Indigenous Politics: From Native New England and Beyond

Episode #5: Maori Sovereignty Issues - Part II
Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for Part II of a two-part series on Aotearoa New Zealand Maori sovereignty issues. This episode will feature Hone Harawira-a longtime activist and co-founder of the Maori Party who is a member of the New Zealand Parliament representing the Te Tai Tokerau region. Harawira has tribal links to Ngati Hau, Ngati Wai, Ngati Hine, Aupouri, Ngapuhi & Ngati Whatua. He will address contemporary Maori politics including the Foreshore and Seabed Act, the New Zealand government’s endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and his own history of activism as a member of Nga Tamatoa, the Waitangi Action Committee, and Kawariki, among numerous others. Harawira has served as manager of the Aupouri Ngati Kahu Te Rarawa Trust; manager of the Aupouri Maori Trust Board; manager of Te Reo Irirangi O Te Hiku O Te Ika; and CEO of Tehiku Media. Original air-date: 8-24-10.

Episode #4: Maori Sovereignty Issues - Part I
Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for Part I of a two-part series on Maori sovereignty issues. Today’s episode features Maori filmmaker Moana Sinclair (Ngati Rangatahi, Kauwhata, Raukawa, and Maniapoto) and Sir Edward Taikahurei Durie (Ngati Kauwhata). They will discuss the documentary film written and directed by Sinclair, Justice Durie, about Durie’s contribution to the law in terms of Maori rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sir Edward “Eddie” Taihakurei Durie was the first Maori appointed as a Justice of the High Court of New Zealand and is regarded as leading legal expert on the Treaty of Waitangi. Moana Sinclair is a filmmaker whose works include the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Maori story. Her work includes several film scripts for TVNZ and Maori Television, and she heads Te Haa Productions. In addition, she is a human rights attorney working with her tribes. Sinclair worked at the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues as a Human Rights Officer at the United Nations New York from 2001 to 2004. Original air-date: 8-09-10.

Episode #3: The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010
Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an interview with Stacy Leeds (citizen of the Cherokee Nation) on The Tribal Law and Order Act, which passed the US Congress on July 21, 2010. The legislation was supported by key Democrats and Republicans who worked across party lines in the name of reducing crime on reservations. Supporters of the legislation, including tribal leaders, have cited illegal gang and drug activity, as well as the epidemic of rape committed against Native women that has gone unpunished and unabated due (in part) to a “jurisdictional maze” of federal, state and tribal laws that have resulted in countless cases falling through the cracks. President Obama has committed to signing the Act into law and sees it as, “an important step to help the federal government better address the unique public safety challenges that confront tribal communities.” What shape did the prolonged advocacy for this legislation take? What are the “unique public safety challenges” on reservations? What does the Act include and how does it increase tribal authority over crimes committed on reservations? Is further policing-with the boost of tribal and federal law enforcement-the answer? Leeds is currently the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of Kansas School of Law, where she also directs the Tribal Law and Government Center. She as served as a tribal judge for several tribes, and is currently the Chief District Court Judge at Prairie Band Potawatomi and Chief Justice of the supreme Courts for both the Kaw Nation and the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. She is the only woman to have served as a Justice on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court. Original air-date: 7-27-10.

Episode #2: The Logic of Settler Colonialism
Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an interview with Patrick Wolfe - one of the premier scholars of settler colonialism. Settler colonialism is a specific type of colonial process in which settlers seek to create a new society in a foreign territory through the conquest or elimination of the territory’s indigenous peoples. Patrick Wolfe is Charles La Trobe Research Fellow in the History Program at La Trobe University, Australia, as well as Charles Warren Fellow in US history at Harvard University. He has researched, taught, written and lectured on race, colonialism, Aboriginal history, theories of imperialism, genocide and the history of anthropology. He is the author of a path breaking book, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology (published by Continuum 1999). In 2008, he was appointed to the Organization of American Historians’ Distinguished Lectureship Program. He is currently working on a comparative history of settler-colonial regimes of race in Australia, the USA, Brazil and Palestine/ Israel. Original air-date: 7-13-10.

Episode #1: Keep Northern Coastal waters accessible to the California Coastal Tribes!
Join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui for an episode about the struggle to keep Northern Coastal waters accessible to the California Coastal Tribes. The issue has to do with the implementation of The Marine Life Protection Act of 1999 that is part of the California Fish and Game Code. The Marine Wildlife Protection Initiative is a public-private partnership established to help the State of California implement the Act, which requires California to reevaluate all existing Marine Protected Areas and potentially design new Marine Protected Areas that together function as a statewide network. Where do tribal nations fit into this state-driven scheme? What are the effects of the Act and its revised implementation on traditional shoreline access for California Coastal tribes? It seems that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process threatens the religious, subsistence and ceremonial rights of coastal tribes. For thousands of years, tribal peoples have gathered seaweed, mussels, abalone and fish from the inter-tidal zone for subsistence and ceremonial purposes. On the show we will hear from three Kashia Pomo women based on the reservation at Stewart’s Point in northwestern Sonoma County, CA, who are leading the fight to keep the area open for tribal access. Guests include including two tribal elders: Violet Parrish (Kashia Pomo) and her sister Vivian Parrish Wilder (Kashia Pomo), and their niece and daughter (respectively), Violet Wilder (Kashia Pomo). Original air-date: 6-22-10