All My Relations Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Neaese Wado Tigwicid Jul 30, 2022

Show notes

When Adrienne took time away from All My Relations to focus on her academic obligations, Dr. Dr. Dez stepped into the co-hosting role with Matika. Since then, we have had some great conversation, laughs, and cries with our favorite data warrior, sociologist, demographer, and friend. Desi has been an invaluable member of the team and it was incredible to hear her stories, thoughts and feelings. Now, another time of flux is upon us and we will once again be hearing from the iconic Adrienne and Matika duo that AMR started with. In this episode, Desi will reflect on her time on the pod and Adrienne will reflect on her time off it. We hope you enjoy this short and bittersweet episode and ponder over the growth that has occurred in the past year and a half.

As always, thanks for listening and flourishing with us.

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Keep up with Desi & Data Warriors Lab
Adrienne's Book - Notable Native People

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Thanks to the AMR team that worked on this episode:
Teo Shantz, Lindsey Hightower, Darrien Camarillo, Jamie Marquez-Bratcher

Thank you to Ciara Sana from Art By Ciara for our amazing episode artwork.

#AMRPodcast #AllMyRelations #AllMyRelationsPodcast

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Follow us on Instagram @amrpodcast, or support our work on Patreon. Show notes are published on our website, Allmyrelationspodcast.com. Matika's book Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America is available now! T'igwicid and Hyshqe for being on this journey with us.

Black and Native Futures: Liberation and Sovereignty with Nikkita Oliver Jun 10, 2022

Show notes

All My Relations is proud to offer the third episode in our series on Afro-Indigenous topics, “Black & Native Futures: Liberation and Sovereignty”, a conversation with Nikkita Oliver, hosted by Matika Wilbur and Dr. Dr. Desi.

Nikkita is a scholar and activist who works at the intersection of arts, law and education. They have supported social justice efforts from No DAPL (No Dakota Access Pipeline) to working in the CHOP/CHAZ (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest/ Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) during the racial justice movements after the murder of George Floyd.

This discussion centers the importance of the collective power that Black Peoples and Indigenous Peoples have to change the systems that support racialized capitalism and oppression. We talk about real world solutions that activists and organizers like Nikkita are taking to actualize empowered Black and Native futures. We know and reiterate that our stories are intertwined and it is possible to work towards shared collective futures.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Website for Nikkita Oliver

3 Pillars Of White Supremacy

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Thanks to the AMR team that worked on this episode:
Teo Shantz, Lindsey Hightower, Darrien Camarillo, Jamie Marquez-Bratcher

Thank you to Ciara Sana from Art By Ciara for our amazing episode artwork.

#AMRPodcast #AllMyRelations #AllMyRelationsPodcast #BLM #BlackLivesMatter #afroindigenous

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Black Native Kinship with Amber Starks Apr 15, 2022

Show notes

Join Matika Wilbur and Dr.Dr. Desi for part two in this series, “Black Native Kinship”, a powerful conversation with Afro-Indigenous activist Amber Starks. Amber is a Black woman and enrolled member of the Miscogee (Creek) Nation. Her activism seeks to normalize, affirm and uplift multidimensional identities of Black and Native peoples.
Together we explore how relationally is rooted in kinship, how Indigenous people can aid in the dismantling of Anti-Blackness and how ultimately, Black liberation and Indigenous sovereignty are complimentary and not at odds.
How can we evolve kinship relationships beyond blood quantum and perceived identity to create a modern Indigenous future?
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
Melanin Mvskoke @melaninmvskoke currently on a break from social media.
Conscious Coils Portland Oregon space that invites people of African descent to love and embrace their hair.
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Thanks to the AMR team that worked on this episode: Teo Shantz, Lindsey Hightower, Darrien Camarillo, Jamie Marquez-Bratcher

Thank you to Ciara Sana from Art By Ciara for our amazing episode artwork.
https://artbyciara.com/
#AMRPodcast #AllMyRelations #AllMyRelationsPodcast #BLM #BlackLivesMatter #afroindigenous

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Black Native History with Dr. Tiya Miles Mar 18, 2022

Show notes

Back in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd and during the Black Lives Matter uprisings that followed, All My Relations started a journey to support the Black community and Afro Indigenous relatives through having conversations on police brutality, anti-blackness, Indian Country’s connection to chattel slavery, and Afro-Indigenous history.

