Native America Calling

Tuesday, May 26, 2026 – Border wall construction damaging sacred sites

Construction crews working on the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona significantly damaged a 1,000-year-old geoglyph located in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. It’s one of a number of places tribes on both sides of the border say are damaged or are threatened by the fast-tracked construction process. Tribal leaders say such desecration is happening at a record pace after the Trump administration sidelined cultural and environmental barriers to construction. We’ll hear from cultural historians and policy experts about that is being lost and what can be done about it.

GUESTS

Emily Burgueno (Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel), chairwoman of the Kumeyaay Digeuño Land Conservancy

David Martinez (Akimel O’odham, Hia-Ced O’odham and Mexican), professor of American Indian Studies and Transborder Studies and director and founder of the Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations at Arizona State University

Christina Leza (Yoeme and Chicana), professor of anthropology at Colorado College

Felicity Amaya Schaeffer, professor of feminist studies, critical race and ethnic Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz

Coming Up on NATIVE AMERICA CALLING

Wednesday, May 27, 2026 — Oil drilling vs cultural preservation at Chaco Canyon

The Trump Administration is moving to undo a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling near Chaco Canyon, a place of major cultural significance to pueblos in the Southwest. The threat of new oil leases on nearly 340,000 acres of public land surrounding Chaco Canyon has put the site on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s Most Endangered Spaces. It’s the second time on the same list for the land that is already a protected National Historic Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The moratorium was instituted in 2023 by then-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a Laguna Pueblo citizen. We’ll hear about the options ahead for the land and the cultural significance it holds.

Past Shows

Monday, May 25, 2026 – Wide disparities persist when encountering ancestors’ remains

Construction crews at the University of California, Berkeley immediately halted construction of an outdoor volleyball court when they encountered human remains. Under California law, notifications go out to state officials and to any tribes that might be descendants. Such procedures are not always followed, even when the law is clear cut. A number of recent discoveries of remains in California and elsewhere have drawn criticism from graves protections advocates and others for how they were handled. We’ll look at some recent cases and assess the current state of the public’s understanding of sacred ancestors’ remains.

Friday, May 22, 2026 — A conversation with Native wellness advocates Chelsea Luger and Thosh Collins

Chelsey Luger (Anishinaabe/Lakota) and Thosh Collins (Onk Akimel O’Odham/Osage/Seneca) believe the best approaches to wellness are rooted in Indigenous knowledge. They draw from traditional teachings to find the most effective ways to improve one’s spiritual, physical, and emotional wellbeing. With their large social media presence, they educate others about healthy, traditional approaches to physical movement, sleep, masculinity, and parenthood. They are the authors of “The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well” and are slated to publish a few more books on wellness. The married couple join us for a discussion about living a full and grounded life.

Thursday, May 21, 2026 – Nevada’s mining boom and Winnebago Tribe’s NAGPRA victory

The U.S. government and private mining corporations are ignoring the rights of tribes to free, prior, and informed consent when it comes to lithium mining in Nevada, according to a new report by Amnesty International. The report comes amid the Trump administration’s fast tracking of metals and minerals extraction. With more than 20,000 active mining claims across the state, tribes are having to weigh how every new proposal would impact their communities.

The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) applies to remains buried at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army. The decision gets the tribe one step closer to repatriating two children from the oldest Indian boarding school, and could establish legal precedent for federal agencies to comply with NAGPRA in the future.

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 – Native Playlist: Joy Harjo and Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band

Former U.S. Poet Laureate and musician Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) immerses listeners in a diverse array of jazz styles and deeply emotional poetry on her new album, “Insomnia and Seven Steps to Grace”. Co-produced by Grammy-winning artist Esperanza Spalding, the album features originals and covers, including a re-interpretation of Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”. Harjo also transforms her 2015 poem, “I Pray for My Enemies”, into a feverish, free-form composition, while “Rabbit Is Up to Tricks” draws on the power of traditional oral storytelling and “Stomp All Night” delivers a fun, funk-filled jam.

