Earlier this week, the U.S. celebrated Indigenous Peoples’ Day. For today’s show, we extend the holiday by sitting down with Dr. Kasey Keeler, professor of American Indian Studies, for a wide-ranging discussion of Indigenous issues in North America.
The conversation covers an array of topics including the shift from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, challenging the origin myths and historical misconceptions taught in American K–12 curriculum, the significance of tribal sovereignty, Indigenous resistance and climate justice, COVID-19 and voting access in reservation communities, the Native American culture of elder respect, and some great Native authors to read including Tommy Orange, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Kasey Keeler (Tuolumne Me-Wuk and Citizen Potawatomi) is an assistant professor of Civil Society & Community Studies and American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research centers on American Indian people’s access to and engagement with housing, land, and capitalism. Her first book, American Indians and the American Dream: Policies, Place, and Property in Minnesota, is currently under contract with the University of Minnesota Press.