This first episode in the series features an interview with Harvard professor Tiya Miles. Professor Miles is a scholar, historian, and writer whose work explores the intersections of African American, Native American and women’s histories. With Dr. Miles, we focus specifically on the history and structure of Black and Native interconnection. Through the lens of early Cherokee interactions with Black people, we talk about Black and Indigenous peoples first relationships that were shaped in a settler colonial landscape. We talk about how some southeastern Tribes like the Cherokee bent to colonial standards and acted in ways antithetical to Indigenous values by owning enslaved Africans, and how this legacy of pain and abuse has effects today for the descendants of those who were enslaved, and our communities as a whole. We touch on current conversations around the recognition of Freedmen Descendants by the Five Tribes.

Our stories are intertwined, and we need to examine the past to determine how best to more forward.

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Resources mentioned in the episode:

Website for Dr. Miles: TiyaMiles.com

The Cherokee Nation has put out a call for freedmen descendants to share cultural artifacts, family photos, and other memorabilia for an exhibit: Call for Freedmen Descendants

Creek Freedmen descendants have a gofundme to raise funds to support the community and legal efforts to gain recognition: GoFundMe

Dr. Keene made a reading list on my blog two years ago on Anti-Blackness in the Cherokee Nation, which has a wide range of academic and non-academic resources on the topic: Dr. Keene’s Reading List

#AMRPodcast #AllMyRelations #AllMyRelationsPodcast #BLM #BlackLivesMatter #afroindigenous

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The Border Crossed Us Jan 14, 2022

Show notes

The Border Crossed Us is led by Jon Ayon, an AMR team member who conducted field research to gather the stories of peoples and Tribes at the southern settler colonial border between the United States and Mexico. This political border was drawn with no respect for the Indigenous peoples that live there — with land claims that predate both colonial governments. Now families and cultures are separated on either side. There are current cultural and religious permits in place for Native peoples to cross the border, but crossing remains a complicated and formidable challenge as border control determines which reasons are legitimate- often with no knowledge of traditions. Only in recent history has Indigenous migration been restricted and disqualified as a human right. An Indigenous future means free movement because heritage transcends borders. This is about the protection of the sacred: sacred land, sacred relations, sacred sovereignty and sacred traditions that require a sense of place and home. Our relationality does not end at a structural, colonial boundary.

We would like to include a trigger warning for violence and sexual assault which appears in some of the stories. If you are listening with younger children, or would like to avoid hearing for your own sake, we offer warning within the episode and encourage you to skip portions at your own discretion.

Due to complications, this episode was taken down. It’s been reevaluated and recut. We apologize for any confusion, so thank you for your patience, and we hope you enjoy the rerelease.

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For our Patreon Subscribers, we will be offering a special virtual screening of Jon Ayon's film, No Soy Óscar: https://jonayon.com/nosoyoscar/ with a special virtual q&a with Jon, Dr.Dr.Dez and Matika.

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Special thanks to the following people for sharing their voices:

Ral Christman

Martha and Stan Rodriguez

Cynthia Parada

Riss Hill

Willy White

Lori Cachorra

Tomas Jefferson

Penelope Jefferson

Preston Arrowweed

Dan Chein

Mike Benavides

Andrea Rudnik

Team Brownsville

Enrique Lopez

Emily Smith

Lupita Alonso

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Learn more about Team Brownsville:
https://www.teambrownsville.org/
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The Ancestors Know You: Real Life Reconnection Stories Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

We are so excited to talk about the very highly requested topic: reconnection. So many of our relatives grew up with varying levels of kinship systems, and it is so important to not blame oneself for little connection. After 500 years of colonization and attempted erasure via relocation, prohibiting traditions, and pushing assimilation, we have all felt the effects in differing and unique experiences.

Join us in a special, raw and vulnerable conversation about how Daniel French and another special surprise guest reconnected to their Indigenous communities. This conversation is powerfully important as reclaiming the connections that colonization has tried to keep broken for many generations is a very real experience for many Native folks.

Special thanks Thank you to Daniel French and Adrienne Keene for joining us today.

