Episodes

Join us for our season finale of Tending Our Roots with chef, author, and food sovereignty visionary Sean Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Sean is transforming the landscape of Indigenous cuisine. Through his work with the nonprofit NATIFS and his award-winning restaurant Owamni (soon-to-be known as Indígena by Owamni), Sean is helping communities “take the power of food back” — restoring connections between land, culture, and health. When we spoke, Owamni was preparing to move in...

Our guest this week is Shakara (Shak) Liddelow-Hunt, a researcher, advocate, and community builder centering the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIA+ young people. Shak is Wajarri Yamatji and grew up on Noongar Country. Their work challenges Western research norms, making space for Indigenous methods that honor community and story. Our conversation was a reminder that research environments can — and must — be crafted with care, humility, and cultural saf...

Listen as we visit with Shawn Wilson, a researcher, teacher, and storyteller from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northern Canada. Shawn reminds us that research itself can be ceremony. Now based on Syilx territory in British Columbia, Shawn’s work spans continents — from Turtle Island to Australia — grounded always in relationships and respect for Indigenous knowledge systems. In this conversation, he reflects on what it means to live a life of ceremony, to see the universe as a web of relations...

This week we’re Tending Our Roots with Susan Beaulieu, an Anishinaabe woman and citizen of the Red Lake Nation who has spent two decades working with Indigenous communities and the last decade supporting healing from collective, ancestral, and individual trauma. A facilitator, teacher, and student of Life, Susan reminds us that healing begins within, where we hold the most power and responsibility. In this episode, Susan offers tools for reconnecting body, mind, heart, and spirit, guiding us to...

Join us as we sit down with Melinda Adams, a cultural fire practitioner and scholar from the N’dee San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Tohono O’odham Nation. Melinda brings together ecology, ceremony, and Indigenous science in her work. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, she studies and practices the revitalization of cultural fire — working alongside Tribal nations in California, the Great Plains, and beyond. When we recorded this conversation, wildfires burned across the regio...

On this week’s episode of Tending Our Roots, we sit down with Māori scholar, Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou) — the grandmother of Indigenous research. Linda’s guided generations through her groundbreaking book Decolonizing Methodologies. In conversation, she speaks with warmth, humility, and humor — reminding us that revolution begins in how we live our everyday lives. Rather than chasing grand gestures, she teaches us to nurture our relationships with family, land, and community, ...

This week we’re Tending Our Roots with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer, musician, and scholar. Leanne teaches through story, song, and movement — reminding us that knowledge lives in relationships. In her newest book, Theory of Water, she writes through creation and grief, showing how both are part of life’s continuous flow. Our own conversation with her moved like water — joyful, nurturing, and deeply rooted in Anishinaabe thought and Anishinaabe way of life. Lea...

Join Tending Our Roots with Michael “Migizi” Sullivan Sr., a linguist, researcher, educator and storyteller from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Nation. Migizi is a leading practitioner devoted to the revitalization of the Ojibwe language and a father of four proficient Ojibwe speakers. He reminds us that language is more than words — it’s ceremony, humor, and connection. In this episode, Migizi inspires us to speak our languages shamelessly, unapologetically, and fearlessly. At the heart of the...

Welcome to Tending Our Roots with Sharon Day, a two-spirit elder from the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe. Sharon is a water walker, artist, and activist whose life’s work is rooted in ceremony and love for all our relations. As the longtime Executive Director of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force, she’s spent decades nurturing community health and Indigenous resurgence through culture and prayer. She’s led more than twenty water walks across Turtle Island — carrying water from the Gulf of Mexico to L...

Note: This episode was recorded when Amáyá was using the name Charlie. You’ll hear us refer to her as Charlie throughout the episode; however, she now goes by Amáyá, as reflected below. We're kicking off this season of Tending Our Roots with guest Amáyá Scott, a Diné scholar, writer, and creator who is dedicated to inspiring joy and justice. Amáyá reflects and celebrates what it means to be Diné, queer, and trans in the 21st century — sharing her brilliance and humor with thousands online as @...

Welcome to Tending Our Roots with Indigenous Methodologies, a podcast exploring Indigenous approaches to research, evaluation, and community practice. Come join us each week as we visit with guests to talk about how Indigenous Knowledges and ways of being support the health, healing, and futures of Indigenous communities. Tending Our Roots is co-hosted by Drs. Miigis Gonzalez (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) and Jill Fish (lineal descendent of the Tuscarora Nation). This podcast was funded by the ...