First Voices Indigenous Radio
September 15, 2020
During the first half-hour of this repeat show, Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse talks with Barbara Alice Mann, author of “Spirits of Blood, Spirits of Breath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America” (2016). Barbara Alice Mann, Ph.D. is Professor of Humanities in the Jesup Scott Honors College of the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. She has authored 14 books. Other works include “The Tainted Gift,” about the deliberate spread of disease to Natives by settlers as a land-clearing tactic; “George Washington’s War on Native America,” which looks at the major invasion of Iroquoian New York in 1779 and the genocidal attacks on Ohio from 1780 through 1782; and the internationally known “Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas.” Barbara is working on her next monograph, “President by Massacre,” looking at the Indian-killing credential for high office, and an international book project co-writing “The Dark Side of Empire,” examining historical massacres around the world from 1780 – 1820. A Bear Clan, Ohio Seneca, community recognition, Barbara lives in her homeland of Ohio (a Seneca word meaning Beautiful River).
Due to technical issues at our home radio station, this week’s show for our affiliates, which featured Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee in Alaska, was unable to be recorded in time for syndication. Bernadette talked with Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse about the August 17th Trump administration finalizing a plan to open up part of the Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development, which would overturn six decades of protections for the largest remaining stretch of wilderness in the U.S. The Gwichin refer to this vast coastal plain as the sacred place where life begins because it is critical to their food security and life.
This week’s repeat show features an interview with Bernadette from June 2018. The essence of the Gwich’in people’s struggle remains the same, although intensified in mid-2020 following the news from the Trump Administration.
The Gwich’in Steering Committee was formed in 1988 in response to proposed oil drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In this role, Bernadette, a member of the Gwich’in Nation, represents the Gwich’in Nation from both sides of the border in the U.S. and Canada. Originally is from Fort Yukon, Alaska, Bernadette is the mother of 5 and grandmother of 3 beautiful children.