Podcasts & Blogs

Join us in studio where Inuit throat singers share songs and the stories behind their rhythmic patterns and sounds. This week Rosanna speaks with four Inuit throat singers who are reclaiming this almost lost tradition. For nearly a century, Christian missionaries in the north banned the practice as part of government and church efforts to assimilate Inuit. This is a show about survival and reclamation.

In this back half of our longer-than-expected mini INDIGENA, host/producer Rick Harp picks up where he left off (drinking deeply of coffee, commodity fetishism and character actor Wallace Shawn) with Kim TallBear (University of Alberta professor in the Faculty of Native Studies and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Society) and Candis Callison (UBC Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs), as they discuss:

Melanie Daniels, niece of Harry Daniels, and Indigenous advocate, talks about a public meeting of misinformation here in Alberta.

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This week we’re taking you to Niagara Falls for the second installment of our occasional series Unmapped. Rosanna is unmapping Niagara Falls, aka Onguiaahra – from the Haudenosaunee contributions to the War of 1812 to the Tuscarora women keeping their culture and traditions alive through beading, there is much more to know beyond the iconic waterfall.

For our latest mini INDIGENA (the sweet + sour version of MEDIA INDIGENA), we yank on the global supply chain linking locals in Campbell River, B.C.

Casper Howard, an Indigenous man in recovery and volunteering with Street Cats YYC, promotes harm reduction as a person formally unhoused and promotes Walls Down Collective, Water Warriors and other street harm reduction groups for others to join. Find him on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/saladglove?mibextid=LQQJ4d

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This week: building upon last episode's commanding talk by MI's own Kim TallBear, in which she highlighted the insatiable settler drive to consume all things Indigenous—including so-called ‘identity’ claims staked by individuals—host/producer Rick Harp discusses her insights with fellow roundtable regulars Ken Williams (associate professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama) and Brock Pitawanakwat (associate professor of Indigenous Studies at York University), a conversation peppered with a rundown of just the latest litany of colonial cosplayers making he

March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility with James Demers

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Data tells a story, and that’s why survivors of the notorious Mohawk Institute – Canada’s longest running residential school – are reclaiming data and sharing their truths. This week Rosanna speaks with Indigenous people who are reclaiming data to better understand the past and build towards the future. From traditional knowledge passed down through oral storytelling to the records kept by governments and institutions, data is power. Keeping that power in Indigenous hands is data sovereignty.

A reintroduction, digital literacy of algorithms, an explanation of the petition for the removal of Calgary Mayor Gondek, a bit of the experience of a 2 day anti racism conference, knowledge of Two Spirit Day and more!

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On this week’s program: a plethora of pretendianism! So much, in fact, it’s going to take two whole episodes to fit it all in.

What can, or should, we do with pieces of the past, such as audio recordings of our ancestors? They can inspire art and action but there are also protocols around how these things are shared. This week Rosanna talks with artists who are combining lessons of the past with their own artistic flare and passing it on to the next generation.

My monthly book club

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“Humour is the WD40 of healing.” Indigenous playwrights are telling stories their own way – and it includes a lot of laughter! This week Rosanna explores what’s behind a shift in the theatre world that has Indigenous playwrights showing works on about a dozen of the biggest stages in Canada. They’re moving away from the early years of tackling mostly heavy subjects to telling stories that can be playful, unique, dark and funny.

Disarm, Defund, Dismantle. Police abolition in Canada book club.

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This week: 'Close Encounters of the Colonial Kind,' the title of a talk given by our very own Kim TallBear (University of Alberta professor of Native Studies) at “Of the Land and Water: Indigenous Sexualities, Genders and Ways of Being,” hosted earlier this year in Whitehorse, YK by the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning.

Resistance and rebellion run deep in the history of dance in Indigenous communities. Margaret Grenier’s Gitxsan grandmother hid family items in her walls to protect important dance traditions from destruction. This week Rosanna speaks with dancers and choreographers about how they are reviving, restoring and re-imagining the art of dance.

Trigger warning, all the topics of violence, murder, transphobia, SA to unaliving. If you are not in the right head space, maybe skip to the resources at the end. We welcome Ali Nahdee, an Indigiqueer from the States to discuss the media and whitewashing issues of Nex Benedict death.

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On this week’s Indigenous round table: legal limbo? Did the Supreme Court's recent rejection of Quebec’s constitutional challenge to Bill C-92 really cement the self-determination of Indigenous peoples on child welfare? Or did it seal in the status quo, one where the feds still hold all the cards and all the funds?

Trigger warning, all the topics of SA to unaliving. If you are not in the right head space, maybe skip to the resources at the end. Returning guest, Danielle English, talks about being in psychosis since September and how hard this Alberta mental health system is to navigate.

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For many Indigenous people, food memories are intricately tied to family, community and culture. Meet three Indigenous chefs who are using their food knowledge to transport people to the past and inspire Indigenous menus of the future.