Thanks to the AMR team that worked on this episode: Teo Shantz, Dominick Joseph, Lindsey Hightower, Keoni Rodriguez.

Thank you to Art by Ciara for our amazing episode artwork.

Never forget that the ancestors know who you are.

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All My Relations is listener supported!
Contribute to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/allmyrelationspodcast
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#AMRPodcast #AllMyRelations #AllMyRelationsPodcast #reconnecting

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Lies Your Teacher Taught You: The Truth About Thanksgiving Nov 25, 2021

Show notes

“The Truth about Thanksgiving” is the first installment of a series we’re calling “Lies your teacher taught you”. In this episode we sit down with Matika and her 13-year-old nephew to teach about the true history of European and Native contact. As this episode is with a new teenager, we wanted to show that this is not a hard conversation to have, and most people do not want to be lied to - which is what rehashing the myth does. Ultimately, it stems from a limited perspective of history. The Thanksgiving myth that many Americans have been taught is that, upon arrival, the pilgrims were met with happy Indians who taught them how to tend the land and they had a great feast to celebrate. This whole concept was taken from one paragraph of one settler’s journal. Most of what we know about Thanksgiving is invented and packaged in easy-to-digest bites. This convenient story allows for the avoidance of discomfort for people with settler ancestries. The path to reconciliation starts with honest acknowledgement of our past, with open eyes, and open hearts for a better future. It is time for us to be in good relation with one another. We can do that by learning to give thanks in a good way.

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Sexy Sacred Oct 26, 2021

Show notes

Join us for an episode all about snaggin’! For part two of All My Loving Relations, we continue our conversation with the phenomenal Geraldine King, and bring in comedian Deanna Diaz (aka Dianna M.A.D.). Join us as we embark on a teepee creepin’ journey of all things S-E-X. Some things to look forward to: stories from our own aunties, the sacred power of self-pleasure, and some “dang cackle-able” jokes.

Because of Christianity, and other colonizing forces, we don’t really know how to talk about sex, even in 2021. But why do some of our aunties, uncles, and even grandparents never seem to quit it with their sexual jokes? Often, our relatives use humor as a way to access topics which have long been stigmatized. Also, our kin should be more open to dialogue about sex given traditions of sexual agency within Native communities. However, Native people are also affected by the same shameful misconceptions which plague the rest of the euro-christian dominated world. But we should not be ashamed of sex! It is such a vital component of our most intimate relationships.

Importantly, we acknowledge that as two cis-hetero women, this is a narrow conversation. It excludes a whole diverse, beautiful world of sex among our LGBTQ+, and Two Spirit relations. But we have plans for that conversation later in the season, so stay tuned for Sexy Sacred Round 2!

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Geraldine King (Anishinaabe) is a member of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek located in the Robinson Superior Treaty area, northwestern Ontario. Her research interests include: Anishinaabe erotics, ethics of intimacy, kinship studies, theories of Anishinaabe phenomenologies, eco-erotics and Indigenous pedagogical transformation.

Deanna Diaz, aka Deanna M.A.D. (Tonowanda Seneca), is from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, raised in Southern California. She is a hilarious, and powerful standup comedian and part of The Ladies of Native Comedy. Deanna isn’t afraid to have the embarrassing, funny, and taboo real talk about sex. She helps us to have healthier conversations about sex in Indian Country.

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Matika on Instagram and Twitter

Desi on Instagram and Twitter

Geraldine on Instagram and Twitter

Deanna on Instagram and Twitter

AMR Team

Creative direction, sound engineering, and editing: Teo Shantz

Film Editing: Jon Ayon

Sound production: Max Levin

Development Manager: Will Paisley

Production Assistant: Kristin Bolan

Director of Business Development: Edison Hunter

Social Media Intern: Lindsey Hightower

Research Intern: Keoni Rodriguez

Content Development Intern: Quinn Smith

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All My Loving Relations May 17, 2021

Show notes

Love is something we all need, cherish, and desire in our lives. As Indigenous people we have always known that being in good relation with people, creatures, and the land is integral to wellbeing. Western science is just catching up to discover what we have known for time immemorial. Indeed, love and relationships are arguably the most important things in life. As settler colonial trauma and violence such as boarding schools have damaged our ability to love we know it is important to discuss how we can heal. We all have different forms of ceremony to find love within ourselves and there are so many ways to love. Thus, in this episode we ask how do we heal from historical trauma to love again?

