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After a period of colonial suppression, traditional kapa making is enjoying a sustained resurgence. In recent decades, a growing number of Native Hawaiian artists have mastered the labor-intensive process of harvesting, scraping, and soaking the bark of the wauke plant and embellishing the resulting fabric with colorful traditional designs. A new generation of artists is benefiting from this reclaimed expertise.

This is an encore show so we won’t be taking listener phone calls

Dalani Tanahy (Native Hawaiian), Hawaiian kapa artist

Lehuauakea (Native Hawaiian), Hawaiian kapa artist

Roen Hufford (Native Hawaiian), Hawaiian kapa artist

Here’s an extended interview with 2023 National Heritage Fellow Roen Hufford (Native Hawaiian). She spoke with producer Sol Traverso about her favorite part of the kapa making process and being taught by her mother Marie Leilehua McDonald.

 

Break 1 Music: Wahine U`i (Beautiful One) (song) Linda Dela Cruz (artist) Linda Dela Cruz Hawaii’s Canary (album)

Break 2 Music: Grandmother’s Song (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

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President Donald Trump is signaling a shift in the ongoing push to deport immigrants as the reality of taking migrant farmworkers out of the fields, disrupting businesses and the country’s food supply starts to become apparent. About 40% of the 2.6 million farm workers in the U.S. are estimated to be undocumented. A portion of those are Indigenous people from Mexico and Central American countries. We’ll hear about how the Trump administration may be adjusting its stance.

A search for words in their language led a husband-and-wife team to 300-year-old texts where French Jesuit missionaries documented Seneca names for traditional foods, cooking, and even recipes.

GUESTS

Mily Treviño-Sauceda, executive director and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas

Coreen Thompson (Tonawanda Seneca), cultural educator

 

Break 1 Music: Zumbi (song) XOCÔ (artist) XOCÔ (album)

Break 2 Music: Grandmother’s Song (song) Fawn Wood (artist) Iskwewak (album)

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The Crow Tribe is marking the 200th anniversary of their treaty with the United States. It is a document whose limits have been tested over that time, but still defines the tribe’s relationship with the federal government. This year also marks 170 years since the treaty ratifying the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indians’ official relationship with the U.S. We’ll examine these important historical and legal milestones and how they fit in with the extensive and complicated history of treaties.

GUESTS

Heather Whiteman Runs Him (Apsáalooke), associate clinical professor and the director of the Tribal Justice Clinic at Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona

Stephen Selam (Yakama Nation), executive secretary of Yakama Nation tribal council

Jeanine Gordon (Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation), special assistant to the president for Native American outreach for Whitman College

Jim Real Bird (Apsáalooke), horse hand and co-organizer of the 1825 Crow Tribe Treaty commemoration

Lanny Real Bird (Apsáalooke), educator, consultant, and Native language advocate

 

Break 1 Music: Crow Push Dance Song (song) Authentic Native American Music (artist) Authentic Native American Music (album)

Break 2 Music: Steamboat Akalii Song (song) Jay Begaye (artist) Horses Are Our Journey World (album)

Here’s more from our pre-recorded interview with Dr. Lanny Real Bird. He gives more background on the signing of the 1825 Crow Tribe Treaty as well as more understanding of Apsáalooke worldview:

Also, here’s more from Jim Real Bird describing the Crow Tribe’s 200th anniversary commemoration event that he co-organized:

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Education advocates are launching a multi-year program to develop a game and to teach the Denaakk’e language in schools. That and another language teaching apps come at a time when almost all federal funding for language revitalization is eliminated. We’ll also talk with a man about his personal journey learning the Cherokee language, an undertaking that inspired him to learn more about his tribal language’s history and importance in maintaining culture.

