The Modern West

Latest Episodes:

Bison Stories: A Conversation With Ken Burns - Part 4 Oct 18, 2023

Show notes

Filmmaker Ken Burns just released a new series called American Buffalo and The Modern West sat down to talk to him about it. He says it’s a very new direction for him. “This is a project we’ve been thinking about for more than 30 years – a biography of an animal.”

Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 3 Oct 11, 2023

Show notes

We’re re-sharing all of our bison episodes in preparation for the release of the new Ken Burns film, The American Buffalo! In Part III, we journey to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana to learn why tribes there are rescuing wild Yellowstone bison… and we experience a bison release ceremony.

Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 2 Oct 04, 2023

Show notes

Did you know documentarian Ken Burns is coming out with a film on the American buffalo? I’m going to share my interview with him in a few weeks. Meanwhile, we’re re-releasing all of our bison episodes! In Part II: why American settlers chose to wipe out the bison and replace them with cattle.

Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 1 Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

Bringing Home the Buffalo…part one of our mini series Bison Stories. Find it under podcasts at wyomingpublicmedia.org.

Bonus: On Land Podcast from Western Landowners Alliance Aug 30, 2023

Show notes

You might remember this daunting statistic from our season on ranching: the American West is facing its biggest drought in 1200 years. This special episode from the On Land podcast is all about solutions to that water crisis. Geologist Caroline Nash joins for a conversation about building resilience in times of uncertainty, how restoring beavers to our Western landscapes could help with watershed restoration, and the ways landowners across the West are experimenting with innovative land management practices.

Bonus Episode 3: A Conversation with Lakota Historian Jeff Means Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

As you might have noticed from previous episodes, Jeff is a committed skeptic. But still, I decide to start by asking Jeff, does he believe healing this history is even possible?

Existence As Protest: Mending the Hoop Part 8 Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

I wanted to be part of contributing to identify healing interventions for our community. And also sharing with people that knowledge, like, it's not all your fault.

Land Back: Mending the Hoop Part 7 Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

It’s popular these days to read a land acknowledgement at public events, but Indigenous leaders and thinkers say that should only be the beginning — “a commitment that should be followed by action.” Like, returning the land itself.

Bonus Episode 2: A Conversation with Lakota Historian Jeff Means Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

Jeff and I pick up the conversation today where our last one left off. As the 19th century came to a close, the United States may have stopped direct battle with the Plains nations… but the war was far from over. As Native communities were forced onto reservations, the U.S. now used new techniques to attempt cultural genocide … alienating children from their communities at boarding schools and exterminating the bison. Throughout the conversation, Jeff points out the ways Indigenous communities continue to demonstrate a pride in their identities that the U.S. government tried to erase.

#MMIW: Mending the Hoop Part 6 May 31, 2023

Show notes

Native American women are the most stalked, raped, murdered and exploited of any other race in this country.

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