We are so grateful to welcome an incredible First Nations scholar for this conversation.

Geraldine King (Anishinaabe) is a member of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek located in the Robinson Superior Treaty area, northwestern Ontario.

Her research interests include: Anishinaabe erotics, ethics of intimacy, kinship studies, theories of Anishinaabe phenomenologies, eco-erotics and Indigenous pedagogical transformation.
Also joining us is Aunty Jillene Joseph (Gros Ventre) the Executive Director of the Native Wellness Institute. She has traveled to hundreds of Native communities and interacted with and learned from thousands of people. Whether she is providing youth leadership training, assisting women heal from childhood trauma or helping to bring wellness to the workplace, Jillene shares her passion for being positive, productive and proactive.

Through reflection, stories, laughter, and personal perspective this episode delves into a great deal of what love looks like in Indigenous context. We should not have to talk about love in its proximity to whiteness, rather we hope to get a place where we can talk about love without violence. In spite of it all we are still here, still singing, still dancing. Call love into the world so you can feel and experience in it, that is ancestral love. You are not alone cause the earth is holding you, find love in all its forms. Good relationships founded in love keep us happier and healthier... period. So, let’s talk about how we get there.

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Matika on Instagram and Twitter
Desi on Instagram and Twitter
Geraldine on Instagram and Twitter
Native Wellness Institute on Instagram
AMR Team
Creative direction, sound engineering, and editing: Teo Shantz

Film Editing: Jon Ayon

Sound production: Max Levin

Development Manager: Will Paisley
Production Assistant: Kristin Bolan

Director of Business Development: Edison Hunter

Social Media Intern: Lindsey Hightower

Research Intern: Keoni Rodriguez

2nd Editor: Carly Sjordal

Sales and Marketing Intern: Jamie Marquez-Bratcher

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Protect Indigenous Women May 05, 2021

Show notes

Since the onset of colonization Indigenous women have experienced violence with reckless abandon, today it is a public health emergency. Traditionally, many of our Native societies are matrilineal but settler colonialism has disrupted our traditional value systems. These shifts have tragically contributed to the epidemic of violence we see committed against our women and Two Spirit relations. The issue is systemic and this episode discusses how we must hold systems and people accountable.

Mary Kathryn Nagle (Cherokee) is a playwright and lawyer with Pipestem Law, a firm dedicated to legal advocacy for the safety of Native women and tribal sovereignty. She represents families of victims and has testified before Congress for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Her perspective on the legal issues regarding MMIW expounds how tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction is so important in combatting the crisis. She also explains how political participation and allyship is necessary to fight subversive systems which propagate violence.

Abigail Echohawk (Pawnee) is Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute and a leader in the movement to bring visibility to MMIW through political advocacy work, data, and research. Her organization conducted a seminal report on the crisis to better understand the prevalence of the crisis which has harmed our relations for 500 years.

This episode is raw, real, and heart wrenching. The crisis must be addressed and we need allies to join us in making it visible so we can all take action. We need to hold non-Natives upholding these systems accountable. Further, we need Natives to step into roles of political power to demand change.

Every statistic represents a Native woman. We must honor and protect our sisters. No more stolen sisters.

Links and Resources
Fill out our form Letter in support of VAWA

Urban Indian Health Institute

Pipestem Law

Public Law 280

National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center

Mary Kathryn Nagle New Yorker Article

Montana Community Foundation

Sovereign Bodies Institute

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Music
Special thanks to Antone and The West Shore Canoe Family & Joanne Shannendoah
AMR Team
Creative direction, sound engineering, and editing: Teo Shantz

Film Editing: Jon Ayon

Sound production: Max Levin

Development Manager: Will Paisley
Production Assistant: Kristin Bolan

Director of Business Development: Edison Hunter

Social Media Intern: Lindsey Hightower

Research Intern: Keoni Rodriguez

2nd Editor: Carly Sjordal

Sales and Marketing Intern: Jamie Marquez-Bratcher

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