Acclaimed jazz vocalist Julia Keefe (Nez Perce) and the 16-piece ensemble of talented Native musicians known as the Indigenous Big Band make their album debut with “Incarnadine”. The album honors Native jazz pioneers like Mildred Bailey (Coeur d’Alene) and Jim Pepper (Kaw/Muscogee), as well as featuring innovative originals like “Wawasint8Da” and “Ddat Suite, MVT. 3 Iron Horse Gallup”. The ensemble continues to earn critical praise especially for their live performances, highlighted by their 2024 spring residency at the Kennedy Center.

We’ll speak with both Joy Harjo and Julia Keefe about their new albums in this episode of Native Playlist, our regular feature on Indigenous music.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 — Native Bookshelf: “Shards of Silence” and “That Which Feeds Us”

Diné author Brian Lee Young puts much of his own experience in his first young adult novel, “Shards of Silence”. Protagonist Derrick Hoskie struggles with a grueling class schedule, homesickness, and the frustration over his classmates’ ignorance at a prestigious prep school. At the same time, he is researching the life of his ailing great-grandmother. It’s a story about coming of age, identity, and healing.

Native Hawaiian writer Keala Kendall offers a different view of what many vacationing outsiders consider paradise in the supernatural thriller, “That Which Feeds Us”. Lehua follows the trail of her missing twin sister to the secluded Kōpa’a Island Resort in Hawaii. She recalls the stories her grandparents told of their homeland, which is now a commodity to wealthy resort patrons. A series of terrifying visions teach Lehua an all-too-real lesson about the land’s brutal past.

We add both books to our Native Bookshelf.

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NAC @ Santa Fe Indian Market

After 103 years, the Santa Fe Indian Market remains the biggest draw for Native artists, potters, and jewelry makers as well as those who appreciate and collect their work. More than 1.000 juried participants come from hundreds of Native communities, offering a hugely diverse range of inspiring work. We’ll take a small sample of that creativity and check in on the outlook for Native arts and arts education.

Distinctly Native American artwork, fashion, and films converge again for the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, with at least 1,000 booths and somewhere around 100,000 visitors. Native America Calling is live from Santa Fe, hearing from Southwestern Association for Indian Arts representatives, 2023 Best In Show winner Jennifer Tafoya, curators from the Native Cinema Showcase, and others to get a preview of the largest juried Native art market in the world.

Listen back to Native America Calling’s live broadcast from the Santa Fe Indian Market featuring host Shawn Spruce and guests Dawn Houle (Chippewa Cree from Rocky Boy Montana), Mandolin Rain Song (Taos Pueblo), Jennifer Johns (Diné), and Jason Garcia (Santa Clara Pueblo).

Artists from hundreds of Native nations are tending to their booths in the streets of Santa Fe, selling works they’ve labored for months to prepare. SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market has come a long way in 100 years. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from Indian Market for a second day with Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, director of Gallery Hózhó at Hotel Chaco; Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee), Institute of American Indian Arts president, to get a feel for what’s in store for the next century; Amber Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation), Indigenous Fashion Show producer for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts and art history professor at the Institute for American Indian Arts; Dr. Jessica Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), owner of Beyond Buckskin; and Kristin Gentry (Choctaw), artist, photographer, writer, and curator.

It survived the Termination Era, The Depression, a World War, and, most recently, a pandemic. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts marks the 100th Santa Fe Indian Market, a place to buy works directly from artists, to experience the creative vision of Native designers, and watch films by Indigenous filmmakers.

Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce is live from the Market to get a rundown of this year’s schedule and reflect on the evolution of this major achievement of Native creativity and commerce with Cindy Benitez, program manager for the Native Cinema Showcase by the National Museum of the American Indian; film director Fritz Bitsoie (Diné);Stephine Poston (Pueblo of Sandia), board chair for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts; and Leah Salgado (Pascua Yaqui), Chief Impact Officer for Illuminative.

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