Challenging Colonialism

by Martin Rizzo-Martinez & Daniel Stonebloom

Challenging Colonialism amplifies Indigenous perspectives on issues of concern to native Californian communities. It is our intention to create an educational resource where everyone can hear the perspectives of Indigenous peoples in their own words. It is not our intention to further colonize the narrative, or to misrepresent stories that are not our own. The podcast is produced by Martin Rizzo-Martinez, Historian, & Daniel St ...   ...  Read more

Podcast episodes

  • Season 2

  • s02e10 Museums: Let Them Know We're Still Here (Season 2 Finale)

    s02e10 Museums: Let Them Know We're Still Here (Season 2 Finale)

    Our 10th and final episode of Season 2 extends our critique on the history of colonial acquisitions and collections with a focus on the colonial legacies of the institutions of Museums. We focus on the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, recent movements to 'decolonize' museums as with the Museum of Us in San Diego, and discuss whether it is possible to ultimately decolonize these institutions. Speakers: Dr. Amy Lonetree (enrolled citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation), Dr. Alírio Karina, Dr. Samuel Redman, Gregg Castro (t'rowt'raahl Salinan / Rumsien & Ramaytush Ohlone), Dr. Cutcha Risling-Baldy (Hupa, Yurok, Karuk), Nicole Lim (Pomo), Dr. Micah Parzen, Dr. Chris Green Audio editing: Daniel Stonebloom Interviews: Martin Rizzo-Martinez Music: G. Gonzales Special advisor on this episode: Kathleen Aston. Links & Further Reading: California Indian Museum & Cultural Center Acorn Bites Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums, Amy Lonetree The National Museum of the American Indian: Critical Conversations, Edited by Amy Lonetree and Amanda J. Cobb “Decolonizing Museums, Memorials, and Monuments,” The Public Historian, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 21–27 (November 2021), Amy Lonetree Museum of Us “Race: Are we so different?” Exhibit Museum of Us: Colonial Pathways Policy Against and Beyond the Museum, Alírio Karina

  • s02e09: "The Archive is a Dangerous Place"

    s02e09: "The Archive is a Dangerous Place"

    Episode 9 explores the ways in which colonialism and colonial collections have impacted the development of archives, and the restrictions of these spaces. We follow the stories of Indigenous scholars who have worked to reclaim Indigenous knowledge, songs, and documents from archival collections. We also explore questions of data sovereignty, digital sovereignty, and intellectual property rights. As discussed throughout Season 2, colonial extraction and collections have resulted in the theft of Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous bodies, and so much more. Previous episodes have explored issues of 'salvage anthropology' and repatriation. This episode shifts the focus to efforts to reclaim Indigenous knowledge, whether that be in the form of songs, wax cylinders, documents, letters, or other forms stored in colonial archives. The speakers in this episode include: Dr. Robin R. R. Gray (Ts’msyen/Cree) Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva) Carolyn Rodriguez (Amah Mutsun) Sedonna Goeman-Shulsky (Tonawanda Band of Seneca) Links for further reading: "Cahuilla Basket Returns Home," by Emily Clarke, August 12, 2022, in News from Native California. CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance GIDA, Global Indigenous Data Alliance: Promoting Indigenous Control of Indigenous Data Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance: Research, Policy, and Practice for Indigenous Data Sovereignty "Indigenous Digital Sovereignty: From the Digital Divide to Digital Equity," by Davida Delmar, Jul 19, 2023 "Ts'msyen Revolution: The Poetics and Politics of Reclaiming," Robin R.R. Gray Dissertation. Dr. Robin Gray: “Embodied Heritage: Enactments of Indigenous Sovereignty” (video) "Toypurina: Our Lady of Sorrows," Weshoyot Alvitre, Kickstarter Theft Is Property! Dispossession and Critical Theory, Robert Nichols Challenging Colonialism is produced by Daniel Stonebloom & Martin Rizzo-Martinez. All interviews by Martin, all audio engineering and editing by Daniel. All music by G. Gonzales. The title of this episode comes from Dr. Robin Gray.

