On today’s episode, Jessica chats with Eric Pinto (Assistant Director at the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian studies at Washington University in St. Louis; Descendant of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Pueblo of Zuni). The Buder Center is part of the Brown School of Social Work, Public Health, & Social Policy that offers the only social work program in the country with an American Indian/Alaska Native concentration. The two talk about Eric’s transition from personal training to getting a Master's in Social Work and how the social work program led him to cultural pro ..read more

On today’s episode, Jessica chats with the crew she has been working with on the Boulder Ethnographic-Education Project. The crew includes the amazing Erica Walters (Ethnographer, Living Heritage Anthropology), Reshawn Edison (Ethnographer, Living Heritage Anthropology; Diné; CESC Program Coordinator for Harvest of All First Nations), and Joseph Gazing Wolf (Executive Director, Heritage Lands Collective (formerly Living Heritage Research Council); Lakota, Nubian, and Amazigh). The crew talks about their favorite parts of the project, learning moments, challenges, and advice for others wanting ..read more

On today’s episode Jessica hosts Dr. Paulette Steeves (Cree-Metis), Associate Professor at Algoma University. We especially focus on the Indigenous paleolithic and how Dr. Steeves is showing that it was very different than how it is presented by the field of archaeology. We also talk about the Bering Strait theory and why the academy is so resistant to that narrative being challenged. In the beginning of the episode Dr. Steeves walks us through her career, including some incidents that were not so flattering for the field, and finish our by talking about what it would take to decolonize the ac ..read more

On today’s podcast Jessica hosts Roger Echo-Hawk, a writer / artist, and a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.  We discussed his role in the origin story of what became Indigenous archaeology – the study of oral tradition; the unfolding racial Indian repatriation movement; the interfacing of archaeology and Indian Country; and the history of race and the rethinking of racial identity systems. LinksRoger Echo-Hawk on ancient Pawnee history: The Enchanted Mirror: Ancient Pawneeland (2018) Roger Echo-Hawk on Pawnee history: The Enchanted Mirror: Community and Confederacy in Pawneeland ..read more

On today’s podcast Jessica hosts Carlton Shield Chief Gover, a PhD student at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. We talked about the unique history of Oklahoma and particularly the Pawnee and Arikara Nations. We talk about the challenges of when oral history and archaeology don’t agree and what it’s like to work in academia, CRM, and in tribal settings. Finally we talk about where he would love to see the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma’s THPO and Museum go in the future, as well as where he would like the field of anthropology to go ..read more

On today’s episode, Jessica chats with Dr. Shayla Monroe (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University) and Debora Heard (Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Chicago). The three talk about Nubia and its people (both ancient and modern), why they have been overshadowed, and why they are important. We also talked about what got them interested in this topic, what they are studying now in Nubia, and how the war in Sudan has affected their work and their colleagues. Finally, we talk about where they would like to see the study of Nubia go, including their efforts to c ..read more

On today’s episode, Jessica chats with Jonathan Rodriguez (3rd year PhD student in the Applied Anthropology program at the University of South Florida) about Maroon heritage in Dominica. We talk about how he got interested in archaeology and this topic, as well as how his Army service and Anthropology training influenced his experience with each. We also talk about his upcoming Fulbright research in Dominica, where he will use geospatial methods, archaeology, and oral history to learn more about and amplify the voices of a community that purposefully left little evidence of themselves in the a ..read more

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Dr. Liana Chua (social anthropologist and Tunku Abdul Rahman University Assistant Professor in Malay World Studies at the University of Cambridge) about her work with Bidayuhs in Malaysian Borneo and looking at international orangutan conservation efforts. We talk about her projects looking at culture change and the impact of Christianity, as well as various responses to and the impact of resettlement in the face of a dam project. Finally we talk about the methods and findings from her efforts on The Global Lives of the Orangutan and POKOK projects. Trans ..read more

On today’s episode, Jessica talks with Dr. Ryan Emanuel (Associate Professor of Hydrology in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University; Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina) and Dr. Seth Grooms (Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Appalachian State University; Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina). Using highlights from their careers as examples, we talk about how to do community based work and educate the next generation of scholars in both the Environmental Sciences and Anthropology fields. We also talk about their hopes for these disciplines and what they have learn ..read more

On today’s episode, Jessica chats with Jayne-Leigh Thomas (NAGPRA Director at Indiana University) and Chance Ward (NAGPRA Coordinator for History Colorado [although speaking here on his experiences as a private citizen]; Lakota- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) about the first Intensive NAGPRA Summer Training and Education Program (INSTEP) held last summer in Indiana. We talk about where the idea for this NAGPRA training came from, how it was developed, and what it was like to be part of it. We also talked about how they might change the program for future years, as well as what the two of them wou ..read more