and delivers not a few body blows. Smith's clear and at times sardonic voice expresses everything Indians might have wanted to say but up to now didn't feel they could." In 2001 Smith joined the National Museum of the American Indian, where he currently serves as Associate Curator. His projects include the permanent history gallery, performance artist James Luna's Emendatio at the 2005 Venice Biennial, and Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian. He is currently organizing Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort, which opens in Washington in October, 2009. Back in the 1970s Smith was the founding editor of the American Indian Movement's Treaty Council News, and in 1996, with Robert Warrior, he co-authored Like a Hurricane: the Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. Original air-date: 8-25-09.

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Wednesday, Aug 12, 2009

The Leonard Pelitier Defense Offense Committee

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Join your host J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode featuring the ongoing struggle to free Leonard Peltier (Anishinabe, Dakota, and Lakota) from prison. On July 28th the U.S. Parole Commission in Lewisburg, Penn. reviewed the case of American Indian Movement activist who has been held in prison for over three decades. Peltier was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the murder of Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams, killed in a June 26, 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Debate has continued since then over Peltier's guilt and the fairness of his trial; supporters consider him a political prisoner. On the show we will learn about the ongoing work of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, which has 37 branch support groups throughout the United States. Our guest is a man named Wanbli (descendant of Sioux Valley Dakota) who is the National Spokesperson for the Committee who will give us an update on the Peltier case. Original air-date: 8-11-09.

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Tuesday, Aug 04, 2009

Decolonizing Indigenous Masculinity

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Join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an episode featuring Dr. Ty Kāwika Tengan (Kanaka Maoli), author of: Native Men Remade: Gender and Nation in Contemporary Hawai'i, published by Duke University Press. Native Men Remade is an ethnography of the Hale Mua (men's group) that explores the ways in which Hawaiian warriorhood and masculinity have been re-articulated in the Hawaiian cultural nationalist movement. As a member of the group and an ethnographer, Tengan analyzes their practices in the context of indigenous decolonization, and Polynesian traditions. Tengan is from Maui and attended Kamehameha High School and Dartmouth College. He received his PhD in anthropology at UHM and currently holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in ethnic studies and anthropology. Original air-date: 07-28-09.

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