  • s02e08: Ascención Solórzano and the Mutsun Dictionary

    s02e08: Ascención Solórzano and the Mutsun Dictionary

    Episode 8 features an interview with Marion Martinez and her daughter, Veronica, both of whom are members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. They will be speaking about Marion’s great grandmother, Ascencion Solorsano de Cervantes, and mother, Martha Herrerra. Ascencion, who passed away in 1930, was the last fluent Mutsun speaker and one of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s beloved ancestors. In 1929, Ascencion spent three months with Ethnographer and linguist John Peabody Harrington, who recorded thousands of pages of notes on Mutsun language, culture and history. Today, Marion, Veronica, and many other Amah Mutsun Tribal members draw on these important notes to learn about their ancestors. This season we have featured a series of stories about ’salvage anthropology’ and the damage done by scholars and activists towards Indigenous communities. This story helps show the complexity of this history, and ways in which contemporary Indigenous community members can sometimes draw on these records in important ways. The speakers in this episode are: Veronica Martinez & Marion Martinez, both Amah Mutsun, interviewed by Martin Rizzo-Martinez. Links for further reading: Maria Ascención Solórsano (de Garcia y de Cervantes), Ed Ketchum, Amah Mutsun Tribal Historian (and descendant of Ascención) The Long Journey to Revitalize a Native Language, University of Arizona News, Feb. 16, 2016 Reviving deep-rooted knowledge, Lisa Renner, UCSC NewsCenter, November 23, 2021 The Amah Mutsun's Battle to Preserve, Mark R. Day, ICT News, Sept 13, 2018 The Saint of Gilroy who helped save her culture and language, Robert Eliason, Benito Link, January 23, 2021 A Native American's Last Testament: Opera, Sasha Khokha, NPR Music, March 29, 2008 Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today, Randall Milliken, Laurence H. Shoup, and Beverly R. Ortiz, 2009 Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington (documentary), PBS Challenging Colonialism is produced by Daniel Stonebloom & Martin Rizzo-Martinez. All interviews by Martin, all audio engineering and editing by Daniel. All music by G. Gonzales.

  • s02e07: Federal Recognition Discussion

    Explicit

    s02e07: Federal Recognition Discussion

    Explicit

    Episode 7 [1:37:47] explores the complexities of what is known as Federal Recognition, and the Federal Recognition Process, which relate to Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. This is an extremely complex topic, especially in relation to Native Californian Tribes. Our guests, Dr. Olivia Chilcote (a member of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians), and Dr. Vanessa Esquivido (an enrolled member of the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation, who is also Hupa & Xicana), both have expertise in the process as it relates to their Tribes' attempts to achieve Federal Recognition. And yet, this conversation just scratches the surface of this complex topic. In this episode, we depart from our usual format. This episode features a conversation about Federal Recognition between Dr. Chilcote and Dr. Esquivido, facilitated by our co-producer Dr. Martin Rizzo-Martinez and lightly edited by Daniel Stonebloom. Music by G. Gonzales. For additional information on Federal Recognition, please see the following: Dr. Olivia Chilcote's new book Unrecognized in California: Federal Acknowledgment and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians is now available for pre-order! The Process and The People: Federal Recognition in California, Native American Identity, and the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, 2017 Dissertation by Olivia Chilcote “Time Out of Mind”: The San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians and the Historical Origins of a Struggle for Federal Recognition, by Olivia Chilcote, California History Journal 2019. "Unsettling evidence: an anticolonial archival approach/reproach to Federal Recognition," by María Montenegro, 2019. "The Destruction of Identity: Cultural Genocide and Indigenous Peoples," by Lindsay Kingston, 2015. "Creating the Space to Reimagine and Rematriate Beyond a Settler-Colonial Present: The Importance of Land Rematriation and ‘Land Back’ for Non-Federally Recognized California Native Nations," 2022 Dissertation by Cheyenne Reynoso. "The study of indigenous political economies and colonialism in Native California: Implications for contemporary tribal groups and federal recognition,” by Kent G. Lightfoot, Lee M. Panich, Tsim D. Schneider, Sara L. Gonzalez, Matthew A Russell, Darren Modzelewski, Theresa Molino, and Elliot H. Blair, 2013.

  • s02e06: "This Work Has to be Done" (NAGPRA p.III)

    s02e06: "This Work Has to be Done" (NAGPRA p.III)

    The final part in this 3-episode series continues our focus on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), where we focus on CalNAGPRA, California’s effort to strengthen NAGPRA, as well as other steps taken to improve and refine this difficult process. But we will also hear about resistance to following through on the promises of NAGPRA as well, and hear a few longer personal narratives than in previous episodes, including all-too-rare success stories of repatriation. As always, thank you to the guests who gave their time and shared their stories: Dr. Brittani Orona Sabine Talaugon Desireé Martinez Dr. Vanessa Esquivido Gregg Castro Cindi Alvitre Alexii Sigona For further reading and more information: The Social Life of Basket Caps: Repatriation Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, in Hopes of Cultural Revitalization, Vanessa Esquivido How to Report on the Repatriation of Native American Remains at Museums and Universities Near You, Pro Publica, February 2023. Righting Historic Wrongs Ceremony memorializes reburial of indigenous people’s remains at Cal State Long Beach, Press Telegram, September 2016. Reburying the Past, September 2016. After 70 Years, UC Berkeley Museum Returns Massacre Remains to Wiyot Tribe, February, 2022. U.S. Army Corps, UC Berkeley Repatriate Human Remains to Wiyot Tribe, North Coast Journal of Politics, People & Art, January 2022. UC Berkeley Anthropology Museum Returns 1860 Massacre Remains To Wiyot Tribe Challenging Colonialism is produced by Daniel Stonebloom & Martin Rizzo-Martinez. All interviews by Martin, all audio engineering and editing by Daniel. All music by G. Gonzales. The title of this episode comes from Dr. Anthony Burris. This podcast is produced with support from California State Parks Foundation