GUESTS

Joel Isaak (Dena’ina Athabascan), director of language and culture for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Mariah Pitka (Louden Tribe), executive director for the Doyon Foundation

Dr. Benjamin Frey (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), assistant professor of Cherokee language and culture at the University of North Carolina–Asheville

Jamie Jacobs (Tonawanda Seneca), managing curator for the Rock Foundation collections at the Rochester Museum and Science Center

 

Break 1 Music: Siyo, Siyo (song) Paula Nelson (artist) C.H.A.N.T. Cherokee Hope And New Traditions (album)

Break 2 Music: Steamboat Akalii Song (song) Jay Begaye (artist) Horses Are Our Journey World (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:46 — 38.3MB) | Embed

After Congress approved President Donald Trump’s clawback of funds distributed through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, tribal stations are frantically searching for money to keep from going dark. Tribes are stepping up in some cases, audiences are responding with increased donations, and the stations are scaling back their operations. In the meantime, higher education officials are worried about a Trump budget plan to cut federal funding to tribal colleges and universities by nearly 90%. Representatives from some of those institutions say they will have to significantly scale back their operations. Others say they will have to close outright. We’ll get more detail on both of these major funding changes.

GUESTS

Stephen Wall (citizen of the White Earth Nation and a descendent of Cattaraugus Seneca Community), interim president for the Institute of American Indian Arts

Sean Chandler (Aaniinen [Gros Ventre Nation]), president of Aaniiih Nakoda College

Aziza Smith (Eastern Shoshone), senior at Haskell Indian Nations University

Marina Decora (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska), sophomore at Haskell Indian Nations University

Lenora Ward (Iñupiaq), general manager of KOTZ and Kotzebue Broadcasting

Karl Habeck (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), general manager of WOJB

 

Break 1 Music: Navajo Radio (song) Arigon Starr (artist) Meet the Diva (album)

Break 2 Music: Steamboat Akalii Song (song) Jay Begaye (artist) Horses Are Our Journey World (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:20 — 38.0MB) | Embed

From finding simple recipes to diagnosing complicated illnesses, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly useful part of everyday life, but the space and resources it takes to power that technology is immense and that is hitting close to home for some tribes. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation in New York just filed a lawsuit against a proposed 900,000-square-foot AI data center a mile away from their reservation. Chief Kenith Dale Jonathan says the center would harm air quality, water, and wildlife. We’ll hear from the tribe and the potential for data center encroachment elsewhere. We’ll also look at how the Trump administration’s push to use AI in medicine would benefit or harm Native Americans.

GUESTS

Christine Abrams (Tonawanda Seneca), office administrator for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation Council of Chiefs

Grandell “Bird” Logan (Tonawanda Seneca), media spokesperson for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation

Dr. Krystal Tsosie (Diné), assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University

Dr. David Wilson (Diné), associate vice president for health research and professor and chair of Indigenous Health at the University of North Dakota

 

Break 1 Music: Obsidian (song) Red-209 (artist)

Break 2 Music: Steamboat Akalii Song (song) Jay Begaye (artist) Horses Are Our Journey World (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:25 — 38.7MB) | Embed

A widely reported exit poll right after the 2024 presidential election greatly exaggerated the support for President Donald Trump by Native Americans. Native voters, by and large, lean Democrat, but it’s clear Native voters supported President Trump more than expected. And since the election, a handful of tribes and Native leaders continue to back the MAGA trend. Louisiana’s Tunica-Biloxi Tribe are among the institutions nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, citing his foreign policy and domestic economic agenda. We’ll hear from those who think Trump is moving Native interests in the right direction.

GUESTS

Myron Lizer (Diné). former vice president of the Navajo Nation and professional development consultant for Prestige with Partners LLC

Michael Stopp (Cherokee and Muscogee), CEO and president of SevenStar Holdings, LLC

Allen Wright (Choctaw), president and founder of the Hustings Group

 

Break 1 Music: Two-Sidedness (song) Samantha Crain (artist) You (Understood) (album)

Break 2 Music: Long Black Cadillac (song) Tribz (artist)