In this episode, Dr. Davina Two Bears and Dr. Farina King are joined by Dr. Kaitlin Reed (Yurok/Hupa/Oneida) to discuss her groundbreaking first book, Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California, published in 2023 by the University of Washington Press.

Dr. Reed is an Associate Professor of Native American Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, where she serves as the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Faculty Fellow and Co-Director of the Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab & Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute. They talk with Dr. Reed about the histories of resource extraction and settler colonialism in California and examine the far-reaching impacts of the cannabis industry on Native Nations in northern California.

In addition to unpacking the themes of Settler Cannabis, this episode offers an introduction to Dr. Reed’s academic journey and her work in advancing food sovereignty and Indigenous ecological knowledge. This discussion features the intersections of environmental justice, sovereignty, and colonial legacies.

Recommended Resources:

Dr. Kaitlin Reed, Native American Studies, Cal Poly Humboldt webpage
Order Settler Cannabis: From Gold Rush to Green Rush in Indigenous Northern California (University of Washington Press, 2023)
Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute website
Dr. Kaitlin Reed presents on "From Gold Rush to Green Rush: Settler Colonialism & Natural Resources in Northern California" video recording (posted November 2023)
"Cal Poly Humboldt faculty member Kaitlin Reed wins 2024 award," the Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award

This episode features Dr. Kelly Berry, an enrolled citizen of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma (Plains Apache) with affiliations to the Kiowa and Choctaw Nations. Dr. Berry is a Mellon Impact Post-Doctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma. His groundbreaking research explores the intersections of eSports, Native American education, and technology, focusing on infusing Indigenous knowledge into classrooms and reimagining the possibilities of gaming through an Indigenous lens.

In this episode, Dr. Farina King and Dr. Davina Two Bears discuss Dr. Berry's work with him regarding Indigenizing eSports and game technologies. Dr. Berry shares his vision for education in Indigenous communities, considering how culture, technology, and education come together in innovative ways.

Dr. Berry earned a Master's of Public Health from the University of Oklahoma and then a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from Kansas State University. Before his current position, Dr. Berry contributed as an Indigenous Initiatives Research Associate and curriculum advisor for Kansas State University’s Indigenous Education Leadership Certificate Graduate Program. His extensive teaching experience includes faculty appointments at Upper Iowa University, Bacone College, Cameron University, and Comanche Nation College, and he is a certified 5-12 social studies teacher in Oklahoma and Kansas.

A past fellow of Harvard University’s Management Development Program, he is also a current fellow in the University of Arizona’s Native Nations Institute Tribal Professional Governance Program and Arizona State University’s Indigenous Peoples Leadership Academy. Dr. Berry serves on the American Educational Research Association Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Special Interest Committee and is a University Council for Educational Administration Barbara L. Jackson Scholar.

Resources:

Dr. Kelly Berry, bio webpage for Esports and Co-Curriculuar Innovation at the University of Oklahoma

Berry, Kelly. "eSports in Indian Education: A Case Study." PhD diss., Kansas State University, 2024.

Berry, Kelly. "Using that Good Medicine: An Indigenous Autoethnographic Recount of Teaching and Learning with Elders during COVID." In F. King and W. Davies (Eds.) COVID-19 in Indian Country: Native American Memories and Experiences of the Pandemic (forthcoming).

NAS Mellon Impact Fellowship at University of Oklahoma website

In this episode, Dr. Blaire Morseau joins Dr. Davina Two Bears and Dr. Farina King to discuss her work with Neshnabé (Potawatomi) knowledge systems, focusing on birch bark, language, and archives. Dr. Morseau highlights the significance of Simon Pokagon's nineteenth-century birch bark books, featured in her edited volume As Sacred to Us: Simon Pokagon’s Birch Bark Stories in their Contexts. The conversation explores how traditional cultural knowledge and ecological wisdom are preserved and revitalized through these archival works.

Dr. Blaire Morseau, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. Her research spans Indigenous science fiction, traditional ecological knowledge, digital heritage, and Native counter-mapping. Her forthcoming book, Mapping Neshnabé Futurity (May 2025), explores how Native environmental activism and traditional knowledge intersect with Indigenous speculative fiction to reclaim Indigenous spaces in the Great Lakes region.

Additional Resources:

Blaire Morseau (Topash-Caldwell) website

Blaire Morseau, Michigan State University directory webpage

Blaire Morseau, ed. As Sacred to Us: Simon Pokagon's Birch Bark Stories in Their Contexts (Michigan State University Press, 2023)

Here is a discount code for Morseau's book, As Sacred to Us, if purchased directly from MSU press: MSUP24

Blaire Morseau, Mapping Neshnabé Futurity: Celestial Currents of Sovereignty in Potawatomi Skies, Lands, and Waters (University of Arizona Press, 2025)

Here is the linked flyer with a discount code for Mapping Neshnabé Futurity.

Listen to recordings of tribal citizens reading Simon Pokagon's birch bark stories on the following websites:
wiwkwebthegen.com
https://wiwkwebthegen.com/digital
heritage/category/audio/field_collection/2069
This was an initiative sponsored by the Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages Partnership at MSU through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.