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Tanka bars are probably the most recognizable Native American food products in the U.S.. In this radio program, Dawn Sherman, CEO of Native American Natural Foods, takes us through the Tanka's history, past challenges, as well as present day aspirations.
Producer: Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan)
Interviewee: Dawn Sherman (Lakota, Shawnee, Delaware)
Music : "Saami Drum" by Tyler, used with permission
"Burn your village to the ground" by A Tribe called Red, used with permission.

We interview Wilhelmina Van Dyk who coordinated the Khoikhoi language gathering in South Africa. This event put the Khoekhoegowab language in the spotlight and left attendees with basic vocabulary of the language after a few days.

Produced by : Shaldon Ferris
Interviewee: Wilhemina Van Wyk
Music: "Burn your village to the ground", by A Tribe Called Red - used with permission.
"Avantgarde" by Tyso, used with permission

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is a high-level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council. The Forum was established on 28 July 2000 by with the mandate to deal with indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health, and human rights.
Andrea Carmen (Yaqui) from the International Indian Treaty Council was there in the beginning, and in this radio program, she tells us all about the history of the forum, the present state of the forum, and the forum of tomorrow.

Every single case deserves justice’: Non-profit seeks data
sovereignty and justice for Alaska’s missing and murdered.
Report from 90.3fm KNBA, Alaska.
Produced by Tripp Crouse.
Image: KNBA Logo

In South Africa on November 1, 2019, a benefit sharing agreement was reached after many years of intense negotiations. This industry wide agreement was the first of its kind, and was launched between the Khoikhoi and San people, and the rooibos industry.

South Africa has been branded as “the Rainbow Nation” because of the diversity of its citizens. The country boasts a very liberal constitution and eleven official languages, which however do not include Indigenous languages. What is becoming more and more apparent lately is the exclusion of the Khoi and San languages especially from school curricula, radio, and television. IYX Radio is a new internet radio station that hopes to change the narrative.
Producer: Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan)
Interviewee: Sharri Cannel (San)

Kandi “EagleWoman” White (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara) is a leading voice in the fight to bring visibility to the impacts that climate change and environmental injustice are having on Indigenous communities across North America. Kandi began her work with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) as the Tribal Campus Climate Challenge Coordinator, engaging with more than 30 Tribal colleges to instate community based environmental programs and connect Indigenous youth with green jobs.

Leya Hale, 36, lives in St. Paul. She was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. She is Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Navajo. She is a storyteller, a documentary filmmaker, and a producer with Twin Cities PBS (TPT), where she’s been working for the past eight years. Her recent film, "Bring Her Home," addresses the epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in the United States. 

As the backbone of Indigenous communities, Indigenous women have over the years been instrumental in the preservation and transmission of traditional ancestral knowledge. As protectors of natural resources and keepers of scientific knowledge, Indigenous women are integral to the survival of their traditions.

Poverty, low levels of education and illiteracy, limited access to health care, basic sanitation, credit, and employment, limited participation in political life, and domestic and sexual violence are all prevalent problems among indigenous women. Besides, their right to self-determination, self-governance and control of resources and ancestral lands have been violated over centuries.
Still, Indigenous women are ensuring that traditional knowledge is carried over from generation to generation.
Language Activist Letitia Petersen tells us more.

Dr. Yekuhsiyo Rosa King (Oneida) is a member of the Turtle clan. Her ukwehuwe (Oneida) name means “she has a nice face”. She was born and raised on the reservation and has been learning the language for ten years and has been teaching for nine years. She is a licensed American Indian Language teacher by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Dr. King is currently a lead instructor in the TehatiwʌnákhwaɁ Language Nest Immersion Program that serves students 3-7 years old. In this podcast, Dr. King tells us all about the Language Nest Immersion Program.

Leya Hale lives in St. Paul. She was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. She is Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota and Navajo. She is a storyteller, a documentary filmmaker, and a producer with Twin Cities PBS (TPT), where she’s been working for the past eight years. Her  film, "Bring Her Home," addresses the epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in the United States. 

Indigenous Women all around the world are subjected to marginalization and inequality.
As we commemorate International Women's Day, we celebrate the work of Lukretia Booysen (Griekwa, Nama), an Indigenous change maker who is the curator of The Koena Art Institute. Booysen tells us about the Institute's collaboration with the Iziko Art Museum.
Produced by Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan)
Interviewee: Lukretia Booysen (Griekwa, Nama)
"Anania by the Baba Project, Used with Permission
"Burn your village to the ground", by The Halluci Nation, used with permission

The Cultural Survival Bazaars are a series of cultural festivals, organized by Indigenous Peoples’ rights organization Cultural Survival, that provide Indigenous artists and artisans, cooperatives, and their representatives from around the world the chance to sell their work directly to the public.
Each event features traditional and contemporary crafts, artwork, clothing, jewelry, home goods, and accessories from dozens of countries.

Krotoa, also known as Eva, was a young Khoi woman who played a significant and complex role in early South African history during the Dutch colonial period. Taken in as a servant in the household of Jan van Riebeeck, the first Dutch commander at the Cape, Krotoa served as a translator and cultural mediator between the Dutch settlers and her indigenous Khoi people. Fluent in both Dutch and Khoikhoi languages, she became a vital link in early negotiations and trade.

Ancestral remains of six Khoi and San individuals, exhumed between 1868 and 1924 and held at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, have been returned to South Africa. The remains were formally repatriated in October 2025, marking a significant event for national healing and the restoration of dignity for the affected communities. The remains, which include those from the Northern and Western Cape, have been returned to the Iziko Museums in Cape Town and will be reburied in the Northern Cape at a later date.

Cultural Survival welcomes the newest member of our Board of Directors, Dr. Lyla June Johnston. Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, author, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne), and European lineages. Her multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences around the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. She blends her academic work in Human Ecology and Indigenous Pedagogy with the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives, and solutions.

Slavery played a significant role in the early history of Paarl, Western Cape, particularly during the 17th and 18th centuries under Dutch and later British colonial rule. Enslaved people—brought mainly from East Africa, Madagascar, India, and Southeast Asia, as well as Indigenous Khoisan people—were forced to work on farms, vineyards, and in households, forming the backbone of the local agricultural economy. Their labour was central to the development of Paarl’s wine and wheat industries.

Michelle Shanandoah is the founder of the non-profit organization Rematriation, which is dedicated to uplifting the voices of Indigenous women. Raised in a family of traditional leadership, she carries the values and responsibilities of her Haudenosaunee heritage throughout her life.

In Episode 1, our hosts, Dr. Lyla June Johnston (Diné/Tsétsêhéstâhese), Cultural Survival Board Member, and Aimee Roberson (Chahta/Chikashsha), Cultural Survival Executive Director, discuss their inspiration for this new podcast rooted in the wisdom of their ancestors.

Aimee and Lyla honor Indigenous cultures and values and invite listeners to collectively dream and co-create a future of mutual flourishing rooted in Ancestral Intelligence.

Listen to “Healing Our Future: Mother Earth Medicine with Lyla June and Aimee Roberson”.

States should work with indigenous women and their communities to enable programmes around capacity building and strengthening of leadership. Indigenous women need to be included in decision making processes, at each level and in all areas.

UN Special Rapporteur Vicky Tauli Corpuz discusses the international trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership which is being negotiated by Canada,The United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Brunei, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. She confirms that Indigenous Peoples must be consulted before these deals are negotiated.