Ep. 55: Reflections on Culture and Place with Isiah and Samoana

Isiah Cambridge (Ute/Núuch and Diné/Navajo) and Samoana Matagi (Tagata Sāmoa and Papalagi) join this episode to discuss culture, language, and relationships to place. We reflect on work we have done at the Nature Center at Pia Okwai where Isiah has taught Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) classes and Samoana continues to run a monthly Friday Fono (Faikava workshop) and regular Umu (underground earth oven cooking) demonstrations. We reflect on Indigenous knowledge projects as they introduce themselves and some of their background and experiences. Topics include communal lessons and collective insights within the worldviews we practice as well as critically engage with mainstream and Indigenous conservation perspectives. Themes include Indigenous relational consciousness, leave no trace, community, and meaningful relationships to place from across our unique positionalities and ancestries. Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) Terms: Leets’aa’ (Leezh = sand + ts’aa’ = bowl); Yíiyá (Fear); Naadą́ą́ʼ (Naa = enemy/constant + dą́ą́ʼ = it is eaten); Leeshibéézh (Leezh = sand +shibéézh = it is cooked, to cook under the sand/earth); Chʼil doo chójoołʼįįhígíí (The plant that one doesnʼt use, La planta que no se usa). Nuu'apagay/Nʉmʉ Tekwapi/Núu-'apaghapi̱/ Núuchi (Ute language) term: Tuuspani (Hurry). Gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language) terms: ‘Iate – (transliteration of yard, ‘Iate Truck = landscaping work truck); Umu – (underground earth oven, to cook with heated stones). Maya T’aan/Maya T’aam (Yucatec-Maya language) term: Píib (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony). Katzihob’al/Qatzijob’al/Kach’ab’al/Qach’ab’al (K’iche’-Maya language) term: Tuj/Tuh (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony). Runasimi (Quechua language) term: Pachamanka (underground earth steam oven). Newe Taikwa (Shoshone/Goshute) term: Pia Okwai – (big flow/river, Utah’s Jordan river).   References C.R.E.A.M by Wu-Tang Clan An Indigenous Perspective on the Global Threat of Invasive Species by Nicholas J. Reo and Laura A. Ogden Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez Sovereign Embodiment: Native Hawaiians and Expressions of Diasporic Kuleana by Kēhaulani Vaughn Charles Sepulveda