Holding Our Ground: Voices and Strategies Against Self-Indigenization w/ Kim TallBear
The Red Nation PodcastShow Notes
TRN Podcast Nick Estes live in conversation with Kim TallBear about the conference they organized, Holding Our Ground: Voices and Strategies Against Self-Indigenization. You can watch the individual panels that were livestreamed on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKWiQX270BMoLRv25dDskRfsJ2pptPf3Z Conference description:
"This two-day, hybrid symposium will convene leading experts, community members, and "first responders" to the global issue of self-Indigenization, particularly in the form of "Indigenous ethnic fraud," or "pretendianism," as it is referred to in North America. The symposium will be held in Minneapolis, on the traditional homelands of the Dakota people, who were imprisoned and eventually exiled in 1863 to aid settler appropriation of "Minnesota," a word also taken from the Dakota. On top of seizing land, US citizens have for centuries "played Indian" via sports mascots and appropriating Native nation names and iconography in scouting and in industries including the military. In the twenty-first century, we see ballooning numbers of US citizens make mythological claims to belong to Native lineages and nations. Some capitalize on those claims to appropriate Indigenous resources and opportunities, and to seize governance of institutions. We see an obviously violent example of self-Indigenization in the Department of "Homeland Security" whose agents seize governance of these lands, terrorize, imprison, and threaten to exile. As multiple forms of self-Indigenization converge, not all are grasped as violent, yet they combine to further colonial extraction. Extractive self-Indigenization, including Indigenous ethnic fraud, not only targets American Indians, but also First Nations, Métis, and Inuit in Canada; and global Indigenous communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, and elsewhere. This symposium will bring participants together to engage in critical discussions, learn from one another, and discuss actionable strategies to disrupt this global problem."
Empower our work: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-red-medias-indigenous-content
Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: https://www.therednation.org/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/redmediapr
More from The Red Nation Podcast
Red Power is back! RPH co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz review Fancy Dance (2023), an Apple Originals movie directed by Erica Tremblay.
** TRIGGER WARNING** The following documentary contains explicit descriptions of psychological and physical violence against children and may be triggering for viewers. Listener discretion is advised. In commemoration of Orange Shirt Day 2026 and Indigenous Peoples Day 2026, Red Media proudly presents a documentary on the ongoing fight by the Mohawk Mothers (Kanien'kehà:ka Kanistansera) to uncover the dark secrets buried at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, home to the Allen Memorial Institute. For more information, visit www.mohawkmothers.ca and follow @takebacktekanontak on Instagram The Indian Residential School Crisis Line is a national service in Canada for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience. Former IRS students and their families can access the line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 1-866-925-4419
Red Power is back! RPH hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz continue their series on Indigenous futurisms through a discussion of the new collection of stories and poems, "Beyond the Glittering World" (2026) Watch the video edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel https://youtu.be/2sweHL-pGiw
From the belly of the empire to the frontlines of global liberation struggles, what does it mean to be an intellectual in service of mass movements? In this episode, Nick Estes (The Red Nation) and Pranay Somayajula sit down to dissect the vital synthesis of revolutionary theory and ground-level practice. Moving beyond academic insulation, they interrogate anti-colonial resistance, Third World solidarity, Indigenous liberation, and the role of the radical writer in organizing for collective power. Watch the livestream edition on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel https://youtube.com/live/JGlG0pMSFLE?feature=share Follow Pranay on Substack https://www.culture-shock.xyz/ Follow Nick on Substack https://nickestes.substack.com/ The Guardian Letter: The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) Responds https://www.anti-imperialists.com/statements/dc121068-bd7d-4408-8a5f-c23c8f70e4d1/ Empower our work:
A special live edition of Red Power Hour featuring co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz along with some special guests to talk about Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey (2026).