Now Give It Back: Indigenized Futures & the Land Back Movement with Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy

Land Back, the movement to return the stolen lands of the USA, also known as Turtle Island, to the original Indigenous peoples who inextricably belong to them, has been accelerating for some time now. Indigenous peoples have "lost" roughly 99% of the lands they once inhabited, according to a 2021 data set published in Science. 42% of tribes in historical records have no recognized land base today. Radical imagination is required to forge a new, and also perhaps ancient way out of the injustices and destruction inherent in settler colonialism. As our guest Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy [http://cutcharislingbaldy.com], Associate Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, reminds us, decolonization IS land back. Knowing we live on occupied lands, what are we compelled to actually do or change? What is our personal responsibility to the Indigenous peoples and lands where we have "settled?" The time is ripe for actions over tokenism and superficial gestures. Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy is the Co-Director of the Cal Poly Humboldt Native American Studies Food Sovereignty Lab & Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute. Her book: We Are Dancing For You: Native Feminisms and the Revitalization of Women's Coming-of-Age Ceremonies received “Best First Book in Native American and Indigenous Studies,” at the 2019 Native American Indigenous Studies Association Conference. She is also the volunteer Executive Director of the Native Women's Collective [http://www.nativewomenscollective.org/], a nonprofit organization that supports the continued revitalization of Native American arts and culture. She is Hupa, Karuk, and Yurok and is enrolled in the Hoopa Valley Tribe. Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth. For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/posts/cutcha-risling-79318587 MORE INFO “Tending Nature: Indigenous Land Stewardship.” KCET documentary film series. https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-nature/special/indigenous-land-stewardship Episode 19: Decolonizing Water Part I Water Talk Podcast https://www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/episode-19 ”Reviving Relationships with Our Foodways: A History of Indigenous Food Sovereignty in California and Beyond" by Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy and Dr. Kaitlin Reed (co-directors of the FSL). https://cooperationhumboldt.com/food-guide-2021/ Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/ Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/ Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio Executive Producer: Jack Eidt Hosted by Carry Kim Intro By: Jessica Aldridge Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats Episode 166