Reclaiming Native Culture with Winona Laduke

Program Description

Passionate, outspoken, and articulate, Winona LaDuke is an internationally known activist for indigenous rights and environmental and women’s issues. All over the world, she observes, colonialism is encroaching upon natural ecosystems and the people who have lived in them for many centuries–but destroying land and cultures is not a sustainable option for anyone. In her home in northern Minnesota, traditionalist Anishinaabeg are struggling to defend their land and lifestyles against the powerful forces of government and mainstream culture. We hear how they are fighting in creative ways to reclaim their culture and protect the land. LaDuke’s clear and strong words speak to vital contemporary issues affecting the future of all of us. “Settler society is not sustainable,” she points out. “If all of us are going to live here, we’ve got to figure out how to become more as a native society.”

Educated at Harvard, she is a founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, a Board Member of Greenpeace, and President of the Indigenous Women’s Network.

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• The implications of worldwide colonialism
• The difference between Indian and white land ownership concepts
• How the American government has usurped native lands
• How her great-grandmother lost her land
• Why treaties should not be decided upon in court
• The work ethic in the industrial society vs. indigenous cultures
• The “re-traditionalizing” of indigenous women
• How she and others are reclaiming traditional lands
• The indigenous concept of “continuous rebirth” vs. that of Armageddon
• A new definition of “quality of life”

Program Number: 2480                    Host: Justine & Michael Toms              Interview Date: