This week, high hopes for Deb Haaland—the congresswoman from New Mexico and citizen of the Laguna Pueblo who could make history as the first Indigenous person to ever serve as Secretary of the Interior for the United States. First things first, though: she still needs to be confirmed by the U-S Senate. Although committee hearings have wrapped up, a vote has yet to be held.
But amidst all the excitement over her potential appointment, some have struck a more cautious tone about what it may—or may not—make possible. That includes Nick Martin, a staff writer at The New Republic and author of the recent piece, “Deb Haaland’s Ascent and the Complicated Legacy of Native Representation.”
In this episode, Martin joins host/producer Rick Harp and roundtable regular Candis Callison to discuss why he thinks even “[some]one as capable as Haaland [confronts] an unfortunate truth… [that] whenever Native people have occupied positions of great power within [the] colonial machine [they’ve either left] embittered or transition[ed] themselves into an active participant in the grand American tradition of treaty-breaking and excuse-making.”
// CREDITS: This episode was edited by Stephanie Wood. Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
Punishment for Pretendians: the back half of our extended look at colonial cosplay. And if part one was all about the problem, this part’s all about solutions. Just what is to be done about all these faux First Nations actors, authors and academics? What mechanisms might we use, and by whose authority? Does it make sense to target all the players, or would it be better to re-write the rules of the game?
Back with host/producer Rick Harp to assess what's been put forth as ways to sift through the grift are Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC, and Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta as well as Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment.
// CREDITS: This episode edited by Stephanie Wood. Music includes: “Summer Tour Bird Windows” by Strategy (CC BY 3.0); 'nesting' by birocratic.
With issues of identity reaching a fever pitch of late, we thought we’d take its temperature. From Michelle Latimer’s contested claims to Indigeneity, to an ever-growing, quasi-underground list of Alleged Pretendians, not to mention a Twitter tempest over light-skin privilege, we’ll break down what’s at play, what’s at stake and—in part two—what might be ways out of this messy business.
Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable are Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment, as well as Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC.
// CREDITS: This episode edited by Stephanie Wood. Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
Medically-assisted death. It’s a controversial subject to say the least, precisely why any effort to legislate it has proven just as contentious. So it is in Canada, where laws have been challenged and critiqued, both in and out of court, as either too broad, too narrow or even both, depending on who’s doing the talking—and whom they’re talking about. And with the federal government poised to re-codify medical assistance in dying (MAID), there are those concerned the law’s expansion of access to it will do more harm than good, and that the gap between intent and outcome will see those already put at risk placed into even greater peril. One such critic is Andray Domise (aka Q), who in a recent Globe and Mail editorial argued that proposed changes to the law risk the reinscription of the Canadian colonial logic of eugenics. And Q is our special guest this episode, joining host/producer Rick Harp and roundtable regular Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.