Ep. 55: Reflections on Culture and Place with Isiah and Samoana

Isiah Cambridge (Ute/Núuch and Diné/Navajo) and Samoana Matagi
(Tagata Sāmoa and Papalagi) join this episode to discuss culture,
language, and relationships to place. We reflect on work we have
done at the Nature Center at Pia Okwai where Isiah has taught
Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) classes and Samoana continues to
run a monthly Friday Fono (Faikava workshop) and regular Umu
(underground earth oven cooking) demonstrations. We reflect on
Indigenous knowledge projects as they introduce themselves and
some of their background and experiences. Topics include communal
lessons and collective insights within the worldviews we practice
as well as critically engage with mainstream and Indigenous
conservation perspectives. Themes include Indigenous relational
consciousness, leave no trace, community, and meaningful
relationships to place from across our unique positionalities and
ancestries.


Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) Terms: Leets’aa’ (Leezh = sand +
ts’aa’ = bowl); Yíiyá (Fear); Naadą́ą́ʼ (Naa = enemy/constant +
dą́ą́ʼ = it is eaten); Leeshibéézh (Leezh = sand +shibéézh = it
is cooked, to cook under the sand/earth); Chʼil doo
chójoołʼįįhígíí (The plant that one doesnʼt use, La planta que no
se usa).


Nuu'apagay/Nʉmʉ Tekwapi/Núu-'apaghapi̱/ Núuchi (Ute language)
term: Tuuspani (Hurry).


Gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language) terms: ‘Iate – (transliteration of
yard, ‘Iate Truck = landscaping work truck); Umu – (underground
earth oven, to cook with heated stones).


Maya T’aan/Maya T’aam (Yucatec-Maya language) term: Píib
(underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam bath or ceremony).


Katzihob’al/Qatzijob’al/Kach’ab’al/Qach’ab’al (K’iche’-Maya
language) term: Tuj/Tuh (underground earth steam oven/sweat-steam
bath or ceremony).


Runasimi (Quechua language) term: Pachamanka (underground earth
steam oven).


Newe Taikwa (Shoshone/Goshute) term: Pia Okwai – (big flow/river,
Utah’s Jordan river).


 


References


C.R.E.A.M by Wu-Tang Clan


An Indigenous Perspective on the Global Threat of Invasive
Species by Nicholas J. Reo and Laura A. Ogden


Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through
Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez


Sovereign Embodiment: Native Hawaiians and Expressions of
Diasporic Kuleana by Kēhaulani Vaughn


Charles Sepulveda