This Thanksgiving, on a holiday where we have always had to listen hard & close to hear the history of genocide and Indigenous erasure that lies beneath myth, we are learning how to hold grief and celebration hand-in-hand.
Our meals look different; our tables laid for two instead of twelve, perhaps. But, we are finding gratitude for our learnings and grace in this moment of reckoning. We are doing our best to face this holiday and this moment with ears, eyes, and a heart wide open, and not just with a grumbling belly. That is how we are showing thanks. That is how we are showing care.
New imaginations of what is possible are taking root in us. Stories that lead us towards a brighter and bolder future, together.
Hungry Ears
We’ve put together a podcast playlists to keep you company this Thanksgiving as you fix your stuffing and pies (or takeout––no judgement!). Think of this as a multi-course auditory meal of honesty, compassion, and good storytelling.
“Thanksgiving is a lie.” In this episode of the Toasted Sister Podcast, Andi Murphy (Navajo/Diné) talks with three Wampanoag women about Thanksgiving and how colonization affected their foodways.
Two time James Beard award winner and founder of The Sioux Chef, Chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) shares his journey on the TED stage to lead a movement and redefine North American cuisine through the understanding of Indigenous food knowledge.
“Life is a circle and I am grateful to [Native] foods because they have helped my life in every step from the beginning.” If you missed it last month, Chef Crystal Wahpepah (Kickapoo) told the story of her journey to relearn her foodways and share them with her community.
For a story that exemplifies the diversity of Indigeous identity in this country, listen in to Gravy’s story of Native and Southern foodways colliding in a collard sandwich. And here’s another bonus course episode, if you’re on a roll (you really can never get enough Gravy!)
Wampanoag Chef Sherry Pocknett, Mohegan Anthropologist Rachel Sayet and Jay Levy, who is of Indigenous Columbian heritage and works for the Mohegan Tribe, share how they mourn, celebrate, and challenge the many myths of Thanksgiving around their tables.
Burrell Jones (Navajo/Diné) talks food sovereignty, the role of the youth in Indigenous movement building, and rejecting extractive capitalist economies in a recording of our last RFRS gathering.
Clayton Harvey of the White Mountain Apache Tribe in Arizona chats with the National Young Farmers Coalition about how farming has shaped his spiritual identity and helped keep Apache traditions and language alive in his community.
“The world begins at a kitchen table.” Poet Joy Harjo reads her Thanksgiving poem, “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” in a fittingly bittersweet end to our multi-course reflection.
Still Hungry for More?
Stream all of our episodes of The Curious Eater on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.