This fall, our Beloved Community, Christian Formation and Missions and Social Justice groups are teaming up to offer a range of opportunities to learn more about the living legacy of settler colonialism. We look forward to learning on our own and in conversation with members of local indigenous tribes. Stay tuned for our fall plans. In the meantime, we invite you to set aside to do some time for reading and viewing on your own. Please consider the following suggestions:
Quick Reads
- Tools to find which tribal lands you are on: by address or by state
post (Project 562)
And for further learning…
Podcasts
- All My Relations This podcast is hosted by two Indigenous women, Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene. Matika is a professional photographer from WA and launched an awesome project called Project 562, focused on creating a more contemporary, diverse and accurate portrayal of Native peoples today. Adrienne is a professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, focusing on Native Americans’ access to education as well as misrepresentation and appropriation of Indigenous cultures in pop culture. She also is the author of the Native Appropriations blog.
- The Henceforward The Henceforward is a podcast that considers relationships between Indigenous Peoples and Black Peoples on Turtle Island. Through this podcast series, we take an open and honest look at how these relationships can go beyond what has been constructed through settler colonialism and antiblackness, we investigate what our mutual obligations and possibilities for contingent collaboration are, and much much more.
- MEDIA INDIGENA Weekly current affairs roundtable focused on Indigenous issues and events in North America and beyond. Hosted by Rick Harp.
- Métis In Space This podcast is hosted by two Indigenous women in Canada, Molly Swain and Chelsea Vowel, who drink wine and talk about films they’ve watched recently, particularly sci fi, with a hilarious and decolonial take.
- This Land Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this podcast provides an in-depth look at how a cut and dry murder case opened an investigation into half the land in Oklahoma and the treaty rights of five tribes. Follow along to find out what’s at stake, the Trump administration’s involvement, the larger right wing attack on tribal sovereignty and how one unique case resulted in the largest restoration of tribal land in US history.
BOOKS
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- Black Indian by Shonda Buchanan
- Permared by Debra Magpie Earling
- Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
- Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr.
- God is Red by Vine Deloria Jr.
- Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
- An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
- Ledfeather by Stephen Graham Jones
- The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings
- Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Whereas by Layli Long Soldier
- Heartberries by Terese Marie Mailhot
- Crow Winter by KAren McBride
- There There by Tommy Orange
- The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote
- Bead on an Anthill by Delphine Red Shirt
- Black Sun by Richard Roanhorse
- Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
- Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets
- Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
- The Language Warrior’s Manifesto by Anton Treuer
- The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer
- Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
- Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
- Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
- Instructed by Hanwí by Autumn White Eyes
FILMS
- Reel Injun (2009) Documentary about Native representation in the media
- Boy (2010) Set on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
- The Orator (2011) Saili, a little person and taro farmer, has his life turned upside down when he is denied his father’s chiefly status and his family plantation is threatened
- Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) In 1976, a Mi’gMaq teenager plots revenge against the sadistic Indian agent who imprisoned her in a residential school where rape and abuse are common.
- Mekko (2015) Mekko, released from prison after a 19-year sentence, has nowhere to go and sleeps on the streets. When he is taken in by the native community, he becomes convinced that a man among their ranks is a witch.
- Sami Blood (2016) A teenage girl is taken from her home and family and sent to a state school where Indigenous students are converted into acceptable members of Swedish society.
- Angry Inuk (2016) Part exposé, part personal documentary, director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril’s Hot Docs Audience Award-winning film investigates the global anti-sealing movement’s damaging impact on Inuit communities.
- Waru (2017) This stunning presentation of eight short films which take place at 10AM on the same day tells the semi-interlocking stories of Maori women, each dealing in their own ways with the death of a child in the community.
- Dawnland (2018) This feature-length documentary follows the first government-sanctioned Truth and Reconciliation Commision (TRC) in the United States to contemporary Wabanaki communities to witness intimate, sacred moments of truth-telling and healing regarding Indigenous child removal in the United States. The TRC discovers that state power continues to be used to break up Wabanaki families, threatening the very existence of the Wabanaki people. Can they right this wrong and turn around a broken child welfare system?
- The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (2019) After a chance encounter on the street, a woman encourages a pregnant domestic abuse victim to seek help.
- One Day In The Life Of Noah Piugattuk (2019) In 1961, a nomadic Inuit hunter and his band face pressure from a Canadian government official to move to permanent housing, assimilate their children into settler society, and give up their traditional way of life
- Blood Quantum (2019) The dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi’gmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are immune to the zombie plague.
- Gather (2020) Documentary about food sovereignty and rebuilding of Native food systems. This feature film is an intimate portrait tracing the intentional destruction of Native American foodways and our renaissance and resilience, our inherit right, to reclaim it.
Articles and Videos
ADVOCACY GUIDES
- Changing the Narrative about Native Americans: A Guide for Allies(Reclaiming Native Truth) Reclaiming Native Truth is a national effort to foster cultural, social and policy change by empowering Native Americans to counter discrimination, invisibility and the dominant narratives that limit Native opportunity, access to justice, health and self-determination. Reclaiming Native Truth’s goal is to move hearts and minds toward greater respect, inclusion and social justice for Native Americans.
- For Our Future: An Advocate’s Guide to Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Illuminative)
IllumiNative is a Native-led nonprofit initiative designed to increase the visibility of – and challenge the negative narrative about – Native Nations and peoples in American society. By supporting and illuminating contemporary Native voices, stories, issues and ideas in popular culture and influential social institutions – including the entertainment industry, media, K-12 education, philanthropy, and government – IllumiNative advances an important and powerful new narrative about Native peoples.
