Wai? Indigenous Words and Ideas

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    

This episode begins by attempting to tackle some bigger questions about religion, belief, and spirituality. I share some different approaches to analysing religion using thinkers like Talal Asad and Émile Durkheim, in order to explore concepts like ‘religion’ itself and the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’. I also consider Indigenous Reflections on Christianity to explore the tensions and compromises with religion (Christianity) and Indigenous peoples, including ideas from Vine Deloria Jr. and John Trudell. The second half of this episode focuses in on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mainstream Mormonism; Latter-day Saints) and Indigenous peoples. This section is a response and extension to the Red Nation’s Unsettling Mormonism’s episode from a few years ago. I seek to highlight Indigenous scholars who have been and continue to interrogate questions at the intersection of Mormon and Indigenous Studies (see list below). I conclude with an introduction to some of my own analyses of “Lamanites” (Mormonism’s category of 'New World' Indigeneity). I position Mormonism and Indigeneity within larger structures and colonial contexts drawing from the articles A Divine Rebellion, and Pedro and Pita Built Peter Priesthood’s Mansion and Now They Work the Grounds.   Terms: Religion, Spiritual, Cult/us/ure, Collective Effervescence, Profane, Sacred.   Intellectuals who explore Indigeneity, race, and 'Lamanites' in Mormon Studies: Elise Boxer, Farina King, Gina Colvin, P. Jane Hafen, Angelo Baca, Hokulani Aikau, Hemopereki Simon, Robert Joseph, Darren Parry, Moroni Benally, Ignacio Garcia, Armando Solorzano, Cynthia Connell, Sujey Vega, Eduardo Pagan, Stephanie Griswold, Lacee Harris, Sarah Newcomb, Monika Crowfoot, Michael Ing.   Additional References: Rastafari as a Counter-Hegemonic Social Movement by Lianne Mulder Roots, Reggae, Rebellion by BBC Look to the Mountain by Gregory Cajete Why do people join cults? By Janja Lalich Music and Identity by Simon Frith In the Light of Reverence Film Transit of Empire by Jodi Byrd Lamanite Generations by Farina King

This episode features poet, author, and intellectual Moana ‘Ulu‘ave-Hafoka. The catalyst for this discussion was a recently released YouTube video by former Mormon author and YouTuber Alyssa Grenfell, titled Tonga is 60% Mormon??????, which has currently been viewed more than 200k times since being posted. This video references one of Moana’s articles, so as nerds of Tonga, Indigeneity, and Mormonism, we wanted to add further complexity to some of what was shared on that platform. We discuss nuance, blurred boundaries, historical and cultural context, as well as Mormon specificity, and even larger structures and systems of power. We shift mid-way through this episode to engage with Ryan Coogler’s film Sinners (spoilers). We discuss a variety of symbols in the film, including, the global impact of Black (African-American) culture, race, global Indigeneity, diaspora, spirituality, religion, sacred time-space, and more.   References: To be Young, Mormon, and Tongan by Moana ‘Ulu‘ave-Hafoka Kinikini, Lea Lani, Kepa Maumau, Moana Uluave-Hafoka, (2021).“Raise Your Pen: A Critical Race Essay on Truth and Justice”.  In Reppin: Youth Studies in Oceania. Ed. Keith Camacho. University of Washington Press. Tonga is 60% Mormon?????? By Alyssa Grenfell Church and State in Tonga: The Wesleyan Methodist Missionaries and Political Development, 1822-1875 by Sione Lātūkefu The “Glocalization” of Mormon Studies by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye Letter to Tangata Va ‘Ofi in the Tongan Mormon Family by Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu The Mana of the Tongan Everyday: Tongan Grief and Mourning, Patriarchal Violence and Remembering Va by Fuifuilupe ‘Alilia Niumeitolu Comment on Sarah Newcomb and Robert Joseph Indigenous Perspectives on the Meanings of ‘Lamanite’ by Tēvita O. Ka‘ili Marking Indigeneity: The Tongan Art of Sociospatial Relations by Tēvita O. Ka‘ili Tongan Crip Gang: A Tongan American Identity by ‘Esiteli Hafoka Oceania: Revisualizing the Pacific in American Religious History by ‘Esiteli Hafoka Withering as a Rose: Tongan Indigeneity, Mormonism and the Curse of the Lamanites by S. Ata Siu‘ulua Historical and Contemporary Representation of Kava by Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Sione M. U. H. Funaki Mormon masculinity, family, and kava in the Pacific by Arcia Tecun and S. Ata Siu‘ulua Tā, Vā, and Moana: Temporality, Spatiality, and Indigeneity by Hūfanga, ‘Okusitino Māhina Holographic Epistemology: Native Common Sense by Manulani Aluli Meyer In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition by Fred Moten Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Davis A Philosophical Look at Black Music by Lewis Gordon

Dr. Kehaulani Fagatele-Folau joins this episode to introduce her doctoral research. We begin with Indigenous concepts and methods she used from the Madau-Moana to make sense of some of the colonial contexts Indigenous women of Oceania traverse in the academy. Some themes we discuss include Indigenous feminism, interconnectivity, sharing space, and relational ethics by using Niu/Neo/Knew Tā-Vā. Fagatele-Folau shares a re-imagined R.I.P. acronym, and deploys it as metaphor for laying to rest systems of power, as they work through the process of ‘becoming’ a Madau-Moana cosmopolitan. We reflect on the possibilities in being rooted and mobile, and continuing to learn confidence with care through a broad sense of kinship. “Not all the powers that be are all the powers that are” – Kehau Fagatele-Folau Terms with introductory definitions: Madau (Pohnpeian for Ocean/Thought); Moana (Ocean in Tongan); Talanoa (Critical relational dialogue); Iroir (reflection/beautiful view/to position yourself for a beautiful view); Hoa (pair/partner/companion/connection); Hoamālie (harmonious partnership); Hoatamaki (imbalanced partnership); R.I.P. (Relationality, Intersectionality, Positionality); Mana (honour, prestige, potency, authority).